"Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" is a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

song written 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 honor ...

and

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader and talent scout, who played an integral and important part in the development ...

. Recorded in 1970 by Brown and the original J.B.'s with Byrd on

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

and updated with a new melody, it was twice released as a two-part

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1972. It also appeared on the album '' There It Is''.

Background

Critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

called it "the loosest and most infectious of Brown's many socially conscious jams." It is in this song we learn that Brown originally envisioned rapping as

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

. The original version was more rock-oriented and featured on The Singles Vol Six, 1969-1970. According to Brown, "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" was "aimed at the politicians who were running their mouths but had no knowledge of what life was like for a lot of people in

he United States He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

as well as "some of the cats on their soapboxes... who were telling the people one thing while manipulating their emotions for personal gain." Biographer RJ Smith described it as "an open criticism of self-styled arbiters of racial justice" who attacked Brown for his often-heterodox political stances. In the middle of the song Brown orders all the band members to temporarily stop playing while he and Byrd maintain the rhythm using their voices alone - an early example of a dance music

breakdown Breakdown may refer to: Breaking down *Breakdown (vehicle), failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that it cannot be operated *Chemical decomposition, also called chemical breakdown, the breakdown of a substance into simpler components *Decompo ...

Personnel

* James Brown - lead vocal ''with The J.B.'s:'' * Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells - trumpet * Darryl "Hassan" Jamison - trumpet * Robert McCollough - tenor saxophone * St. Clair Pinckney - baritone saxophone * Bobby Byrd - organ, vocal *

Phelps "Catfish" Collins Phelps "Catfish" Collins (October 17, 1943 – August 6, 2010) was an American musician. A lead guitarist and rhythm guitarist, he is known mostly for his work in the P-Funk collective. Although frequently overshadowed by his younger brother, ...

- guitar *

William "Bootsy" Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist and singer. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins established himself as one of the leading n ...

- bass *

John "Jabo" Starks John Henry "Jabo" Starks (; October 26, 1937Sources vary as to his year of birth. According to his obituary, published by Mobile Register, Starks was born on October 26, 1937; The New York Times gives 1938 – May 1, 2018), sometimes spelled Jab' ...

- drums * Johnny Griggs - congas

Chart positions

"Talkin' Loud and Saying Nothing"reached number one 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 twenty-seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the spring of that year.White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In ''Star Time'' (pp. 54–59) D booklet New York: PolyGram Records.

Withdrawn version

Brown recorded a blues-rock oriented version of the song on February 26, 1970 at the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

studios in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. His backup band on this version consisted of his arranger David Matthews on

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, Kenny Poole on fuzz guitar, Michael Moore (who later played on Brown's 1972 hit "

King Heroin "King Heroin" is an anti-drug song by James Brown, David Matthews, Manny Rosen and Charles Bobbit. Brown recorded this poem set to music at a studio in New York with session musicians in January 1972 and released it as a single in March. It was ...

") on bass, and Jimmy Madison on drums. This group would record one album under the name The Grodeck Whipperjenny for Brown's

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

label, and back Brown on his final King album in 1971, '' Sho' Is Funky Down Here''. This version, split in two parts, was scheduled for release on King 45-P-6359, and several copies were pressed on both white and black labels, but the record was withdrawn from release before it could be distributed. (The J.B.'s-backed version was to have been concurrently released as 45-S-6359, but no copies of this variation are known to exist.) The full version (5:07) of this blues-rock rendition was issued in 2000 on the compilation CD ''James Brown's Funky People: Volume 3''.

Other versions

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed version of "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" was included on the 1986 James Brown

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

In the Jungle Groove ''In the Jungle Groove'' is a compilation album by American funk musician James Brown, released in August 1986 by Polydor Records.Grein, Paul.Hot Summer Releases on the Way. '' Billboard'': 77. August 2, 1986. Background Originally issued to ...

''. A longer version of the song (9:28) is included in the '' Star Time''

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 ...

. The complete version of the song (14:42) was released in 1996 on the compilation CD '' Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang''.

Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). S ...

recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

in 1991 for their ''

Biscuits A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also b ...

'' EP.

References

External links

AllMusic review
{{James Brown singles 1972 singles James Brown songs Songs written by James Brown Songs written by Bobby Byrd 1972 songs Polydor Records singles