song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

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 ...

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk m ...

Baby Lloyd Stallworth Lloyd Eugene Stallworth (April 15, 1941 – October 27, 2002), also known as Baby Lloyd, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, choreographer and dancerPlease, Please, Please" before it, the song's lyrics combine a lament for lost love with a plea for forgiveness. The

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 ...

was a #2 R&B hit and reached #48 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. According to Brown, "Lost Someone" is based on the chord changes of the

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

song "

It's Only Make Believe "It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by drummer Jack Nance and Mississippi-born singer Conway Twitty, while they were touring across Ontario, Canada, in 1958. Twitty was a relatively unknown rock n' roll singer at the time, and this song w ...

". Although Brown's vocal group, The Famous Flames did not actually sing on this tune, two of them, Byrd and Stallworth, co-wrote it with Brown, and Byrd played organ on the record, making it, in effect, a James Brown/Famous Flames recording.

Personnel

*

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 ...

– lead vocal ''with the James Brown Band:'' * Roscoe Patrick – trumpet * J.C. Davis – tenor saxophone *

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk m ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* Les Buie – guitar * Hubert Parry – bass guitar * Nat Kendrick – drums * Other instruments unknown

''Live at the Apollo'' version

A performance of "Lost Someone" is the centerpiece of Brown's 1963 album '' Live at the Apollo''. Nearly 11 minutes long and spanning two tracks on the original LP release (the end of Side 1 and the beginning of Side 2), it is widely regarded as the album's high point and as one of the greatest performances in its idiom on record. Critic

Peter Guralnick Peter Guralnick (born December 15, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke ...

wrote of the recording:

Here, in a single, multilayered track ... you have embodied the whole history of soul music, the teaching, the preaching, the endless assortment of gospel effects, above all the groove that was at the music's core. "Don't go to strangers," James pleads in his abrasively vulnerable fashion. "Come on home to me.... Gee whiz I love you.... I'm so weak...." Over and over he repeats the simple phrases, insists "I'll love you tomorrow" until the music is rocking with a steady pulse, until the music grabs you in the pit of the stomach and James knows he's got you. Then he works the audience as he works the song, teasing, tantalizing, drawing closer, dancing away, until finally at the end of Side I that voice breaks through the crowd noise and dissipates the tension as it calls out, "James, you're an asshole." "I believe someone out there loves someone," declares James with cruel disingenuousness. "Yeah, you," replies a girl's voice with unabashed fervor. "I feel so good I want to scream," says James, testing the limits yet again. "Scream!" cries a voice. And the record listener responds, too, we are drawn in by the same tricks, so transparent in the daylight but put across with the same unabashed fervor with which the girl in the audience offers up her love.

An edited version of the live performance was released as a single in 1966 and charted at #94 on the US

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

chart. Long, drawn-out performances of "Lost Someone" continued to be a feature of Brown's live shows until 1966, when "

It's a Man's Man's Man's World "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" is a song written by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. Brown recorded it on February 16, 1966, in a New York City studio and released it as a single later that year. It reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B c ...

" largely supplanted it in his concert repertoire. Brown would sometimes interpolate parts of "Lost Someone" into the newer song, as in the 1967 performance documented on '' Live at the Apollo, Volume II''.

Personnel

* James Brown – lead vocal ''with the James Brown Band:'' * Lewis Hamlin – music director, principal trumpet * Roscoe Patrick – trumpet * Teddy Washington – trumpet * Dickie Wells – trombone * William "Po' Devil" Burgess – alto saxophone *

St. Clair Pinckney St. Clair Pinckney (September 17, 1930 – February 1, 1999) was an American saxophonist who performed with James Brown as a member of the James Brown Orchestra and The J.B.'s. He played tenor and baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (so ...

– principal tenor saxophone * Al "Briscoe" Clark – tenor and baritone saxophones * Les Buie – guitar *

Bobby Byrd Bobby Howard Byrd (August 15, 1934 – September 12, 2007) was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk m ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* Hubert Parry – bass guitar * Clayton Fillyau – principal drums * George Sims – drumsLeeds, Alan M. (2004). ''Live at the Apollo (1962) Expanded Edition''

D liner notes D, or d, is the fourth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#L ...

London: Polydor Records.

Other versions

Brown made several other recordings of "Lost Someone", including: * A version with strings for his 1963 album '' Prisoner of Love.'' * A studio version similar to the 1962

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

performance on 1972's '' Get On The Good Foot.'' * An uptempo version on 1974's ''

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

.''

Covers

*

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vid ...

recorded a satirical

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the intro to "Lost Someone" for their 1984 Brown and

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

'' George & James''. *

Cat Power Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in ...

recorded "Lost Someone" for her 2008 album ''

Jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow user ...

''.

References

{{authority control James Brown songs 1961 singles 1966 singles Songs written by James Brown Songs written by Bobby Byrd 1961 songs King Records (United States) albums