Get Down With Your Funky Self - "Uncle Jam"

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I would be remiss in this Get Down series - songs with “Get down” in the lyrics - if I didn’t include something from Parliament/Funkadelic. Getting down is practically synonymous with the two bands - hell, it was leader George Clinton that coined the phrase “Free your mind and your ass will follow.” Well, I am remiss no longer - today’s “Get Down” comes from the Funkadelic side of the Mothership Connection, the title track to their classic 1979 album Uncle Jam Wants You: “Uncle Jam.” “I know it’s early, but you gotta get down,” sings Clinton (he uses variations four different times, including my favorite, “We’re not gonna do it by fighting, Get up! Get down!”) In this case, Uncle Jam is recruiting folks to join his groove army, with a mission to “rescue dance music from the blahs.” In other words, let’s have a good time, let’s dance, let’s let it all out, let’s get down. Free your mind. It will follow. “Uncle Jam” was released as a single, however, it was overshadowed by that album’s other single, the classic “(Not Just) Knee Deep.” Unfortunately, the only chart “Uncle Jam” landed on was the U.S. R&B chart, where it peaked at #53. Never mind all that, however. This song is a blast! I have freed my mind. I am ready to get down, Uncle! Link is to the studio album version: