For the 1970 film starring Charles Bronson see Cold Sweat (1970 film)

"Cold Sweat" is a song performed by James Brown and written by his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis. Brown recorded it in May 1967. An edited version of "Cold Sweat" released as a two-part single on King Records was a #1 R&B hit. A complete version of the song, over 7 minutes long, was included on the album Cold Sweat. A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... Alfred Pee Wee Ellis (born 1941 in Bradenton, Florida) is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... A record chart, also known as a music chart, is a method of ranking music according to popularity during a given period of time. ... Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, formerly known as Top Soul Singles, Top Black Singles, and Top R&B Singles (before the hip-hop term was added in the late 1990s), is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. ... The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. ... 1970 film starring Charles Bronson Category: ... A song is a relatively short musical composition. ... James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006), commonly referred to as The Godfather of Soul and The Hardest Working Man in Show Business, was an American entertainer recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music. ... A bandleader is the director of a band of musicians. ... Alfred Pee Wee Ellis (born 1941 in Bradenton, Florida) is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. ... See also: 1966 in music, other events of 1967, 1968 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music 1967 was an important year for psychedelic music, with releases from The Doors (The Doors, Strange Days), Jefferson Airplane (Surrealistic Pillow), the Beatles Sgt. ... A collection of various CD singles In music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. ... U.S. King Records logo King Records was a United States based record label, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan, specializing in country music, at the time still known as Hillbilly music. King advertised If its a King, Its a Hillbilly -- If its... Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, formerly known as Top Soul Singles, Top Black Singles, and Top R&B Singles (before the hip-hop term was added in the late 1990s), is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks distributed to the public. ...

In the song's lyrics Brown protests that he doesn't care about his woman's past or faults, and testifies that with even her slightest display of affection toward him "I break out in a cold sweat."

Creation

In an interview with Down Beat magazine, Ellis described the circumstances of the song's creation: Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to jazz. ...

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was one of the most distinguished jazz musicians of the latter half of the 20th century. ... Opening measures of Miles Daviss composition So What of 1959. ... Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously taped musical recording. ...

Characteristics

Like "Out of Sight" (1964) and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1965), "Cold Sweat" was a watershed event in the evolution of funk music. As in the earlier songs, all the band's instruments (horns, guitars, etc.) are used percussively in "Cold Sweat," and overwhelming emphasis is put on the first beat of every measure ("on the one"). But while "Out of Sight" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" are based on a conventional twelve bar blues chord progression, "Cold Sweat" has only one definite chord change, a move to the subdominant at the bridge. It is the first recording in which Brown calls for a drum solo ("give the drummer some") from Clyde Stubblefield, beginning the tradition of rhythmic "breaks" that would become important in dance music. It also features a saxophone solo by Maceo Parker. See also: 1963 in music, other events of 1964, 1965 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 1 - Top of the Pops premieres on BBC television. ... Papas Got a Brand New Bag is a 1965 recording by James Brown. ... See also: 1964 in music, other events of 1965, 1966 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // January 4 - Fender Guitars is sold to CBS for $13 million. ... Funk is an African American musical style. ... A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... The 12-bar blues has a distinctive form in both lyrics and chord structure. ... A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in order. ... Typical fingering for a second inversion C major chord on a guitar. ... In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. ... In popular music, especially occidental, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Clyde Stubblefield is a drummer best known for his work with James Brown. ... This article is about breakbeat, the genre. ... The saxophone (colloquially referred to as sax) is a conical-bored instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece like the clarinet. ... In music, solo means to play or sing alone. ... Maceo Parker (born February 14, 1943) is a noted African American funk and soul jazz saxophone player, best known for his contributions to James Browns distinct sound. ...

Impact

"Cold Sweat" was recognized as a radical departure from conventional songwriting at the time of its release; it is sometimes cited as the first true funk song.^[2][3] Jerry Wexler recalled that "'Cold Sweat' deeply affected the musicians I knew. It just freaked them out. No one could get a handle on what to do next."^[4] Cliff White described it as "divorced from other forms of popular music."^[5] Some musicians criticized it as simplistic. Fred Wesley recalled that before he joined Brown's band he "was very unimpressed with ['Cold Sweat']. . . It only had one change, the words made no sense at all, and the bridge was musically incorrect."^[6] Critic Dave Marsh, while acknowledging the song as pivotal, argued that "the post-'Cold Sweat' de-emphasis of melody" was partly responsible for a "decline in the number of genuinely memorable songs" in the years since its release.^[7] Nevertheless, Brown would continue to use the rhythmically intense, harmonically static template pioneered on "Cold Sweat" as the basis for a large proportion of his later recordings. Other musicians followed his lead, and by the early 1970s funk had emerged as a full-fledged genre. Jerome Jerry Wexler (born 10 January 1917) is a music journalist turned highly influential music producer, and is regarded as one of the major record industry players behind 1960s soul music. ... Fred Wesley (born 1943) is an American jazz and funk trombonist. ... Dave Marsh (born 1950) is an American music critic. ... // This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Like many of Brown's funk hits, "Cold Sweat" has been extensively sampled by hip hop DJs and producers. Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ...

Other versions

"Cold Sweat" has been covered by various bands and musicians, notably Mongo Santamaria. Brown himself recorded a jazz-inflected version of "Cold Sweat" with the Dee Felice Trio for his 1969 album Gettin' Down to It. In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. ... Ramón Mongo Santamaría (April 7, 1922 – February 1, 2003) was an Afro-Cuban drummer. ... Jazz is a musical art form that originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States around the start of the 20th century. ... See also: 1968 in music, other events of 1969, 1970 in music, 1960s in music and the list of years in music // Perhaps the most famous musical events of 1969 are two legendary concerts. ...

Personnel

• James Brown - lead vocal

with the James Brown Orchestra:

• Waymond Reed - trumpet
• Joe Dupars - trumpet
• Levi Rasbury - trombone
• Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis - alto saxophone
• Maceo Parker - tenor saxophone
• Eldee Williams - tenor saxophone
• St. Clair Pinckney - baritone saxophone
• Jimmy Nolen - guitar
• Alphonso "Country" Kellum - guitar
• Bernard Odum - bass
• Clyde Stubblefield - drums

Produced by James Brown For Trumpet Winsock, see Winsock. ... The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A Yanagisawa tenor sax. ... St. ... The baritone saxophone is one of the larger and lower pitched members of the saxophone family. ... Jimmy Nolen (April 3, 1934 — December 18 1983) is an American guitarist known for his distinctive chicken scratch rhythm guitar playing in James Browns bands. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case. ... A drum kit (or drum set or trap set) is mostly a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer. ...

Citations

1. ^ James Brown's Musicians Reflect On His Legacy. Down Beat. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
2. ^ Nelson George, The Death of Rhythm & Blues (New York: Pantheon Books, 1988), 101.
3. ^ Rickey Vincent, Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1996), 123.
4. ^ Vincent, Funk, 123.
5. ^ Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), 242.
6. ^ Fred Wesley Jr., Hit Me, Fred: Recollections of a Sideman (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002), 80.
7. ^ Dave Marsh, The Heart of Rock & Soul : The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (New York: New American Library, 1989), 451.

References

• Leeds, Alan M., and Harry Weinger (1991). Star Time: Song by Song. In Star Time (pp. 46-53) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.

• White, Cliff (1991). Discography. In Star Time (pp. 54-59) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.

External links

• "Cold Sweat" lyrics
• List of songs that sample "Cold Sweat"
• "Cold Sweat" song review from allmusic.com