Get 2 That, Part 1

This playlist is a celebration of funk music from the 1960s and the 1970s. I thank my wife for getting me into the genre of music. During the early years of our marriage, we would host funk parties at our apartment in Baltimore and our flat in Seoul. It always got our friends dancing for hours on end. This playlist doesn't really represent the music played at those parties. I see it as a nice synthesis of influences from my wife's musical tastes, my father's musical tastes, and the popular funk music that bridges those two. When I need to get out of an emotional funk, I whip out this playlist and play it to knock me into a higher groove.

Playlist

1. "Can You Get to That" from Funkadelic's 1971 album Maggot Brain. A great song to kick off a two-part playlist.
2. "Aht Uh Mi Head" from Shuggie Otis' 1974 album Inspiration Information. I discovered Shuggie Otis too late in life, although I have been a big fan of "Strawberry Letter 23" for a long time.
3. "(I Know) I'm Losing You," a 1966 hit single by the Temptations that I first heard covered by Rare Earth on one of my father's favorite albums when I was growing. 
4. "Ain't That a Lot of Love" by Taj Mahal in the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus, filmed in 1966 and released 30 years later for my generation (pun intended).
5. "Think," a 1968 hit single by Aretha Franklin that I first heard as a kid watching The Blues Brothers film.
6. "Soul Finger" a 1967 hit single by the Bar-Kays, a song I've always liked that I heard in the background and didn't purchase until just a few years ago.
7. "Soul Sound System" from the Freedom Sounds 1968 album Soul Sound System (featuring Wayne Henderson)
8. "Same Beat (Part 1)," a 1973 hit single by Fred Wesley and the JB's, James Brown's backing band.
9. "Doin' It"from Herbie Hancock's 1976 album Secrets. For the past couple years, I've really grown to love music from the 1970s by Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. I was exposed to this type of jazz when I was a radio DJ at WBCR at Beloit College, when I liked it sarcastically, but now I genuinely love it. This song is one of the best.
10. "Sweetback's Theme" from the soundtrack to Melvin Van Peeble's 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.
11.  "Fingertips - Part 2," one of (Little) Stevie Wonder's earliest hits from 1963.
12. "Land of 1000 Dances," a 1966 hit single by Wilson Pickett, which I have heard on the radio and in the background of my life every since I was very little, but I never knew the title of the song until the last few years.
13. "Hip Hug Her" from Booker T. and the MG's 1967 album of the same name. It represents two of my favorite things, music of 1967 and the city of Memphis.
14. "Get Ready" a 1970 hit single by Rare Earth, but not the very long live version I heard a lot when my dad played it on the record player.
15. "What'd I Say" a 1959 hit single by Ray Charles that I first heard covered by Rare Earth on the same live album. I have multiple covers of this popular song, but this is a live one.
16. "Sing a Simple Song" from Sly & the Family Stone's 1969 album Stand! It's one of the best funk albums out there.
17. "Cissy Strut" from the Meters' eponymous 1969 album, which is one of the first gifts I bought my wife when we lived in Japan.
18. "I'm Going to Love You Just a Little More Baby," a 1973 hit single from Barry White, although I first heard it as Kellee Patterson's cover from one of my wife's favorite compilation albums, The Big Payback.
19. "Dazz," a 1976 hit single by Brick, another song that my wife listened to a lot during the early years of our marriage.
20. "Never Can Say Goodbye," a 1971 hit single by the Jackson 5. I never knew it was a Jackson 5 song as I only heard Gloria Gaynor's cover for most of my life. Which is one is more famous, I don't know.