Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove

The Whole Funk, Nothin' But the Funk

1. The Triangulum Galaxy is some 2.7 million light-years from our little blue and green oblate spheroid. Deep in its spiral center is a planet, a lovely little planet, known in interplanetary circles as Lovetron. It is home to a diverse variety of alien life. Throbbasonic Funkgeetarists roam freely, boogalooing down the boulevards. Rotofunkie Drum & Percussionatin’ Thumpdans in the company of Bass Thumpasaurians groove delicious. Blamgusta Vocaloids, Keybo’ Dans, and Synthezoidees fill the wide and funky fields of Lovetron locked in eternal groovalicious bliss. In 1968, a mothership of Lovetronians, piloted by Funkonaut Number One whose name (very) roughly translated from Lovetronish is George Clinton, landed in America and unloaded its precious cargo. Hippies in San Francisco sent a distress message out in ‘67 to nearby galaxies and Lovetron answered the SOS. It took them several years before they managed to condense all that perfectly formed Lovetronian funk into one intoxicating brew that earthlings could safely consume (fragile digestive systems and reduced mental capacity and all). The Lovetronians formed two landing parties, Parliament and Funkadelic to share their message. In truth, this was merely a smokescreen. They were actually one and the same. A Lovetronian elder (name roughly translated from Lovetronish: James, Jimmy, or Jimi Hendrix) advised them to add heavy, psychedelic guitar to one of the landing parties to satisfy some of the Earthlings who weren’t yet ready for a full alien invasion. Parliament and Funkadelic each made tremendous headway, slowly gaining control of heads, hips, and asses the world over.

2. The fundamental concepts behind Funkadelic’s mental and physical call to arms Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow from 1970 is made fully manifest with 1978’s One Nation Under a Groove. Like James Brown and Count Basie before them, both true believers in the power of music to move your ass, the principle holds: play a groove so infectious, so sublimely dope, so thick and full of joie de vivre that any chance of violence and hate is swept aside in favor of the funk. George Clinton just decided to get busy and take the whole planet with him. This is an anthem for those who want or need to leave behind their boundaries - personal, political, sexual - and just get down for the funk of it, and certainly not in any fierce or militant sense. There is no place for that on this song or the record as a whole.

   Here's a chance to dance our way
   Out of our constrictions

   -Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove

   The ultimate undoing of the people who sent the distress message, the Hippies, was one they simply could not control: time. Time remains undefeated. Altamont and the Manson Family happened, The Vietnam War ended, and time played its hand. The Hippies were merely human and eventually, they had to grow up. The movement had ended. The Funk is forever. The Funk is a revolution, and as such, it keeps coming back around. This is why One Nation Under a Groove, with all the trappings of the Hippies but none of the mortality, endures. Some conspiracy theorists speculate as to whether or not ancient aliens helped humankind craft the Great Pyramids of Giza and other structures. I’m ambivalent about that idea. I already know this silly little planet has been graced by Lovetronians (Sly Stone, Jimi, Prince, Outkast, et al.) and they built many spectacular things.

3. Those same conspiracy enthusiasts will often espouse a hair-brained idea about a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda conspiring to achieve world domination through some kind of New World Order. Funkadelic had their own ideas for a global agenda without any of that pesky subjugation or exploitation.

   The one which we believe in (one nation under a groove)
   Gonna get in on my good foot, good God (gettin' down just for the funk)
   'Bout time I got down one time (one nation and we're on the move)
   Nothin' can stop us now

   -Funkadelic, One Nation Under a Groove

   If only John Lennon could have imagined the funk he might have foreseen what George Clinton and Company had in mind. The language of the Lovetronian people is rooted in math and music because those two disciplines are universal, as such Funkadelic is universal, standing for physical freedom and metaphysical bliss. This was certainly not uncharted territory for Funkadelic or Parliament, but it is executed on One Nation with the most clarity of vision - the finest distillation of their purpose. There’s no conspiratorial conjecture here, no secretive conglomerate. Parliament and Funkadelic were quite upfront and direct about their intent. In this madcap era of alleged world domination plots, one nation under a groove is one I’ll happily accept.

   *The original Funkadelic album One Nation Under a Groove is not available on Spotify or other streaming platforms due to licensing agreement issues. This version is identical.*