Song of the Day 10/17: Sly and the Family Stone, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”

Sly Stone, much to my surprise, is still alive. Now 80, he’s released a memoir, titled after his No. 1 hit “Thank You ((Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” something I learned when this CBS Sunday Morning piece turned up in my YouTube feed.

The book is the product of hundreds of interview sessions with Ben Greenman, who co-wrote George Clinton’s memoir. After years of hardcore drug use, Stone has been clean and sober for almost four years, but hasn’t made any public appearances since 2015 and isn’t making the rounds to promote the memoir.

“Thank You” was one of three songs Stone wrote for an intended follow-up to 1969’s “Stand!” album that were instead folded into a “Greatest Hits” LP (the other two were “Hot Fun in the Summertime” and “Everybody Is a Star,” which dutifully became hits). It’s a landmark in pop music history for Larry Graham’s slap bass, a revolutionary technique in 1970 that came to define the sound of funk.

The original mono single was 4:48. This extended stereo version was released only on a 1990 Columbia promotional CD.