Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases two examples of the 1982 Go Go music record "Pump Me Up" by Trouble Funk. Information about the band "Trouble Funk" and its hit record "Pump Me Up" is also included in this post along with that song's lyrics and some explanatory notes about those lyrics.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Trouble Funk for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and Thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT GO GO MUSIC AND THE BAND "TROUBLE FUNK"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go
"Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-1960s to late-1970s. It remains primarily popular in the area as a uniquely regional music style. A great number of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but the Young Senators, Black Heat, and singer-guitarist Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers are credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.[1]
Inspired by artists such as the groups mentioned above, go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion...
In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time going to a go-go popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name by The Miracles . Dancers could expect to hear the latest top 40 hits, as many as 20 at a time, performed by local funk, rhythm and blues bands, including Chuck Brown. In 1965 The Young Senators, later known as "The Emperors of Go-go", were formed and there began a fierce competition with Chuck Brown and Black Heat on the local club circuit, they later became known for their hit "Jungle".[5][6][7]...
Trouble Funk had its roots in an early 1970s Top-40 cover band called Trouble Band, then fronted by drummer, Emmett Nixon. With the inclusion of Robert 'Dyke' Reed (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Taylor Reed (trumpet, vocals), James Avery (keyboards, vocals), Teebone David (percussion), and Tony Fisher (bass, vocals), the band changed its name, and, in the late 1970s, after seeing the light at a gig they played with Chuck Brown, they, too, adopted the go-go beat. The band was signed to the Sugar Hill Records label in 1982 and recorded with Kurtis Blow. Trouble Funk recorded the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas.""
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_Funk
"Trouble Funk is an American R&B and funk band from Washington, DC. It helped to popularize that area's local funk subgenre known as go-go. Among the band's well-known songs are the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas." They released several studio albums including Drop the Bomb, In Times of Trouble, Live, and Trouble Over Here, Trouble Over There (UK #54[1]), and two live albums, Trouble Funk - Straight Up Go-Go Style and Saturday Night Live. In 1982, they released a single "So Early In The Morning" on D.E.T.T Records, later reissued on diverse labels as 2.13.61 & Tuff City. Trouble Funk sometimes shared the stage with hardcore punk bands of the day such as Minor Threat and the Big Boys.
Trouble Funk's song "Pump Me Up" was sampled by many other artists, for example Dimple D's one-hit wonder "Sucker DJ," which went to #1 in Australia, Public Enemy's Fight The Power, Kurtis Blow If I Ruled The World and M.A.R.R.S. Pump Up The Volume. The song is also featured in the film Style Wars and on the fictional R&B radio station Wild Style in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."...
-snip-
A seldom acknowledged fact about Trouble Funk's 1982 song "Pump Me Up" is that it is probably the inspiration or one of the main inspirations for the children's cheerleader cheers entitled "Pump It Up" and other cheers and rhymes that include the saying "pump it up" as well as other sayings such as "pump up the volume".
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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up (1982)
veewee Uploaded on Dec 10, 2007
from their album "Drop The Bomb"
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Example #2: Trouble Funk at Strathmore Pump Me Up! 1 of 3
Chip Py, Published on Jul 25, 2013
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LYRICS- PUMP ME UP
(as recorded by Trouble Funk]
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
Like the man with the super 'S' on his cape
We're gonna jump to the funk
like we got no weight.
I'm DJ Rock and I can pass the test
Uh to get down the wit' the rappers
From the East to West
This party pleased, that party pleased
I'll pump them all with the greatest of ease
This is DJ Rock with the master beat
The boogie-oogie sound that moves your feet
Somebody say (Get up, get up)
Somebody say (Get up, get up)
You party good, you throwin' down
You complement this funky sound
The funk is here so you can groove
We want to make your body move
And that brother there, his name is Dyke
He's gonna hit you with the rest so you can boogie tonight
I say downtown shoppin' with some flashes in mind
Just listen here closely while I tell you my line
I'm slick Dyke can be very naughty
I'm known by the name sporty shorty
And when checkin' out the others that dress so mean
They put me in the mind of a Mr. Cardin
But Calvin Kline seems to come through
Until Yves St Laurent walks up to GQ
But that's not it, they still want more
So I send them down to Studio 54
Say Jordache, Bon’jour, Cassini, Sassoon,
I've got the jeans that make the tunes
Can you smile, in your style
with you're mouth, without
be cusin' with a big, because what can I do now?
Now you exit the store,
acting just like a jerk
But all he wants to see is your body work
(Work your body, work your body, work your body. Work your body)
(Work your body, work your body, work your body. Go all the way!)
