"Doing It to Death", also known as "Gonna Have a Funky Good Time", is a funk song recorded by The J.B.'s featuring James Brown. It was released as a single in 1973 and peaked at number one on the soul singles chart and number twenty-two on the Hot 100. Although the song has a lead vocal by Brown (who also wrote the tune and the lyrics), the recording is credited to "Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s". It was the first J.B.'s recording to feature saxophonist Maceo Parker, who had returned to work with Brown again after attempting a career as a bandleader.
Unusually for a James Brown song, the actual words "doing it to death" appear nowhere in the song's lyrics, which feature the hook "we're gonna have a funky good time." The title came from a figure of speech used by Fred Wesley.
A 10-minute, two-part version of "Doing It to Death" was included on a J.B.'s album of the same name. The complete, unedited and nearly 13-minute long original recording of the song was first issued on the 1995 J.B.'s compilation Funky Good Time: The Anthology.
"Doing It to Death" contains an uncommon key change in which Brown tells the band to modulate downward from F to D ("In order for me to get down, I have to get down in D"). Composers who place key changes in tunes typically have them modulate upwards.
Read more about Doing It To Death: Personnel
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die!”
—John Donne (c. 15721631)