Hermann Bellinghausen: Indecent Homily for Sly Stone

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According to the Scriptures of the soul , funk flourished in disorder, cultivated by overly free spirits, overly African Black men and women, the offspring of James Brown, the model of the irresponsible progenitor. One day it would become a rhythmic epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil, but it was born from the intestines of slaves humiliated by the Founding Fathers of a country won for the Anglo-Whites at the expense of the myriad peoples and tribes of Great Turtle Island, and catapulted productively thanks to the kidnapping of entire peoples across the vast Atlantic.

The Lord wanted these people to suffer so that their prayers would rise in tone, fervor, and emotion. The Creator wanted these ignoble, savage, inscrutable people to learn His word through singing and dancing, the only thing they were good for besides working as beasts of burden. Thus, He allowed them to set music ablaze with gospel devotion. And the Lord gave humanity the secret of jazz, blues, soul, funk, and boogie. Since the damage was done, reggae, hip hop, and other disasters for Christian harmony followed.

They were lost souls touched by grace. Funk (which means "stinky" in Kikongo, the Bantu language spoken in the two Congos and Angola) sprang from the genius of people incapable of behaving themselves and who often ruined lives and careers in their irreverent spirit. You see Betty Davis, the diva of badmouthing, who dragged her husband Miles Idem into funk and psychedelia, but messed up by getting involved with Jimmi Hendrix. Miles wasn't crazy enough to stay in funk (he came from far away and was headed toward unsuspected sonic regions), but he knew how to resist the temptation.

The funk crowd ended badly. Their disorderly habits inconvenienced entrepreneurs, record labels, the specialized press, and audiences, leaving them stranded or even leaving them behind. But they certainly fueled dance music and drew hips and torsos into an irresistible spiral of humid choruses and dirty bass, fueled by substances, alcohol, and sex.

In disobedience and chaos, Sly and his Stone Family, Funkadelic, and Parliament set the standard for breaking all rules. Sly stumbled on. George Clinton went from explosion to explosion. Kool & The Gang and Tower of Power were less relaxed, but feet betray anyone. If Miles Davis came and went, Prince stayed, freely receiving funk's blessings and establishing image and noise challenges that were difficult to overcome. White rock musicians scratched at funk with ambitious desperation, and although they gained something, inspiration remained blackened.

A few weeks ago, on June 9th, Sly Stone (née Sylvester Stewart, 1943) died at the graceful age of 82. Who would have predicted it for him and many others, still alive or recently deceased? They lead one to believe that a bad life, partying, excess, and disrespect don't kill. The myth of Keith Richards, preserved in whiskey and heroin, applies to the octogenarians, often millionaires, who inherited these improbable musical forms and penetrated Western civilization because God wanted it, bored with cantatas and oratorios.

Brothers and sisters, it's only fair and necessary to remember that Brother Sly, a paragon of bad behavior, endowed funk with the vitality necessary to become, according to canonical chronicles, the most shining star at the Woodstock '69 Jubilee. Sly paved the way for that decade with his Hammond organ and the most heart-pounding rhythm section of the period. His Black Panther friends demanded that he expel his white musicians and explicitly support Black power, with the Family Stone's multiracial songwriting being distinctive.

Although he went through periods of existential disaster, living on social security, practically homeless, alone, broke, and battered, gosh, he made it to 82. Are these people inherently indestructible? He was fleeced by white producers like Jerry Goldstein. He'd previously served time in prison for carrying cocaine. According to model Kathy Silva, his first wife (whom he married pompously at Madison Square Garden in 1974 and with whom he had a son and two daughters), Sly never gave up drugs, lost his temper, and destroyed his future .

He navigated the following decade with ease and difficulty, opening for Bob Marley & The Wailers on his French debut, collaborating with George Clinton and many white people. He brought elements of funk to pale-faced audiences, whose influence, along with the great soul of the period and the Motown era, blessed the paths of what was generically called rock 'n' roll.

All these elders of great African-rooted music with a planetary impact vibrated for a long time to confirm that verse by the Zen poet Saigyö: We better take care of life by neglecting it . A bad example, my brothers, for the new generations.

Let us pray for this sinful brother who took the syncopated song and the explosion higher and higher. Thus the Lord ordained it.