10/13/2016 , , , ,
Funk by The Clash - Overpowered
Funk by The Clash - Overpowered


Funk by The Clash - Overpowered Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Combat Rock
Released: 1982

Overpowered Lyrics


If you ain't reggae for it, funk out
No-one knocking at your door, funk out
Overpowered by funk, funk out
It's combatative, repetitive
Don't life just funk you out?
Asinine, stupefying
Can the clone-line dry you out?
Part of the swarming mass, funk out
Slugged by the new increase, funk out
Scared of the human bomb, funk out
Overpowered by funk, funk out
Buy dog food, rogue elephants
Tarzan on a ticker tape
Ooo-ooh
Breakfast cereals
You know you can't escape
Overpowered by funk
Don't you love our Western ways?
Car crashed by funk
Don't you love our Western ways?
Benny Goodman, trial by jury
A phone box-full of books
"It's morning, you know!"
Dustcarts at sunrise
No-one gets off the hooks
Car crashed

Food for the hungry millions, funk out!
Home for the floating people, funk out!
Over-drunk on power
This is a message from Futura, don't prophisize the future
I liven up the culture because I'm deadly as a vulture
I paint on civilization, I had this realization
It's environmentally wack, so presenting my attack
You know, I'll brighten up your shack
I'm down by law and that's a fact
Just give me a wall, any building, dull or tall
I spray clandestine night subway
I cover with red-purple on top of grey, hey
No slashing cause it ain't the way, the T.A. blew forty mil' they say
We threw it down by night and they scrubbed it off by day
OK tourists, picture frame, tickets here for the graffiti train
Funk power
Over-and-out
Funk-funk-funk, funk-funk-funk-funk-funk
Funk-funk-funk, funk-funk-funk-funk-funk, ha
Funk power, ha!
Funk power

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Overpowered
  • This song was written at the Ear Studios rehearsals in September 1981, and recorded in the Electric Lady studios in December 1981, featuring additional instrumentation in the form of keyboards by Poly Mandell and a rap section by Futura 2000, graffiti artist and friend of the band. He had toured with the band for the previous two years, spray-painting a graffiti stage backdrop whilst the band played, and joining them live onstage for an improvised rap song once he had finished his work. He even references his graffiti work on the New York subway trains in his rap ("The T.A. blew forty mil they say, we threw down by night, they scrubbed it off by day").

    There are rumors that Futura 2000 recorded a standalone track, "The Escapades of Futura 2000" in these sessions too, but if he did it has never been released.
  • "Overpowered By Funk" is very much a continuation of the themes and musical styles first experimented with on "The Magnificent Seven." It is a heavy Funk track with freeform lyrics referencing capitalism ("Don't you love our Western ways?"), the Vietnam War ("Home for the floating people? Skin for the napalm victim?"), capital punishment ("Fry me in your shockin' chairs") and even using the Funk genre of music to represent the repetitive boredom of being stuck in a dead-end job ("Combative, repetitive, don't life just funk you out?"). It also includes subtle references to Tarzan and Benny Goodman.
  • Like "The Magnificent Seven," this song was remixed multiple times by rap radio stations in New York, and a bootleg exists of an extended six-minute-plus instrumental remix of the song.
  • This was only played by The Clash a handful of times - in their Paris residency in September 1981- before being dropped again. Presumably with "The Magnificent Seven" still being a massive fan favorite in The Clash's set, there wasn't room for another rap/funk song with lengthy instrumental sections and improv lyrics.