The song that both David Bowie and James Brown stole

[jazzy_dave]

In the mid '70s, James Brown found himself at a crossroads. Musical tastes were changing and he wanted to stay relevant. So he took some inspiration, and arguably a little more, from the hottest musician on Earth at the time: David Bowie.

In late 1974, David Bowie made an appearance on the extremely popular Dick Cavett Show. James Brown was watching and was struck by two things. First, he saw a familiar face, that of guitarist Carlos Alomar, who quit James Brown's band five years before. Second, he heard an amazingly funky riff that Alomar was playing. Bowie was covering a song by Alomar's old band called "Footstompin'."

David Bowie 'Footstompin' / I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate'.

Alomar later allowed Bowie to re-work the song and with a helping hand from John Lennon, eventually the song became Bowie's hit, "Fame."

David Bowie performs "Fame" on Soul Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW9x7OkwpxA&ab_channel=globalimageworks

At the same time, the Godfather of Soul was in the studio, and he couldn't help himself. He ripped Alomar's riff off, note for note. The resulting song was called "Hot (I Need To Be Loved)."

James Brown's record label, Polydor rushed to release it, beating David Bowie to the punch. So when Bowie finally got around to releasing "Fame", anyone who missed the Dick Cavett performance accused him of ripping off James Brown!

The irony is, both men, who are regarded as geniuses, took the idea from Carlos Alomar.

"Hot (I Need To Be Loved)" is one of the strangest and most controversial songs from James Brown's catalog.

{Rear View Mirror}

Comments

[kaishin108.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely WILD! Thanks for sharing :-)

david bowie r.i.p.

[pigshitpoet.livejournal.com]

amen, mr spaceman!

foot stompin' good - i never heard bowie doing funkafied r&b before, and the james brown dancers are a treat!

alomar plays live like a beast on this beauty!



i guess that would be the funk alomar sound

maybe brown was jealous bowie was stealing his black (& white) audience?

; )
.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Did Carlos Alomar ever take James Brown to court?
Hugs, Jon

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I doubt it.

[bobby1933.livejournal.com]

And (wish i could shimmy like my) "Sister Kate" was written by Clarence Williams and Armand Pirron before 1919 (i remember hearing it in the 1940s). Wikipedia says they probably took it from Louis Armstrong. "Kate" might be Kate Townsend, a madam from Armstrong's youth.

[ladyblue56.livejournal.com]

The irony is, both men, who are regarded as geniuses, took the idea from Carlos Alomar.

I did not know this about the songs, don't remember there being a claim of Bowie ripping off James Brown. That was some awesome riff though! The Brown song I could not listen to all the way through though, whereas "Fame" I could listen to several times in a row (and I did!) w.out tiring of the sound.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Hee!! Love that the music world was all about 'sharing' and 'inspiring' at one time, lol!

*HUGS*

[vortex.livejournal.com]

How do we know that Alomar didn't rip the song riff off from James Brown in the first place?...
*edited to change song to riff*

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I don't have time to watch your vids or look up my recommendation as I've got to get ready for work, but there's a girl duet band called The Ditty Bops who covered Sister Kate, you might want to look it up as I'd class it as really good.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Silly me ... I'm completely distracted by the backup singer on the right being on the wrong foot the entire song in the first clip.

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen that first vid before and I love it! Brilliant.