Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone (1970) 11/24/22

Happy Thanksgiving!

To thank you all for following along with my "Great Songs of the '70s blog, I present:

"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Sly & The Family Stone! (The phonetic spelling of the title was designed to catch attention...which it most certainly did!)

"Thank You" was released around Christmas time in 1969, as a Double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star.," a "Great Song" in its own right, which we will cover at a later date.

In February of 1970, both songs reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100. (In 2004, "Thank You" was added to Rolling Stone Magazine's "Top 500 of All Time." It fell off in 2021).

"Thank you" was designed by Sylvester Stewart (Sly) to be a rather scathing song, directed at fans who were missing the main overall message of The Family Stone's music: racial equality. (They were an interracial group.) He also directed it at himself for not making that clearer.

Unfortunately, no one seemed to get the message with "Thank You" either, even though every member of the group took a turn at singing the lyrics. (Sly, Rose Stone, Freddie Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, Greg Errico and Larry Graham).

Note: Larry Graham was responsible for the iconic "slap bass" riff, which later influenced countless R&B artists, most notably Janet Jackson in her 1989 song, "Rhythm Nation."

"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Sly and the family Stone. Maybe some people missed the point, maybe Sly didn't communicate it properly, and maybe it was a little of both. But it was STILL a "Great Song of 1970! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5BP2KlPD4U

Rhythm Nation/Janet Jackson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5GqbCtxbM