Get Down, Get FUNKY! -- A "Theme Thursday" Post

Today's "Theme Thursday" topic is "Funky."

Lotsa ways to go here. There's the musical meaning(s), there's the "blue funk" phrase that describes a certain kind of depressed feeling, there's "Do the Funky Chicken," there's a comic strip called "Funky Winkerbean"...!

As it happens, I've been kinda drugged up lately -- legally, due to a minor back injury -- so I'm gonna try to keep my contributions to a minimum of comments between a few YouTube clips.

Anyway, here's my take on the subject:

You know you're "old" when:

1. You can remember when "classic rock" and "oldies" had a different name: "Top 40."
2. You fall down, and more parts of your body ache than just the part(s) that hit the ground.
3. You can remember when Neil Diamond was considered a rock'n'roller.
4. You can remember when Sally Struthers was considered sexy.

[I should add something very recent: "You know you're 'old' when you react adversely to an eBay dealer's description of a 1977 magazine as an 'antique!' "]

5. And finally, you know you're "old" when you can remember the following song being on the Top 40, not once, nor twice, but three times!

Ahhh, yes, Grand Funk Railroad (also known as, simply, Grand Funk, for some reason which must have made sense to someone back then)! They got their name from the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. "Funk" was just a play on words. They weren't really a funk band.

This was the group that gave us the best-known version of "Some Kind of Wonderful." This was the group that gave us "We're an American Band," the first song I ever sang in front of an audience in my very first rock band. This was the group that gave us "Bad Time," a song I still can't hear almost thirty-five years later without thinking of a certain cashier I worked with at my first job. And this was the group that gave us "Foot Stompin' Music." 'Nuff said there, if you've ever heard it.

Then of course, there was a group called the James Gang, which included a kick-ass guitarist named Joe Walsh, who went on to a bright solo career and a stint with The Eagles. The James Gang did a little tune called "Funk #49."

And finally for today, I'm giving you a little ditty called "Funky Nassau" by a group called "The Beginning of the End."

And is it just me, or do you agree that the longer you listen to them repeating the words "funky Nassau," those words start sounding like... well... something else?

Thanks for your time.