Mother Popcorn
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Mother Popcorn (You Got to Have a Mother for Me)", commonly referred to as "Mother Popcorn", is a song recorded by James Brown and released as a two-part single in 1969. A #1 R&B and #11 Pop hit It was the highest-charting of a series of recordings inspired by the popular dance The Popcorn which Brown made that year. Other entries included "Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn" and an album of instrumentals, The Popcorn.
"Mother Popcorn" has a beat and structure similar to Brown's 1967 hit "Cold Sweat", but a faster tempo and a greater amount of rhythmic activity (including a lot of agitated 16th note movement from the horn section and the three guitars) give it a more frenetic quality than the earlier song. Critic Robert Christgau identifies "Mother Popcorn" as the turning point in Brown's funk music in which he "began to concern himself more and more exclusively with rhythmic distinctions."
The song was covered as an instrumental by Lee Perry as "Pop Corn" on Eastwood Rides Again.
