portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

No, I didn't buy this when it came out . . . . . . . it is here today because . . . . . .well it's the King! and frankly it's a masterpiece!

On this day in music history: December 4, 1965 - “I Got You (I Feel Good)” by James Brown hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 6 weeks, also peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 on December 18, 1965. Written and produced by James Brown, it is the third R&B chart topper for the artist known as “The Hardest Working Man In Show Business”. The “hit” version of the song is recorded by Brown on May 6, 1965 at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL. He had previously recorded the song in September 1964 for release on Smash Records. Brown’s label King Records blocks the release of the earlier version, though that does not stop the momentum of the record. Alan Leeds, then a disc jockey at WANT-AM in Richmond, VA (later James Browns’ road manager and also later works in the same capacity for Prince), dubs the song off of TV when Brown performs the song on the variety show “Where The Action Is”. Demand for the record  skyrockets, forcing King Records to rush out the newly recorded second version of the song as a single. Released in October of 1965 on the heels of his breakout crossover smash “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”, “I Got You” quickly races up the R&B and pop charts simultaneously. Brown also performs the earlier version in the Frankie Avalon film “Ski Party” released earlier in 1965, which is recreated in the James Brown biopic “Get On Up”. In later years, The song is featured in the films “Good Morning Vietnam”, “The Nutty Professor” and quoted by actor Chris Rock (as Rodney the Guinea Pig) in “Dr. Dolittle”. James Brown’s recording of “I Got You (I Feel Good)” is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2013.

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