I interviewed Sly Stone back in 2013 for a documentary called Finding the Funk that played on VH1 and now can be seen via Amazon Prime.
https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Funk-Ahmir-Questlove-Thompson/dp/B08DTBW5QG
For me, and folks of my generation, Sly is one of the giant figures in black music history who’s songwriting, arranging, vocals, fashion, and showmanship altered the DNA of pop music in the ‘60s and ‘70s. From 1967 to 1974, a brilliant era of American music, no one shined brighter that his former Bay Area DJ. The story of his drug filled decline has been well documented (though not fully by the man himself.)
I loved my afternoon interviewing with Sly, who was funny, cryptic, smart, and self-aggrandizing. But the idea of Sly dictating his life in a coherent book seemed unlikely. I applaud his co-writer Ben Greenmen for squeezing 320 pages out of him. There have been some good recent autobiographies from ‘60s icons in the last few years, chief among them Keith Richards’ ‘Life,’ which is a whopping 576 pages, and a testament to recall through the fog of war. Sly’s book is no where as detailed. It’s closer in substance to Bob Dylan’s ‘Chronicles,’ a very impressionistic, free flowing, non-narrative adventure through whatever Dylan thought was worth ruminating on.
Greenmen has wrestled a straight narrative out of Sly’s peripatetic life. Often I can hear his voice providing context for the era and music. But the value of this book, like the Dylan tome (and his recent ‘The Philosophy of Modern Song’), is hearing the POV of this unique man unreleased. The book is full of observations that only Sly’s could make.
On the creation of his landmark, ‘There’s A Riot Goin’ On’ album: ‘It was a record made by no one and everyone, made under the influence of substances, and of itself. Is that a contradiction in terms? Condition, diction, addiction.”
On Motown founder Berry Gordy: “He had money and that seemed to move his mouth forward. I liked him.”
On firing Bob Marley and the Wailers as his opening act: “They played slow. They had accents… There was no offense intended on our part but we shipped them off. Black Star Line.”
On Richard Pryor: “He was funny even when he wasn’t doing anything other than being. He would dance weird, speak weird. He was only ever him.”
On Miles Davis arriving unannounced at this house: “I saw his face, eyes white in the dark, and asked him what he wanted. ‘Let me in the house so I can eat some white pussy.’ I laughed but didn’t let him in.”
If you want to understand the entire story of Sly & the Family Stone check out Joel Selvin’s oral history of that great band. If you’re ready to visit the mind of Sly Stone then ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is my recommended Black History Month read.
Can't wait to finish this book. It's entertaining so far. Ben Greenman did a great job with "Dig If You Will the Picture," the Prince biography that came out a few years ago. I trust his guardianship.