June is Junie Month here on Edge of the Line. Each Friday, we’re paying tribute to funk legend Walter “Junie” Morrison.
The title track of the album that contained megahit ‘Atomic Dog’, ‘Computer Games’ was described by George Clinton as a “door to the future”, albeit an “unhinged” one. It contains a “cartoonish list of boasts”: George can out-Woody a pecker, out-banana a split, and out-toilet a seat.
In typical Junie Morrison fashion, the multi-instrumentalist plays drums, bass, piano, synthesizers, and guitar, leaving only Maceo Parker on saxophone to join the games. Clinton wrote in his memoir that he and Junie had got so comfortable working together that they didn’t need to be in the same place. Junie would go in the studio, record the music, and leave. George was busy getting high a lot of the time, but he got out of a hotel when possible. While his schedule wasn’t exactly a regular 9-5, the album is credit to how unusually functional Clinton remained for much of the 1980s and ’90s, despite battling crack.
Such serious concerns are largely absent from this brilliantly silly song: “I can out-dance a floor”, “I can out-Mickey a mouse”, “I can out-wiggle a worm”.
The main groove is led by a restless bassline that allows the rhythm guitar part to be minimal. Junie plays that guitar softly compared to the hammer-on-ice stylings of Jimmy Nolen of James Brown fame, and the attack of Catfish Collins, who tended to fill more space. The lead guitar, however, is similarly restless to the bass. The restlessness of the whole song is hinted at by the few synth notes nine seconds in. There are already two synth parts, and suddenly there’s what sounds like a cross between an alien duck quacking and a baby crying.
While it’s likely the bassline inspired Clinton’s vocal melody (given what he wrote about his and Junie’s process and the common P-Funk habit of arranging vocals after much of the music was prepared), it seems like the lead guitar was recorded after the vocals. Junie’s playing responds perfectly to certain lines: “I like to suck necks” at 0:38 and the most cathartic-sounding “I can out-dance the floor!” scream at 3:57. Of course, it’s possible that Clinton wrote and timed his lyrics accordingly.
That scream, and other parts of George’s vocal, hint at the damage that crack was starting to do. His singing, and speaking, got hoarser as the decade went on. In true Clinton fashion, he was creative with the situation he was handed (or shaped). His ravaged vocal cords would go on to give ‘Butt-A-Butt’, ‘I’ll Be Sittin' Here’, many other songs, and countless concerts a unique charm.
In the case of ‘Computer Games’, a lot of the charm is down to Junie too. The musician credited George with “recognizing the talent in others”, despite taking a few shots at him in a Red Bull Music Academy interview. George and Junie might not have been the best of pals, but they created some magic together.
Top image from Discogs.