Give It To Me Baby

In this #1 R&B hit, Rick James comes home intoxicated and plead for some of that "funk that sweet that funky stuff." Her reply: "Say what?!" James explained: "I wrote it because I had come home one night and my old lady was in bed and I wanted to mess around, but I was too drunk. So I sat at the piano and wrote the song."

This was released as the first single from James' fifth album, Street Songs, beating out "Super Freak" for the honor. Like "Super Freak," it's the funky sound that carries the tune, and certainly not the message. James explained to Musician magazine, "'Give It To Me Baby' was another silly song. Matter of fact, most of my songs that are hit records are silly. Most of my serious stuff is stuck on albums."

Listen for the off-the-beat tom-tom drums in this song, which James overdubbed to create a distinctive track. James would create a "skeleton" of a song, then look for unusual elements to "color it."