"King Heroin" is an anti-drug song by

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 ...

, David Matthews, Manny Rosen and Charles Bobbit. Brown recorded this poem set to music at a studio in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

with session musicians in January 1972 and released it as a single in March. It was his fifth single for

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

and reached number six on the U.S.

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 and number 40 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the spring. The song was included on Brown's 1972 album '' There It Is''.

Background

The poem was originally written by Rosen, who worked at the Stage Delicatessen on Seventh Avenue in midtown

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. It was written from the point of view of the drug, and explained in graphic detail by

first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...

the effects heroin addiction has on people who use it, from

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone ...

s neglecting their looks, to "the most virile of men losing their sex," to committing murder, to

cold turkey "Cold Turkey" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon ...

withdrawal. Rosen's poem was then set to music by Brown, his arranger David Matthews, and Brown's manager Charles Bobbit. Brown added an intro to start off the piece, referring to heroin as "one of our most deadly killers in the country today"; and towards the end, he noted, "This is a revolution of the mind" – referring to the title of his 1971 live concert album recorded at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

in New York. "King Heroin" was another of Brown's stabs of

socially conscious Social consciousness (or social awareness) is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.Don't Be a Drop-Out "Don't Be a Dropout" is a song written by Burt Jones and recorded by James Brown. It was Brown's first attempt at a socially conscious song, encouraging teenagers to stay in school. Released as a single in 1966, it charted No. 4 R&B and No. 50 ...

" and "

Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song performed by James Brown, and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in 1968. It was released as a two-part single, which held the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart for ...

." His

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...

style on this song is also considered to be a forerunner of

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. An advertisement for the single said "Play this record. To your station it means 3 minutes and 58 seconds. To some listener it may mean a lifetime."

Personnel

* James Brown - lead vocal ''with studio band:'' * Danny Stiles - trumpet *

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One ...

- trumpet *

Jimmy Buffington James Lawrence Buffington (May 15, 1922, Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania – July 20, 1981, Englewood, New Jersey) was an American jazz, studio, and classical hornist. Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player on the French horn. He was an auto ...

- French horn *

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

- flute, tenor saxophone, English horn *

Seldon Powell Seldon Powell (November 15, 1928 – January 25, 1997) was an American tenor saxophonist and flautist whose work spanned multiple genres, including jazz and rhythm and blues. Background Powell worked with Tab Smith (1949), Lucky Millinder (194 ...

- flute, tenor saxophone *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American jazz fusion pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as " I'll B ...

- organ * Sam Brown - guitar *

Joe Beck Joe Beck (July 29, 1945 – July 22, 2008) was an American jazz guitarist who was active for over 40 years. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Beck moved to Manhattan in his teens, playing six nights a week in a trio setting, which gave him an opp ...

- guitar *

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

- bass *

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was inducted into the '' Mode ...

- drums

Chart positions

Other versions and uses

The song was included in the 1991

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

'' Star Time'' and the 1996 compilation CD '' Make It Funky – The Big Payback: 1971–1975''. The song was

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

ed by James Chance and The Contortions in 1981,

Van Hunt Van Hunt Jr. (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, '' Van Hunt'', in 2004, and a follow-up, '' On the Jungle Floor'', in 2006, both on Capitol Records. He w ...

in 2006, and The Scallions (featuring The Impossebulls) in 2007. Among the songs that

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

"King Heroin" were

Truth Hurts Truth Hurts or The Truth Hurts may refer to: Film, television and radio *''The Truth Hurts'', a 1993 skateboard film from '' Thrasher'' magazine *"Truth Hurts", a 2006 episode of '' McLeod's Daughters'' * "The Truth Hurts" (''Kim Possible''), a '' ...

' 2010 recording "Smoke,"

J Dilla James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer, composer and rapper. He emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michiga ...

's 2010 release "Heroin Joint,"

Quetzal Quetzals () are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus ''Pharomachrus'' being exclusively Neotropical, while a single species, the eared quet ...

's 2009 record "I Need the Street (Pernety Blues)," D'Nell's 2005 record "Different Day,"

Deichkind Deichkind (, literally '' Dyke Child'') is a German electropunk band formed in Hamburg in 1997. Current members are “Kryptik Joe” alias Philipp Grütering (rapper/songwriter), Henning “DJ Phono” Besser (DJ), Sebastian “Porky” Dürre ...

's 2000 release "Slangdaddy." and Home Brew's 2012 recording "Radio" and "Radio Outro." American rapper

Sauce Walka Albert Walker Mondane (born June 29, 1990), known professionally as Sauce Walka, is an American rapper from Houston, Texas. Career Sauce Walka started his rapping career in 2007 under the name A-Walk as part of a Houston rap group called Mosthea ...

used the original instrumental for his song 'King Codeine' released in 2015 for his project 'Sorry 4 the Sauce 2'. The German band Virus recorded an organ-heavy rock cover of the song on their album Thoughts (1971) and released an edited version of the song as a 7".Discogs
(Virus were a psychedelic band originating from Bielefeld in Northern Germany, their history is not well documented)^{(how is it a cover if it came out before 971

Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events

By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men) attacks the Bulgarian frontier, perso ...
the James Brown version 972

Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Events

By place
Byzantine Empire
* Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recently held by the Kievan Rus', into six ...
)}

References

External links

Song review
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{authority control 1972 singles James Brown songs Songs written by James Brown Songs about heroin 1972 songs Polydor Records singles Songs written by David Matthews (keyboardist)