What the Funk? -- What Makes Funk Music Funk? Rose Royce - Car Wash

A faculty member organizing a symposium on Funk has asked me to explore the relationship between Funk Music and automobiles. Frankly, I am out of my league here, as I know nothing of Funk music and even the vaguest notion of how to define it and recognize it. I do know there is a connection with Dayton (The Ohio Players) and also New Orleans music in the 1960s and 1970s.  And I lived in New Orleans  in the 1970s when Funk down there was strong.  I have been given  couple of songs the supposedly are Funk titles. One is "Car Wash." Funk, disco, it is all the same to me right now.

Here is a descriptor from Wikipedia of some help --

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- to late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions used in other related genres and brings a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing them from R&B and soul songs, which are built on complex chord progressions. Funk uses the same richly-colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths. Like much African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Most funk bands have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits" and "punches". Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure, funky bass lines, drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs. Other musical groups, including Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis. Many of the most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk derivatives include funk rock (e.g., Red Hot Chili Peppers); boogie (or electro-funk), a form of electronic music; electro music, a hybrid of electronic music and funk; funk metal (e.g., Living Colour); G-funk, a mix of gangsta rap and funk; Timba, a form of funky Cuban popular dance music; and funk jam (e.g., Phish). Funk samples have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, house music, and drum and bass. It is also the main influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk.


Below are the lyrics for "Car Wash," -- 1976. Can you provide any insights?

Car Wash

Rose Royce

Car Wash
Rose Royce 

Ooh ooh
You might not ever get rich
But let me tell ya it's better than diggin' a ditch
There ain't no tellin' who you might meet
A movie star or maybe even an Indian chief

(Workin')
At the car wash
Workin' at the car wash, girl
Come on and sing it with me
(Car wash)
Sing it with the feelin' ya'all
(Car wash, girl)

Ooh!

Some of the work gets kinda hard
This ain't no place to be if you planned on bein' a star
Let me tell you it's always cool
And the boss don't mind sometimes if you act the fool

At the car wash
Whoa whoa whoa whoa
Talkin' about the car wash, girl
Come on, ya'all and sing it for me
(Car wash)
Oooh oooh oooh
(Car wash, girl)

(Work and work)
Well, those cars never seem to stop coming
(Work and work)
Keep those rags and machines humming
(Work and work)
My fingers to the bone
(Work)
Can't wait till it's time to go home (?)

(Hey, get your car washed today)
Fill up and you don't have to pay
Come on and give us a play
(Do the wash, right away)

(The car wash)
Talkin' 'bout the car wash
Car wash, girl
Come on, ya'all, let's sing it with me
(Car wash)
Sing it with feelin', ya'all
(Car wash, girl)

Whoa whoa whoa whoa
(Car wash)
Never seem to stop comin'
What'd I say
Keep those rags and machines hummin'
(Car wash)
Let me tell you, it's always cool . . . 

(transcribed by NormalGuy)

Songwriters: NORMAN JESSE WHITFIELD

© Universal Music Publishing Group