Sly and the Family Stone Performing "Stand" & Five Of Their Other Hit Funk Songs From The Late 1960s & The Early 1980s

The Midnight Special, Dec 1, 2024

August 9, 1974

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases five YouTube videos of Sly & The Family Stone performing six of their hit songs (presented in no particular order: "Stand";  

Information about Sly & The Family Stone is also included in this post.

The content of this pancocojams post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Sly & The Family Stones for the musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

Rest in Peace, Sly Stone.

Also, Rest in Peace Brian Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025), musician, songwriter, & singer who founded the Rock/Pop group The Beach Boys  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson

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INFORMATION ABOUT SLY and THE FAMILY STONE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_Stone
"Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development of psychedelic soul and funk with his pioneering fusion of soul, rock, psychedelia, and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. AllMusic stated that "James Brown may have invented funk, but Sly Stone perfected it," and credited him with "creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds".[3] Crawdaddy! has credited him as the founder of the "progressive soul" movement.[4]"...

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_and_the_Family_Stone 
"Sly and the Family Stone was an American funk rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. They are considered to be pivotal in the development of funk, soul, R&B, rock, and psychedelic music. Their core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and included Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. The band was the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup.[2]

Formed in 1966, the group's music synthesized a variety of disparate musical genres to help pioneer the emerging "psychedelic soul" sound.[1][4] They released a series of Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits such as "Dance to the Music" (1968), "Everyday People" (1968), and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (1969), as well as critically acclaimed albums such as Stand! (1969), which combined pop sensibility with social commentary.[5] In the 1970s, it transitioned into a darker and less commercial funk sound on releases such as There's a Riot Goin' On (1971) and Fresh (1973), proving as influential as their early work.[2] By 1975, drug problems and interpersonal clashes led to dissolution,[6] though Sly continued to record and tour with a new rotating lineup under the name "Sly and the Family Stone" until drug problems forced his effective retirement in 1987.[7]

The work of Sly and the Family Stone influenced the sound of subsequent American funk, pop, soul, R&B, and hip hop music. Music critic Joel Selvin wrote, "there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone".[8] In 2010, they were ranked 43rd in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,[9] and three of their albums are included on the most recent version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993."..

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS 
These YouTube videos are presented in no particular order.

SHOWCASE VIDEO #1
This video is given at the top of this post.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Sly & The Family Stone "I Want To Take You Higher" LIVE on U.S. TV 7/74

RockShorts, Mar 15, 2012

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - NEW * Sly & The Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) {4K-Stereo} 1969

Smurfstools Oldies Music Time Machine, Feb 3, 2023

"Rest In Peace, Sly.

1969-70......#1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #1 U.S. Billboard Soul

Original video edited and AI remastered with HQ stereo sound.

"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone.  The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 19 song of 1970.

The title is an intentional mondegreen or sensational spelling for "thank you for letting me be myself again."  The third verse contains specific references to the group's previous successful songs, "Dance to the Music", "Everyday People", "Sing a Simple Song", and "You Can Make It If You Try".  The song features co-lead vocals from Sly Stone, Rose Stone, Freddie Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, Greg Errico and Larry Graham.  On this song, Graham was widely credited with introducing the slap technique on the electric bass, which is heard prominently throughout the track.

"Thank You" was intended to be included on an in-progress album with "Star" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime"; but the LP was never completed, and the three tracks were instead included on the band's 1970 Greatest Hits LP.  "Thank You" and "Star", the final Family Stone recordings issued in the 1960s, marked the beginning of a 20-month gap of releases from the band, which would finally end with the release of "Family Affair" in 1971.

The song's length on the original hit single and the Greatest Hits LP is 4:48 and was re-channeled to simulate stereo on the popular Greatest Hits LP.  The previously unreleased full-length version (6:18) was mixed by Bob Irwin in true stereo and its only issue was on a 1990 Columbia promotional CD Legacy: Music for the Next Generation.  On the subsequent (and available as of 2015) The Essential Sly & The Family Stone 2-CD set, the track is in stereo but is the standard 4:48 length hit version.

The song was ranked number 410 on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Janet Jackson's 1989 signature song "Rhythm Nation" is based on a guitar sample from the song.

The song was followed by a re-working on the closing track, "Thank You for Talkin' to Me, Africa", from the group's subsequent 1971 album, There's A Riot Goin' On."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 - Sly & The Family Stone "Everyday People & Dance To The Music" on The Ed Sullivan Show

The Ed Sullivan Show Feb 16, 2021

#EdSullivan #Sly #SlyTheFamilyStone

Sly & The Family Stone "Everyday People & Dance To The Music" on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 29, 1968

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 - Hot Fun In The SummerTime - Sly & The Family Stone

B Crittenden Freeman, Oct 11, 2023

"on Television, 1969"

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