Some Are Born Great

The deaths of three famous men during Christmas week got me thinking. I am talking about James Brown, Gerald Ford, and Saddam Hussein. I mean, could you ever imagine any of those men in the same room at the same time? That the three of them should die in the same week is a little mind boggling to me.

Some men are born great and James Brown was born with a talent so large that if he had been an automobile he would be a turbo jet engine rocket car. In comparison most entertainers today are a KIA OPTIMA.

Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, So good,
I got you

James Brown died early Christmas morning. I was shocked when I heard the news. James Brown? The Godfather of Soul? Soul Brother Number One? The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business? Dead?

...this is a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl

James Brown fascinated me when I was a teenager. Calling himself "the hardest-working man in show business" was not just ego on his part. I can see him in my mind's eye on a stage with all that processed hair piled high above his ugly/handsome face. He is wearing a skin tight suit with drainpipe pants that stop right at his ankles. His feet, clad in a pair of black pointy shoes with a bit of a high-heel on them, are moving so fast they are a blur.

Baby baby baby, Baby baby baby,
Baby baby baby,Baby baby
I got the feelin', baby baby

With sweat pouring off his face and that rough almost scratchy voice screaming out the lyrics of the song he was singing James would give us all he had.

Get up, (get on up)
Get up, (get on up)
Stay on the scene, (get on up),
Like a sex machine, (get on up)

Then would come the moment we, the live audience and us at home, were waiting for.

We're people, we're just like the birds and the bees
We'd rather die on our feet
Than be livin' on our knees
Say it loud, (I'm black and I'm proud)

James would fall to his knees in exhaustion and stay there with eyes closed and head bowed. One of the members of the band would come over and put a cape across his back and then help him to his feet.



He would slowly lead James, head still bowed and shoulders hunched forward, off stage. But...right before he reached the wings James would do it! He would straighten up, fling the cape off his back, race back to the microphone and start singing and dancing again while the crowd roared its approval.

Please, please, please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)

Was it corny? Hell yes, corny-er than the state of Iowa but it was also a bit of showmanship and James Brown always had that.

Come here mama....and dig this crazy scene
He's not too fancy....but his line is pretty clean
He ain't no drag,
Papa's got a brand new bag

Mister Brown, you will be missed.

Oh Papa! He's doing the Jerk
Papa!...he's doing the Jerk
He's doing the twist ... just like this,
He's doing the Fly ev'ry day and ev'ry night
The thing's....like the Boomerang.
Hey....come on
Hey! Hey!.....come on