Ray Davis (March 29, 1940 – July 5, 2005) – I Wanna Know If It's Good to You? (1970)
The original bass singer in George Clinton's Parliaments who remained with Parliament-Funkadelic for decades co-wrote this funk masterpiece.
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Raymond “Sting Ray” Davis was the original bass singer in George Clinton’s group the Parliaments, which later morphed into Funkadelic and Parliament.
Born in South Carolina, Davis got his start singing gospel in church. After moving to New Jersey, he met Clinton and joined the Parliaments in 1961.
See our earlier posts on Parliament-Funkadelic members Bernie Worrell, Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins, Lucius “Tawl” Ross, and Glenn Goins for more on the group’s origins, and posts on Fred Wesley, Philippé Wynne, and Jessica Cleaves for more on the P-Funk collective in the late seventies.
Funkadelic’s second studio album Free Your Mind... and Your Ass Will Follow was released in 1970 on Westbound Records. Clinton claimed the album’s inspiration had been to “see if we can cut a whole album while we're all tripping on acid.”
Davis co-wrote its ten-minute-long, out-there title track, which sadly did not live up to the promise of its epic title, and the lyrically profound message song “Funky Dollar Bill”:
“It'll buy a war..It pollutes this air...It'll buy you life / But not true life / The kind of life / Where the soul is hurt.”
What many considered to have been the LP’s masterpiece, the ultra-funky jam “I Wanna Know If It's Good to You?” was also co-written by Davis along with Clinton, Haskins, and Billy “Bass” Nelson. Nelson and Eddie Hazel split lead vocals, with epic solos from both Hazel and Worrell.
In 1971, Davis, Worrell, and Haskins co-produced an album’s worth of material for a group named U.S. (United Soul). Two tracks were released as a promo-only single on Westbound the following year, the heartfelt jam “I Miss My Baby,” written by Haskins, b/w the Clinton-penned “Baby I Owe You Something Good.”
The rest of the album remained unreleased until 2009, largely because Clinton poached U.S. members Garry Shider and Cordell “Boogie” Mosson to replace Hazel, Nelson, and Ramon “Tiki” Fulwood. But it featured the beautiful opening cut “This Broken Heart” and the epic funky closing cut “Rat Kiss The Cat On The Naval,” co-written by Nelson and Haskins.
Happy Cosmic Birthday to the great Ray Davis.
Further info:
“Ray Davis -The Original P Interview,” by Paul Doyle, Vermont Review.
“Ray Davis, 65, Veteran Member of P-Funk, Is Dead,” obituary, The New York Times, July 8, 2005.
#soul #funk #PFunk #GeorgeClinton #Parliaments #RayDavis
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