"King Heroin" is an anti-drug song by

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 hono ...

, David Matthews, Manny Rosen and Charles Bobbit. Brown recorded this poem set to music at a studio in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

with session musicians in January 1972 and released it as a single in March. It was his fifth single for

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

and reached number six on the U.S.

Hot Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart and number 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the spring. The song was included on Brown's 1972 album '' There It Is''.

Background

The poem was originally written by Rosen, who worked at the Stage Delicatessen on Seventh Avenue in midtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. It was written from the point of view of the drug, and explained in graphic detail by

first-person narrative A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-telle ...

the effects heroin addiction has on people who use it, from

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

s neglecting their looks, to "the most virile of men losing their sex," to committing murder, to

cold turkey "Cold turkey" refers to the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience, as opposed to gradually easing the process through reduction over time or by using replacement medication. Sudden withdrawal from dru ...

withdrawal. Rosen's poem was then set to music by Brown, his arranger David Matthews, and Brown's manager Charles Bobbit. Brown added an intro to start off the piece, referring to heroin as "one of our most deadly killers in the country today"; and towards the end, he noted, "This is a revolution of the mind" – referring to the title of his 1971 live concert album recorded at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a ...

in New York. "King Heroin" was another of Brown's stabs of

socially conscious Social consciousness or social awareness, is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.Don't Be a Drop-Out" and " Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud." His

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc ...

style on this song is also considered to be a forerunner of

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. An advertisement for the single said "Play this record. To your station it means 3 minutes and 58 seconds. To some listener it may mean a lifetime."

Personnel

* James Brown - lead vocal ''with studio band:'' * Danny Stiles - trumpet *

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One ...

- trumpet * Jimmy Buffington - French horn * Joe Farrell - flute, tenor saxophone, English horn *

Seldon Powell Seldon Powell (15 November 1928 – 25 January 1997) was an American soul jazz, swing, and R&B tenor saxophonist and flautist born in Lawrenceville, Virginia. He worked with Tab Smith (1949), Lucky Millinder (1949–51), Neal Hefti, and L ...

- flute, tenor saxophone *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

- organ * Sam Brown - guitar * Joe Beck - guitar *

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

- bass *

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was inducted into the ''Mode ...

- drums

Chart positions

Other versions and uses

The song was included in the 1991

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

'' Star Time'' and the 1996 compilation CD '' Make It Funky – The Big Payback: 1971–1975''. The song was

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

ed by James Chance and The Contortions in 1981,

Van Hunt Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, '' Van Hunt'', in 2004, and a follow-up, '' On the Jungle Floor'', in 2006, both on Capitol Records. He won t ...

in 2006, and The Scallions (featuring The Impossebulls) in 2007. Among the songs that

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

"King Heroin" were Truth Hurts' 2010 recording "Smoke,"

J Dilla J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...

's 2010 release "Heroin Joint,"

Quetzal Quetzals () are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus ''Pharomachrus'' being exclusively Neotropical, while a single species, the eared q ...

's 2009 record "I Need the Street (Pernety Blues)," D'Nell's 2005 record "Different Day,"

Deichkind Deichkind (, literally '' Dyke Child'') is a German electropunk band formed in Hamburg in 1997. Current members are “Kryptik Joe” alias Philipp Grütering (rapper/songwriter), Henning “DJ Phono” Besser (DJ), Sebastian “Porky” Dürre ...

's 2000 release "Slangdaddy." and Home Brew's 2012 recording "Radio" and "Radio Outro." The German band Virus recorded an organ-heavy rock cover of the song on their album Thoughts (1971) and released an edited version of the song as a 7".Discogs
(Virus were a psychedelic band originating from Bielefeld in Northern Germany, their history is not well documented)

References

External links

Song review
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

{{authority control 1972 singles James Brown songs Songs written by James Brown Songs about heroin 1972 songs Polydor Records singles Songs written by David Matthews (keyboardist)