"Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." is a

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 ...

song by James Brown and his Famous Flames. Released in 1962 as a single by King Records, it reached #82 on the

Pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

and #21 on the

R&B chart 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 ...

.White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In ''Star Time'' (pp. 54–59) D booklet New York: PolyGram Records. The title refers to the

Mashed Potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

dance popular at the time. The song is a

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...

set over a strummed guitar/organ riff with a muted trumpet providing a jazz counterpoint to the vocal delivery. The bridge consists of the entire band repeating a two-chord riff. In the song, Brown asserts "Here I am and I'm back again," then states his plan to bring the mashed potatoes to the cities he will tour. He then name checks his itinerary, starting with

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and ending with his home town,

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

References

{{authority control 1962 singles James Brown songs 1962 songs Songs written by James Brown King Records (United States) singles

See also

References