Mother Popcorn

Album: It's A Mother (1969)
Charted: 11
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • James Brown's performances were legendary, and the man could dance. The Popcorn was the name of one of his dances, and he capitalized on it by creating songs he could do the dance to. Besides this track, Brown also recorded "The Popcorn," "Low Down Popcorn," and "Let a Man Come in and Do the Popcorn." Brown also created a song around a dance craze with "Mashed Potatoes." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Brown was a huge influence on Prince, and in Prince's song "Gett Off," he mentions Brown and sings some lyrics taken from this song: "I like 'em fat, I like 'em proud, you gotta have a mother for me."

Comments: 2

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 8th 1969, "Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #80; six weeks later on July 20th, 1969 it would peak at #11{for 2 weeks} and it stayed on the chart for 12 weeks...
    And on July 27th, 1969 it reached #1 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles...
    It was directly preceded on the Top 100 by "The Popcorn" {#30 Top 100 & #11 R&B} and then succeeded by "Lowdown Popcorn" {#41 Top 100 and #16 R&B}...
    And later in 1969 on Nov. 2nd his “Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn (Part 1)” would peak at #21 on the Top 100 {#2 on the R&B chart}
    'The Godfather of Soul' passed away on Christmas Day of 2006 at the age of 73...
    May he R.I.P.
  • Terry from Wickford, RiAerosmith, of course, did a notable cover of this tune on their "Live:Bootleg" album
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Daryl Hall

Daryl HallSongwriter Interviews

Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.

Booker T. Jones

Booker T. JonesSongwriter Interviews

The Stax legend on how he cooked up "Green Onions," the first time he and Otis Redding saw hippies, and if he'll ever play a digital organ.

Fire On The Stage

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.