GEORGE CLINTON TURNED 83

A long, unedited conversation with Dr. Funkenstein from 'Finding the Funk'

The first time I interviewed George Clinton was in 1981 at the New York offices of Capitol Records. The reign of George’s Parliament-Funkadelic mob of musicians, singers and mischief makers as the cutting edge of commercial black music was ending and George, who never saw a label who couldn’t make a deal with, had shifted his efforts from Casablanca and Warner Bros. to the home of the Beatles. He had signed to Capitol as a solo act, though loyal members of P-Funk were still collaborating him. The epic single, “Atomic Dog,” was still a year away.

Despite rumors of mass defections from P-Funk and a nasty law suit with Warner Bros, when I sat with George he was in good spirits. For years he’d been the puppet master behind albums by a slew of performers, from Booty’s Rubber Band to Parlet to the Horny Horns. Now the records were under his name and he seemed pleased about it. While we were talking George asked me for a business card. I passed mine over to George who pulled out a vial of cocaine, used by card to do a “one and one” and then handed it back to me. Later that night we met for dinner at a Chinese restaurant in midtown Manhattan. My dinner companions that evening were George, his wife at the time, and a stuffed monkey for whom George ordered a won ton soup.

Every meeting with George is not that colorful, but they come pretty close. We’d talked quite a few times since then and gotten into deep conversations about music. People who only know George from P-Funk have no idea how much of his vision of music was shaped by doo wop and Motown. Beneath the crazy wigs, dirty limericks, and space age imagery was a man with stand up vocal harmony in his blood.

George recently turned eighty-three, which is amazing considering his drug prodigious consumption and over sixty-five years or so of touring. In honor of his insane life and musical brilliance, I’m posting on YouTube most of the interview I conducted with him for my documentary Finding the Funk back 2012. As you’ll see we had a great time chopping it up about doo wop, Motown, James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Zapp and space aliens. If you enjoy this piece of the talk, there’s a bit more that I can post as a bonus. By the way there is no caption. You’ll have to actually listen to George’s raspy voice in all its hard earned glory.

Below is a link to ‘Finding the Funk’ on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Funk-Ahmir-Questlove-Thompson/dp/B08DTBW5QG