Flash Light Parliament: The Bass Line That Wasn't a Bass
Flash Light Parliament is remembered for one of the deepest bass lines in funk history.
There's just one problem with that memory.
No bass guitar appears anywhere on the record.
The part was written for Bootsy Collins, who turned it down flat.
Keyboardist Bernie Worrell built the sound instead, on chained Minimoog synthesizers.
The song went on to give Casablanca Records its first R&B number one.
This is the real recording story, verified against this site's own Billboard data.
An early Minimoog from the same period Bernie Worrell used to build Flash Light's bass line.
Image credit: Photo by glacial23, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Bass Line Everyone Credits to Bootsy Collins Wasn't His
Flash Light Parliament was written for Parliament's own bass player, not for the keyboardist who ended up playing it.
George Clinton and Bootsy Collins first sketched the part for Bootsy's Rubber Band, Collins's own spinoff project.
It was meant to open that group's debut album.
Collins turned the part down.
Clinton brought the song back to Parliament instead.
Most write-ups of this record stop right there.
What actually happened next is the more interesting part.
Three or Four Minimoogs, Chained Together
No bass player wanted the part anymore.
Keyboardist Bernie Worrell worked out a way to fake one instead.
He stacked at least three Minimoog synthesizers, possibly four, wired together to layer their tones.
The result was a chromatic line, descending and rising, with far more weight than one synth alone could produce.
The New York Times later described the finished sound as carrying "a meaty tone and swagger."
That tone is the entire reason people assume a bass guitar is buried somewhere in the mix.
It isn't.
Bootsy Ended Up on Drums Instead
Collins didn't disappear from the session after passing on the bass part.
He just moved to a different instrument.
- Lead vocals: George Clinton
- Drums: Bootsy Collins
- Rhythm guitar: Catfish Collins
- All keyboard and bass parts: Bernie Worrell
That lineup means the record's most famous musician, by reputation, doesn't play a single bass note on it.
That's the version of Flash Light Parliament most fans have never actually heard explained.
The George Clinton artist profile on this site covers how often that kind of instrument-swapping happened.
It ran across the whole Parliament-Funkadelic camp during the mid-to-late 70s.
A Chant Borrowed From a Bar Mitzvah
The song's hook is the "da da da dee da da da" chant that carries most of the chorus.
It didn't come from funk or soul music at all.
A Memory From Sixth Grade
Clinton traced it back to sixth grade.
A Jewish classmate of his had been preparing for his bar mitzvah.
Clinton remembered the melody of a Hebrew chant from that same period.
Years later, writing Flash Light, he folded that same melody into the song's central hook.
An Origin Story With Nothing to Do With Funk
It's an origin story with almost nothing to do with the record's actual sound.
That gap is exactly what makes it stick out once you know it.
Bernie Worrell, pictured years after building Flash Light's synthesizer bass line.
Image credit: Photo by MikaV, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Music of the 70s covers plenty of songs with strange origin stories.
Flash Light Parliament belongs near the top of that list.
Flash Light Parliament Becomes a Real Crossover Hit
Casablanca Records released the single on January 28, 1978, catalog number NB 909.
It was the second single pulled from the group's 1977 album Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome.
The chart results outran anything Parliament had managed before.
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 | No. 16 |
| Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | No. 1 |
| New Zealand | No. 3 |
That R&B number one was Parliament's first.
It was also Casablanca's first R&B chart-topper as a label.
This site's own year-end Billboard data confirms it too.
Flash Light closed out 1978 at number 92 on the Hot 100 year-end recap.
The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Gold for selling one million copies.
That made it Parliament's second Gold single, following Give Up the Funk two years earlier.
A Bigger Hit on Black Radio Than Pop Radio
The gap between Flash Light's R&B and pop chart numbers matched a pattern from most Parliament and Funkadelic singles all decade.
Both acts consistently ran stronger on R&B-formatted stations than on top-40 pop radio.
The Random 70s Song Generator makes it easy to pull up other funk and soul singles that split the same way.
Stream Flash Light on this site's own 70s jukebox to hear the chained Minimoog bass line for yourself.
A Bass Line Sampled More Than the Song Itself
Flash Light's afterlife in hip-hop and R&B has outlasted its original chart run by decades.
The Houston Press has documented more than 60 recorded songs that sample the track.
- Digital Underground sampled it for "Doowutchyalike."
- Salt-N-Pepa used it on 1986's "I'll Take Your Man."
- Aaliyah drew on it for "Back and Forth."
- UGK worked it into "Protect and Serve."
- The City Girls recorded their own version in 2018.
Most of those samples lift the Minimoog bass line specifically, not the chant or the vocals.
That's a strange legacy for a part never meant to be played on a synthesizer at all.
Line this record's synth-built low end up against other 70s production tricks with the Mood Song Matcher.
Read More About the Album This Song Came From
Flash Light came out of the Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome sessions.
Those sessions pushed Parliament's studio ambitions further than any earlier record had.
The artist profile linked above covers that stretch of George Clinton's career in full.
It includes the contract dispute that split Parliament and Funkadelic into two separately signed bands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who really played the bass line on Flash Light Parliament?
Nobody played it on an actual bass guitar.
The line was written for Bootsy Collins, but he turned the part down.
Keyboardist Bernie Worrell built it himself instead, on at least three, possibly four, Minimoog synthesizers chained together.
Collins ended up on drums for the track instead, while his brother Catfish Collins played rhythm guitar.
Where does the "da da da dee da da da" chant in Flash Light come from?
George Clinton based it on a Hebrew chant he remembered from sixth grade.
A Jewish friend had been preparing for his bar mitzvah at the time.
He folded that same melody into Flash Light's hook years later.
It gave Parliament's biggest chart single an origin story with nothing to do with funk or soul at all.
How high did Flash Light chart, and did it go Gold?
Flash Light peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978.
It also topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Parliament's first number one there.
It reached number 3 in New Zealand as well.
The single was RIAA-certified Gold for selling one million copies, Parliament's second Gold single after Give Up the Funk.
What album is Flash Light from, and when was it released?
Flash Light was the second single from Parliament's 1977 album Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome.
Casablanca Records released it on January 28, 1978, under catalog number NB 909.
George Clinton produced the track, and it's credited to Clinton, Bernie Worrell, and Bootsy Collins as songwriters.
Has Flash Light been sampled by other artists?
Yes, extensively.
Digital Underground sampled it for "Doowutchyalike" and Salt-N-Pepa used it on 1986's "I'll Take Your Man."
Aaliyah's "Back and Forth" and UGK's "Protect and Serve" both drew on it as well.
The Houston Press has documented more than 60 recorded songs that sample the track.
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