James Brown - Papa Don't Take No Mess
James Brown - Papa Don't Take No Mess


James Brown - Papa Don't Take No Mess Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Hell
Released: 1974

Papa Don't Take No Mess Lyrics


Papa Don't Take No Mess
Papa don't take no mess
Papa is the man who can understand
How a man has to do whatever he can, hit me

Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess, no
He don't take no mess

Now papa might grin
Drink a little taste of gin
Bet his last ten
On a little game of skins, hit me

Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess, hey, hey

Papa digs the chick
If she look real slick
Papa rap is very quick
He definitely ain't no trick, oh yeah

Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess
He don't take no mess

Wait, wait a minute, look at here
Papa, don't take, papa likes
Caught when one gets up tight
You know this is right
You got yourself bang, hit me

Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess
Oh yeah, alright

Papa is the man who will take a stand
Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't

Look, take this
Papa didn't cuss
He didn't raise a whole lotta fuss
But when we did wrong
Papa beat the hell out of us

Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess
Papa don't take no mess

I saw papa cry when he thought that I would die
Look at here
I saw papa cry when he thought that I would die
He says something was in his eye
I knew it was a lie

Mama said, mama said papa's smart
Papa got a whole lotta heart
And papa would do his part
When the game get hard, hit me

Papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't, papa don't, papa don't
Papa don't take no mess

Writer/s: BROWN, JAMES / WESLEY, FRED / BOBBITT, CHARLES / STARKS, JOHN
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Papa Don't Take No Mess
  • James Brown scored the soundtrack for the blaxploitation flick Black Caesar in 1973 and wrote this and other songs for the sequel Hell Up in Harlem. Director Larry Cohen, however, didn't like any of the music Brown recorded and rejected it all. He hired Motown's Edwin Starr to replace him, but Brown wasn't about to let his work go to waste. The majority of the nixed soundtrack became his 1973 album The Payback, but this song ended up on his following album, Hell.
  • Janet Jackson sampled this song in her 1993 chart-topper "That's The Way Love Goes."
  • The full-length version of this song runs nearly 14 minutes and includes a piano solo by Brown, but an edited version was also released as a two-part single.
  • Although it was snubbed for the Hell Up in Harlem score, this song has made the cut for several other soundtracks, including Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), The Woodsman (2004), Twisted (2004) and Guess Who (2005).