"Funkytown" is a song by American

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

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 ...

group

Lipps Inc. Lipps, Inc. ( , a pun on the phrase "lip sync") was an American disco and funk group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is best known for the chart-topping 1980 worldwide hit single " Funkytown", which hit No. 1 in 28 countries and was certi ...

, written and produced by Steven Greenberg and released by

Casablanca Records Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label focuses ...

in March 1980 as the second

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 ...

from the group's debut studio album, '' Mouth to Mouth'' (1979). The track was met with immediate commercial success, reaching number one on various

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

s in different countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, West Germany and on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It quickly became the group's signature song, selling over eight million copies worldwide and becoming their most successful song.

Composition and lyrics

Sung by Lipps Inc.'s lead vocalist

Cynthia Johnson Cynthia Johnson (born April 22, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the band Lipps Inc. with the worldwide smash hit "Funkytown". Musical career Beginnings Prior to beco ...

, the tune features the narrator pining for a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

ical place that will "keep me movin', keep me groovin' with some energy", while Lipps Inc. members were dreaming of relocating from

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The song is in

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

with a key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

Chart performance

In the United States, "Funkytown" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 29, 1980 and spent four weeks at number one, from May 31 to June 21, 1980. It also topped the Disco Top 60 chart for four non-consecutive weeks and peaked at number two on the

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 po ...

chart for four weeks also, from May 24 to June 21, 1980. "Funkytown" was first

certified Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) on May 23, 1980 and later Platinum on July 17, 1980. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine ranked the song as the eighth most popular single of 1980. It is Lipps Inc.'s only US

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

. Elsewhere, "Funkytown" was a number-one hit in countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and West Germany, and peaked at number two in Finland, Sweden and on the UK Singles Chart.

Music videos

"Funkytown" has at least two music videos. In one, an unidentified black woman lip synching Johnson's vocals dances with some women in a pub. In another video,

Doris D Doris D (born Debbie Jenner; 22 February 1959) is a British singer and dancer who spent her career in the Netherlands. Biography Jenner was born in Skegness, England, and settled in the Netherlands at the age of 20 to start a ballet school there ...

, who fronted Lipps Inc. in the Netherlands and West Germany, dances while lip synching the vocals. Johnson's website claims that the singer "was never asked to perform a video of 'Funkytown".

Legacy and impact

In 1997, DJ John Acquaviva listed "Funkytown" with his top ten tracks, saying "It's always been one of my favorite songs. It's got an amazing

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

that sounds great on a good system and people love it." In October 2000,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

ranked the song number 64 in their list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs". In 2009, it was ranked number 94 on ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

s "The 100 Greatest Summer Songs", saying, "This one-hit wonder belonged to the tail end of the

era but also presaged the

techno-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

epoch about to come...totally synthetic, totally cool." Same year, VH1 ranked the song number 37 on its list of the "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s". In 2018, '' Time Out'' ranked it number 44 on its list of "The 100 best party songs", writing, "'Funkytown' expresses a simple, repetitive yearning for the pulse of a bigger city, goosed by a killer ten-note

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

. "''Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me''", sings Cynthia Johnson in a robotic, vocoderized voice (a precursor to the

Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and Pitch correction, correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles ...

sound) before busting out an unmodified,

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

ful wail, pleading for a trip to the party destination of her dreams. Released in 1980, 'Funkytown' came late to the disco party, but gave it a jolt of electricity. In 2018, ''

ThoughtCo. Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

'' ranked the song number seven on its list of the "25 Best

Dance Pop Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developi ...

Songs of All Time".

Track listing and formats

All tracks were written and produced by Steven Greenberg. * US

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

single (810 326-7) :A1. "Funkytown" – 3:57 :B1. "All Night Dancing" – 3:09 * Australian

12-inch The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compar ...

vinyl single (6198 342) :A1. "Funkytown" – 7:46 :B1. "All Night Dancing" – 8:18 * Mexican 12-inch vinyl single (3027) :A1. "Funkytown" (Super Disco version) – 12:43 :B1. "All Night Dancing" – 3:09

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Pseudo Echo version

In 1986, "Funkytown" was covered by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n new wave

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

Pseudo Echo Pseudo Echo are an Australian New wave music, new wave band formed in 1982 by Brian Canham (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), Pierre Gigliotti (bass keyboards and bass guitar), and Tony Lugton (keyboards). Later members included Anthony Argiro (d ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

form on their album ''

Love an Adventure ''Love an Adventure'' is the second studio album by Australian new wave band Pseudo Echo, released in 1985 by EMI Australia. The album peaked at No. 14 in Australia and produced three Australian top twenty singles, including " Don’t Go", whi ...

'', including a

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

in the middle. It reached number six on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent seven weeks at number one in Australia and six weeks at number one in New Zealand. Like the original song by Lipps Inc., Pseudo Echo's version of the track is the band's only UK Top 40 hit single.

Track listing and formats

* US 7-inch vinyl single (

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

1883) :A1. "Funkytown" – 3:40 :B1. "Lies Are Nothing" – 3:58 * 12-inch vinyl maxi single (ED 237) / (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

5217–7) :A1. "Funkytown" (Dance Mix) – 6:32 :B1. "Funkytown" – 3:40 :B2. "Lies Are Nothing" – 3:58

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Composition and lyrics

Chart performance

Music videos

Legacy and impact

Track listing and formats

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Pseudo Echo version

Track listing and formats

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

See also

References

External links