''Bill Cosby Is Not Himself These Days - Rat Own, Rat Own, Rat Own'' (1976) is a musical comedy album by

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

. He parodies various

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

artists including

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

. The songs were written with producer and keyboardist

Stu Gardner Stuart Gardner is an American musician and composer. He is known for his collaborations with Bill Cosby, and for co-writing "Kiss Me", the theme song of Cosby's sitcom ''The Cosby Show''. He produced the album '' A House Full of Love: Music fro ...

. This is also his first album on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, his fourth musical album release overall (not counting the 1971 band project ''

Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band ''Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band'' (1971) is an album by Bill Cosby. It is an instrumental jazz-funk album in which Cosby plays Rhodes piano. It is his third musical album release. The first track is a tribute to Ma ...

'' and its 1972 sequel).

Background

For nine years, Cosby released at least an album a year, starting in 1964. After a three-year hiatus, this was his first comedy album since 1973's ''

Fat Albert ''Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids'' (often referred to simply as ''Fat Albert'') is an educational American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a nu ...

'', albeit in musical form, and he wouldn't return to a full-fledged stand-up album again until 1977's '' My Father Confused Me... What Must I Do? What Must I Do?''. The first single, "Yes, Yes, Yes", became one of Cosby's biggest charted hits after "

Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright) "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" is a single by comedian Bill Cosby, released in 1967 from the entertainer's first musical comedy album, '' Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings''. On the 1968 album '' 200 M.P.H.'', Cosby states that the ...

", reaching number 46 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 11 on the ''Billboard''

singles chart. The song spoofed Barry White's deep-voiced spoken word monologues. "Ben" was sampled by

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...

on their 2002 song "After School Special".

Track listing

# " Yes, Yes, Yes" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:21 # "Chick on the Side" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:20 # "Shift Down" – (Cosby/Gardner/Lansbury) – 4:07 # "I Luv Myself Better Than I Luv Myself" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 6:00 # "Do It to Me" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:22 # "Ben" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:22 # "You're Driving Me Crazy" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:59 # "Garbage Truck Lady" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 2:38 # "Luv Is" – (Cosby/Gardner) – 3:13

Personnel

Ollie E. Brown Ollie E. Brown (born April 20, 1953) is an American drummer, percussionist, record producer, and high school basketball coach. A prolific session musician, Brown has performed on over a hundred albums in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Brown was also ...

– drums * Bill Cosby – vocals * Tony Drake – guitar * Larry Farrow – keyboards *

– piano * Al Hall, Jr. – trombone * Fred Jackson, Jr. – saxophone * Melvin Moore – trumpet * Nate Neblett – drums *

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song for the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters'' and also sounds from the animated series '' The ...

– bass, guitar * Doug Richardson – flute, saxophone * David Sheilds – bass *

Wah Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as Wah Wah Watson, was an American guitarist who was a member of the Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. He also worked extensively as a session musician ...

– guitar

References

{{Authority control 1976 albums Bill Cosby albums Capitol Records albums 1970s comedy albums Albums produced by Stu Gardner