(Work your body, work your body, work your body)
(Work your body, work your body, work, Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
Like Perry Mason gonna solve the case
You just listen to the sound of the funky bass
Like Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn
You're gonna boogie on-a down 'til the break of dawn
Like a party over here, a party over there
We got a party all in this atmosphere
You get wiggle your neck and stomp your feet
and boogie on down to da' funky beat
Well they call me Dick and that's my name
And funkin' around, it is my game
So funker's here da' thing you've got to have what it takes
And if you can't funk then those are the breaks
So "L's" are for squares you'd better get live
'Cos everyone's tryin' to get Funk-matized
And this is what you need and that's a fact
And with this you don't need no mac*-attack
So if you're out for lunch, just take a hunch
And boogie on down with the rest of the bunch
You should be bumpin' your behind all in the air
All over the where, just everywhere
And if you're on the dance floor and if you can't hang
Just sit on down and let us shake our thing
And if you still sittin' down and can't shake your rump, holler
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
You gotta
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
Everybody go
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
Pump it on up, pump it on up
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
I'm a put you on down on the one
So we can all get together and have some fun
I'm teller here, an' I'm teller there
I'm tellin', I'm tellin' I'm tellin' you now
Like Einstein the master mind,
All the women thought a dat he was shy
Like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Well they never miss a beat, they are right on time
Like Fat Albert when he wanna eat
It takes a lot of funky food ta' get him outta his seat
When the gang is down at the junkyard dump
Fat Albert is eatin' to the rythm of the bump.
Like Tarzan and Jane they're dancin' to the beat
And Boy, and Cheata, they're stompin' their feet
And if you still sittin' down and can't get up, holler
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
Source: http://www.songlyrics.com/trouble-funk/pump-me-up-lyrics/
-snip-
*The word "mack" is given here. That may be a typo as "mack" makes no sense and "mac attack" was a familiar phrase for having an intense desire for a MacDonald (fast food) hamburger or cheeseburger.
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SOME EXPLANATORY NOTES ABOUT THE LYRICS TO "PUMP ME UP"
Notes about these lyrics:
1."the man with the super 'S' on his cape = refers to the fictional character "Superman"
2."'ll pump them all with the greatest of ease" = "pump people up" means to get them excited, get them energized ("hyped"); "Pump me up" means "Get me excited" ("Get me hyped") [in this record] by the way you dance. "Pump me up" here probably also has a sexual connotation for men.
3. "when checkin' out the others that dress so mean" = observing others who dress really well in the latest fashions
4. "Mr. Cardin (Pierre Cardin), Calvin Kline, Yves St Laurent, Jordache, Bon’jour, Cassini, Sassoon" = brand names of luxury, expensive clothing & products [The singer is bragging by "dropping" the names of luxury brands]
5. "GQ" = considers itself and is largely considered to be "the definitive magazine for men's fashion and style news"
6. "Studio 54" = a world famous New York nightclub
7. "Perry Mason" = a fictional American television lawyer who wins all of his cases
8. "Little Boy Blue" = a character from Mother Goose nursery rhymes
9. "boogie on down" = dance
10. "da" = the
11."bumpin" = doing the R&B dance called "the bump" which is done by rhythmically hitting (bumping) your butt (also referred to as "behind" and "rump" in this song) next to your partner's butt.
12. "if you can't funk" = if you can't get funky (be hip, lose your inhibitions and dance to the music any way you want to)
13. "then those are the breaks" = a line from one of the earliest hit 1980's Rap song (Kurtis Blow's "These Are The Breaks"; in the context of Trouble Funk's song means "that's just how it is".
14. "taking an L" = falling down [on the ground] (from the phrase "getting lifted") [as per my daughter who remembered that slang term and gave another definition "getting "jacked up" or "messing up"
15."squares" = people who aren't hip (up to date with the latest street culture
16. "you'd better get live"= get hip (liven yourself up)
17. "you don't need no mac-attack" = You don't need to crave a McDonald hamburger or cheeseburger
18. "So if you're out for lunch" = if you don't understand
19. "just take a hunch" = something like "here's a clue"
20. "you can't hang" = you can't keep up with the other dancers
21. "let us shake our thing" = let us dance
22. "Einstein the master mind" = theoretical physicist Albert Einstein who developed the general theory of relativity
22. "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" = fictional characters in an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson; "Jekyll and Hyde" [has come to] o mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde.
23. Fat Albert = fictitious heavyset Black boy who was featured in comedian Bill Cosby's memories of his childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
24.Tarzan, Jane, Boy, and Cheata"= fictional characters developed by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs and portrayed in movies and television
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