Entry · catalog no. 5468
give the drummer some
/ /ˌɡɪv ðə ˈdrʌmər sʌm/ /giv thuh DRUM-er sum
phrase · Black touring revue and funk bandstand tradition · 1960s
✓ Verified
1.
A bandleader's call, thrown out mid-song, to cut the band back and let the drummer play alone. Off the bandstand it means: step aside and let the person who is actually carrying this have their moment, and their credit.
“She built the whole thing. Give the drummer some.”
Origin & Attribution
James Brown's band, 1967, directed at the drummer Clyde Stubblefield, born in Chattanooga in 1943. The setting is the Black touring revue tradition in which the leader directs the band out loud, in front of the audience, as part of the performance. The call passed into hip-hop directly: Ultramagnetic MCs titled a 1988 track with the phrase over a sample of the very record Stubblefield played on.
1967
James Brown calls for the break on the full-length "Cold Sweat," released on King; Clyde Stubblefield takes the solo
1969
Brown issues the same call on "Funky Drummer," recorded in Cincinnati in November and released the following spring
1988
Ultramagnetic MCs title a track with the phrase on Critical Beatdown, sampling the record
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide / diaspora
Black touring revue and funk bandstand tradition · 1960s
Spoken by
Funk and soul bandleaders and their bands; hip-hop producers and MCs; Black musicians generally
$GIVETHThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring59 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
62/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1967
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
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Citations & Sources
■
James Brown, "Cold Sweat" Parts 1 & 2 (King)
1967
■
James Brown, "Funky Drummer" (King), recorded 20 November 1969
1970
■
+ Cite a sourceUltramagnetic MCs, "Give the Drummer Some," Critical Beatdown (Next Plateau)
1988
See also