''Bill Cosby Is Not Himself These Days - Rat Own, Rat Own, Rat Own'' (1976) is a musical comedy album by

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

. He parodies various

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

artists including

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

and

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

. The songs were written with producer and keyboardist

Stu Gardner Stuart Gardner is an American musician and composer. He is known for his collaborations with Bill Cosby, and for co-writing "Kiss Me", the theme song of Cosby's sitcom ''The Cosby Show''. He produced the album '' A House Full of Love: Music fro ...

. This is also his first album on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, his fourth musical album release overall (not counting the 1971 band project ''

Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band ''Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band'' (1971) is an album by Bill Cosby. It is an instrumental jazz-funk album in which Cosby plays electric piano. It is his third musical album release. The first track is a tribute to Ma ...

'' and its 1972 sequel).

Background

For nine years, Cosby released at least an album a year, starting in 1964. After a three-year hiatus, this was his first comedy album since 1973's ''

Fat Albert ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' is an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Film ...

'', albeit in musical form, and he wouldn't return to a full-fledged stand-up album again until 1977's '' My Father Confused Me... What Must I Do? What Must I Do?''. The first single, "Yes, Yes, Yes", became one of Cosby's biggest charted hits after "

Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright) "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" is the debut single by comedian Bill Cosby, released in 1967 from the entertainer's first musical comedy album, '' Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings''. On the 1968 album ''200 M.P.H.'', Cosby states t ...

", reaching number 46 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 11 on the ''Billboard''

singles chart. The song spoofed Barry White's deep-voiced spoken word monologues. "Ben" was sampled by

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 is an American alternative hip hop group formed in 1994 by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup aka Zaakir), Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mark Potsic (DJ Nu-Mark) and Lucas Macf ...

on their 2002 song "After School Special".

Track listing

# " Yes, Yes, Yes" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:21 # "Chick on the Side" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:20 # "Shift Down" – (Cosby/Gardner/Lansbury) – 4:07 # "I Luv Myself Better Than I Luv Myself" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 6:00 # "Do It to Me" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:22 # "Ben" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:22 # "You're Driving Me Crazy" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:59 # "Garbage Truck Lady" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 2:38 # "Luv Is" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:13

Personnel

Ollie E. Brown Ollie E. Brown (sometimes credited as simply Ollie Brown) (born April 20, 1953) is an American drummer, percussionist, record producer, and high-school basketball coach. A prolific session musician, Brown has performed on over a hundred albums in ...

– drums * Bill Cosby – vocals * Tony Drake – guitar * Larry Farrow – keyboards *

– piano * Al Hall, Jr. – trombone * Fred Jackson, Jr. – saxophone * Melvin Moore – trumpet * Nate Neblett – drums *

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

– bass, guitar * Doug Richardson – flute, saxophone * David Sheilds – bass *

Wah Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvi ...

– guitar

References

{{Authority control 1976 albums Bill Cosby albums Capitol Records albums 1970s comedy albums