Some say this was the first rap song, which would be quite a distinction for Chitlin’ Circuit vaudevillian Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham, born 1904, whose “here come the judge” routine was adopted by and immortalized on TV’s “Laugh-In.”
I, on the other hand, say this is the perfect theme song for the opening day of this circus of an impeachment trial.
This record was released in 1968, a time when many performers famous to black audiences were still new to white ones — if you had said in 1960 that infamously blue comedian Redd Foxx would have his own TV show, an “Afro-American” wouldn’t have believed you and a white guy would have said, “Who?” They brought their routines — many dating to the early days of vaudeville, which grew out of minstrelry — with them. Those roots are pretty exposed in this routine, but you can’t deny the percolating funk beat.
BTW, the first verse is actually about the Paris peace talks that were going on in 1968 — the ones that Richard Nixon sent an avatar to sabotage to help him win the election.