Cosmic Slop
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Cosmic Slop is a 1973 album by Funkadelic, released on Westbound Records (also a later compilation--see Funkadelic compilations).
The songs can be divided, approximately in half, as being straightforward R&B-sounding love songs and deep, philosophical and political songs ("This Broken Heart" vs "Cosmic Slop"). Bernie Worrell's keyboards are of particular interest, as they foreshadow some of his future innovations in that instrument. Pedro Bell (who did most of the Funkadelic album covers, starting with this one) drew small pictures next to each song in the liner notes, sylistically describing the crux of the song.
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Track Listing
- "Nappy Dugout" (George Clinton, Cordell Mosson, Garry Shider)
- "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure" (Clinton, Sidney Barnes)
- "March to the Witch's Castle" (Clinton)
- "Let's Make It Last" (Clinton, Eddie Hazel)
- "Cosmic Slop" (Clinton, Bernie Worrell)
- "No Compute" (Clinton, Shider)
- "This Broken Heart" (W. Franklin ???)
- "Trash A-Go-Go" (Clinton)
- "Can't Stand the Strain" (Clinton, Hazel)
Personnel
- Keyboards & Melodica: Bernard Worrell
- Bass: Boogie Mosson
- Percussion: Tyrone Lampkin
- Lead & Rhythm Guitar: Garry Shider
- Lead & Rhythm Guitar: Ron Bykowski
- Drums: Tiki Fulwood
Songs
"Cosmic Slop"
This is one of the most popular P Funk songs among fans of the group, and is often played in live shows. One live version (which is not very popular among Funkadelic fans) appeared on the 1976 album Hardcore Jollies. George Clinton later compared himself to the subject of the song (a woman who becomes a prostitute to feed her children) because he was forced to use his celebrity-status in commercials (such as for the IMac) due to severe financial difficulties.
This song continues the progression begun on Maggot Brain towards a hard rock/heavy metal style of funk.
This song is about a woman forced into prostitution in order to take care of her five children, who are unaware of their poverty and their mother's desperate measures. She begs the listener to understand why she has chosen prostitution.
- Lead Vocals: Garry Shider
- Guitars: Garry Shider, Ron Bykowski
"Nappy Dugout"
The lyrics to this song are inscrutable, and seem to exist primarily as window-dressing to focus attention on the music.
- Drums: Tiki Fulwood (his first appearance with Funkadelic)
"You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure"
The singer explains why he is sad, because his woman has left him for someone else. He claims to have noticed water in his house and called a plumber, who told him that the water did not come from his sink, but from his tears. He also claims his "nerves are shot" and he has devoured most of his fingernails in his pain.
- Lead Vocals: George Clinton, Ray Davis, Garry Shider
"March to the Witch's Castle"
This was one of the first P Funk songs to deal with the Vietnam War.
A very overtly political song, "March to the Witch's Castle" concerns the tribulations of Vietnam veterans coming home to the United States, and deals with adjusting to a non-wartime society and addiction. The soldier has become addicted (presumably to heroin) and found that his wife, thinking he was dead, married someone else. The soldier did not understand why he was fighting the war, and why he gave so much of his life to fighting abstract concepts that he cared little about.
- Lead Vocals: George Clinton
"Let's Make It Last"
The singer of this song proclaims his desire for a long-standing love instead of a temporary fling.
- Lead Vocals: Garry Shider
"No Compute"
The singer awakens from a wet dream horny, and goes in search of a sexual partner. He finds a woman, who agrees but express worry over the possibility of getting pregnant. The singer says "spit don't make babies" and the woman agrees. Afterwards, her wig is half-off, and the singer has "the filthies." Some interpret this to mean the woman was a transvestite.
- Lead Vocals: George Clinton
"This Broken Heart"
This is a cover of The Sonics song by the same name.
The singer proclaims his love for a woman, and asks if she is planning on leaving him. He claims that no one will ever love her as much as he does.
- Strings: Bernie Worrell
- Lead Vocals: Calvin Simon
- Drums: Geezer McGee (disputed)
"Trash-A-Go-Go"
The singer is a man who is on trial for having pimped his girlfriend out as a prostitute. The judge and jury are not sympathetic, though he claims to love her deeply. He receives ten to twenty years in the prison.
"Can't Stand the Strain"
The singer of this song is suspicious that his lover is planning on leaving him, and he begs her not to be cause he will not be able to withstand the strain of his sadness if she did.
- Lead Vocals: Garry Shider
Critical response
- "A slightly more scattershot album than the group's other early efforts" but "Cosmic Slop still has plenty to like about it" The All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aaifixqy5ldfe)
External links
- the Motherpage (http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/albums_funkadelic/alb-cslop.html)