Is go-go primarily a Washington, D.C. thing?

That’s what I intended for it to be. It’s a sound for the town, you see, and I didn’t expect it to go anywhere, but then we started traveling everywhere, all over in Europe, great reception in Japan, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, from there to Paris, London, Newcastle, Germany—everywhere we went we got great receptions. They loved go-go! They had one place in Germany where they would play go-go 24/7. Twennnnty-four-seven. And not just ours, everybody’s go-go. You see go-go was out before rap. Rappers were young in those days, and some of them would come from New York and come to my shows, and that was quite impressive to me. That was incredible. I kept talking naturally to the people while we were playing music. We would call their names, dedicate things to them, where they’re from and all that. I know they was doing basically the same thing, but they was rhyming with it. They created a very unique style. Now, I listen to them and a lot of rappers are using the go-go groove. A lot of them. And I’m excited by that.

Can you explain the go-go beat?

Well, it’s a spiritual thing with me. Back when I was a child, my mother used to have me singing in church at 2, 3 years old, and sometimes we would go to people’s houses and sing. We were very poor; when we needed something to eat, mama would take me to people’s houses and say, “Come on baby, let’s go sing,” and we would go there and sing a few gospel songs and they’d feed us and pass that hat around. That particular beat came out the church that I was going to as a little boy. That beat was real fast, and the people were jumping and shouting over that beat, and I decided to use that beat and take it down when I heard Grover Washington come out around 1977 with a tune called “Mister Magic”. I said, “I recognize that beat!” “Mister Magic” has got that church beat that they used to play when I was a little boy going to church. I would slow it down from 120 beats-per-minute to 60 beats-per-minute and everybody started grooving.

It’s a wonderful thing to see how music develops slowly and gets into the people’s minds, into their rhythm and into their existence. And Washington, D.C. has the most loyal, inspirational fans in the world. They’re the ones that tell you what they want to hear, and they’re the ones that have the last say-so. The fans and the radio stations. Once you get them on your side, you owe them, and that’s exactly what happened with go-go. I was so happy to see it go like that when it first caught on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bJe_Je4wQA[/youtube]

Updated May 18, 10:25 a.m.

Dan Gibson at the Tucson Weekly brought attention to David Simon’s thoughts on Chuck Brown’s passing:

Just heard the news that the father of D.C. go-go has died. He was 75.

Argument enough to burn that motherfucker down to the Lake Erie waterline.

I’d link to Simon’s blog post, but at the moment it’s down. Simon and Blown Deadline Productions brought the Backyard Band to Tipitina’s last week as part of the Treme vs. The Wire battle of the bands, and truth be told, if we name a winner based purely on who could make the audience dance, Big G and the Backyard Band walked away as the champions. The go-go groove in action is a remarkable thing, as seeing Trouble Funk twice in a 36-hour period in Toronto in 1983 or 1984 made clear. At the time, the city was a dance-free zone, but Trouble Funk had people dancing with whoever was next to them at the Bamboo Club, then they played a daytime party in the parking lot next door as part of the city’s jazz festival and that turned into a dance party. Chuck Brown’s musical innovation may be a very specific one that never found its way out of its region, but it’s power can’t be overstated.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HssTYrncSTY[/youtube]