Papa Don't Take No Mess

Album: Hell (1974)
Charted: 31
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Songfacts®:

  • James Brown scored the soundtrack for the blaxploitation flick Black Caesar in 1973 and wrote this and other songs for the sequel Hell Up in Harlem. Director Larry Cohen, however, didn't like any of the music Brown recorded and rejected it all. He hired Motown's Edwin Starr to replace him, but Brown wasn't about to let his work go to waste. The majority of the nixed soundtrack became his 1973 album The Payback, but this song ended up on his following album, Hell.
  • Janet Jackson sampled this song in her 1993 chart-topper "That's The Way Love Goes."
  • The full-length version of this song runs nearly 14 minutes and includes a piano solo by Brown, but an edited version was also released as a two-part single.
  • Although it was snubbed for the Hell Up in Harlem score, this song has made the cut for several other soundtracks, including Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), The Woodsman (2004), Twisted (2004) and Guess Who (2005).

Comments: 2

  • Robert Lindsay from TaiwanJames Brown's soul is like a Tesla supercharger. This'll boost you for 200 miles of range in just 13m 52s...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn August 18th 1974, "Papa Don't Take No Mess (Part 1)" by James Brown entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #86; and on September 22nd, 1974 it peaked at #31 {for 1 week} and spent 11 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on October 6th, 1974 it reached #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart {his two preceding releases also peaked at #1 on the R&B chart; "The Payback, Pt. 1" and "My Thang – Pt. 1"...
    Nine years earlier in 1965 his other 'Papa' record also reached #1 on the R&B chart; "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag – Pt. 1" stayed in the top spot for 8 weeks...
    R.I.P. James Joseph Brown, Jr. {May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006}.
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