James Brown, "World"

I've been trying for a long time to track down a long-forgotten James Brown charting single from the fall of '69 that showed off his social consciousness rather than his funky strut. It wouldn't have been out of place on his Christmas albums that offered universal, nondenominational sermons on the need for peace and love, where it would sit alongside such songs as "Let's Unite the Whole World at Christmas" and "Hey America."

Making this tune even harder to find, beyond its being funk-free and thereby less radio-friendly for retro R&B stations, is that a search for "James Brown World" invariably points one to the far more famous "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." But at last, the object of my desire up on YouTube - in a very well lip-synched performance whose silent participants' studied, impervious disdain takes JB to a very new performative level. One might very well imagine James making this plea to the Americans who did not want health care to reach everyone in America. Or to these assholes.

In any case, I'm happy to at last present James Brown's "World," and hope that you find it as powerful as I do (despite its crappy production). As the man says: "Please, please give a damn."