Give Up the Funk Parliament: A Chorus Sampled 700+ Times
Give up the funk Parliament built into a Gold single almost entirely around one chorus.
That chorus came from three credited songwriters, not one.
George Clinton produced it himself during the sessions for Mothership Connection.
Casablanca released it as a single in April 1976, trimmed down from the album cut.
It reached number 15 on the Hot 100 and went Gold that October.
Decades later it became one of the most sampled recordings in hip-hop history.
This is the real recording and chart story, verified against this site's own Billboard data.
A replica of the P-Funk Mothership, built after the original 1976 touring prop was scrapped in the early 1980s.
Image credit: Photo by Fuzheado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Give Up the Funk Parliament Credited to Three Real Songwriters
"Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" carries three names on its songwriting credit.
Jerome Brailey, George Clinton, and Bootsy Collins wrote it together during the Mothership Connection sessions.
Clinton also produced the track himself, the same role he held across the entire album.
Early pressings of the single actually listed the title in reverse order.
It first went out as "Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)."
The title later flipped to the version everyone recognizes now.
Three names on one songwriting credit is unusual even by the standards of Music of the 70s.
Three Musicians, Three Different Jobs
- Jerome Brailey: Parliament-Funkadelic's drummer, known within the band as "Bigfoot."
- George Clinton: bandleader and producer, credited with the track's overall arrangement.
- Bootsy Collins: bassist, who had joined the collective from James Brown's band a few years earlier.
That drummer-bassist-bandleader combination anchored most of Parliament's mid-70s singles, not just this one.
Bootsy Collins, pictured years after his run as Parliament's bassist.
He co-wrote "Give Up the Funk" alongside George Clinton and Jerome Brailey.
Image credit: Photo by Juanbobadilla, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
A Jazz Construction Behind One Chant
Despite its reputation as a pure chant record, the song is built from three separate musical themes.
Each theme gets introduced on its own before the arrangement weaves all three together.
That construction reads closer to a jazz chart than a typical funk single.
Ray Davis, Parliament's bass singer, delivers the spoken "tear the roof off" opening.
That opening leads straight into the first of the song's three themes.
The Single Trimmed the Spoken Intro
The album cut of "Give Up the Funk" runs 5:45 on Mothership Connection.
Casablanca released the single version in April 1976, cut down to 3:39.
It shipped on Casablanca catalog number 856, the second single pulled from the album.
The trim mostly removed the spoken intro Ray Davis delivers on the album version.
That edit moves straight into the chorus instead, a faster start built for radio.
Three Charts, One Gold Single
"Give Up the Funk" hit three different Billboard-tracked charts within the same stretch of 1976.
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 | No. 15 |
| Billboard Hot Soul Singles | No. 5 |
| RPM (Canada) | No. 17 |
This site's own year-end Billboard data confirms the song closed out 1976 at number 93.
That was on the year-end Hot 100 recap for the whole year.
The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Gold on October 19, 1976.
That made give up the funk Parliament the group's first certified million-selling single.
Stream Give Up the Funk on this site's own 70s jukebox.
It's the same single edit that carried the song to Gold.
A Bigger Hit on Black Radio Than Pop Radio
The Random 70s Song Generator makes it easy to line up other mid-decade crossover hits.
It's useful for comparing chart splits like this one directly.
The song's number 5 peak on the Hot Soul Singles chart ran well ahead of its Hot 100 showing.
That gap matched the pattern of most Parliament and Funkadelic singles across the decade.
Both acts ran stronger on R&B-formatted stations than on top-40 pop radio.
Give Up the Funk Parliament's Afterlife in Hip-Hop
The chorus and horn stabs have shown up in more than 700 recorded songs since 1976.
That figure comes from this site's own Billboard data.
Snoop Dogg interpolated it on "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" in 1993.
Heavy D sampled it four years earlier on 1989's "More Bounce."
Rapper Gerardo even brought George Clinton in to guest on his own 1991 single "We Want the Funk."
That guest verse was a direct callback to this same chorus.
Line that same high-energy chant up against other 70s cuts with the Mood Song Matcher.
Read More About the Tour Built Around the Same Album
"Give Up the Funk" came from the same Mothership Connection sessions that later launched Parliament's elaborate stage show.
Read the full account of that stage production in George Clinton, this site's artist profile on his 1970s career.
The song also fits into the genre's bigger commercial picture covered in 70s Funk.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Parliament release Give Up the Funk?
Parliament released "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" as a single in April 1976.
It came out on Casablanca Records, catalog number 856.
It was the second single pulled from the group's 1975 album Mothership Connection.
The song had been recorded the previous year during the album's main sessions.
Who wrote and produced Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)?
Jerome Brailey, George Clinton, and Bootsy Collins share the songwriting credit.
Clinton also produced the track himself, the same role he held across the rest of Mothership Connection.
Early pressings actually listed the title in reverse order, as "Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)."
It later flipped to the title everyone knows now.
How high did Give Up the Funk chart, and did it go Gold?
The song reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart.
It also climbed to number 17 on Canada's RPM chart.
The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Gold on October 19, 1976, Parliament's first certified million-selling single.
Why does the single version sound different from the album cut?
The album version on Mothership Connection runs 5:45.
It opens with a spoken "tear the roof off" intro delivered by Parliament's bass singer, Ray Davis.
The 3:39 single edit trims that spoken intro.
It moves straight into the song's three woven musical themes and its chorus instead.
Has Give Up the Funk been sampled in hip-hop?
This site's own Billboard data credits the recording with appearing in over 700 recorded songs since 1976.
That makes it one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history.
Snoop Dogg interpolated it on 1993's "Who Am I? (What's My Name?)" and Heavy D sampled it on 1989's "More Bounce."
