Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts

Artist: Funkadelic

Title of album: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On

Year of first release: 1974

Trivia:

This song features a guitar solo by Eddie Hazel, and sermonic, preacher-style vocals.

Complete tabs at [external site with complete tabs]

Songwriters: George Clinton, Grace Cook (Eddie Hazel)

Memorable Lyrics:

• "Conqering the stumbling blocks come easier/When the conqueror is in tune with the infinite"
• "An attitude is all you need to rise and walk away/Inspire yourself"
• "The oak sleeps in the acorn/The giant sequoia tree sleeps in its tiny seed/The bird waits in the egg/God waits for his unfoldment in man"
• "You gravitate to that which you secretly love most/You meet in life the exact reproduction of your own thoughts"
• "Free your mind and your ass will follow"
  • Also a song and album by Funkadelic (see Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow)
• "Good thoughts bring forth good fruit/Bullshit thoughts rot your meat"
• "The kingdom of heaven is within"
  • This is also a line from the song "Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow"

Complete lyrics at the Motherpage (http://www.duke.edu/~tmc/motherpage/lyrics_funkadelic/lyr-standing#lyr-s-thoughts)

This is a song of self-empowerment, and of mystical achievement. The third quote above is perhaps the best summary of the song (though "Good thoughts bring forth..." is more popularly quoted) as it explains first that the acorn contains within it an oak[?] (an adult acorn), and so on for sequoia trees[?] and birds. This is then juxtaposed by the last line, where it is implied (by extension) that each man has the capablity of "unfolding" into God.

Personnel:

• Lead Vocals: George Clinton

Critical response: