Sly Lives! Expect more of the same here, but some of his former Family Stone bandmates, Jerry Martini saxophone , Larry Graham bass and vocals , and Greg Errico drums have their say as well. It has influenced generations and has been sampled countless times. Some of that is his own fault; he has definitely exhibited self-defeating behavior, even by rock star standards the doc will surely go into that. Over the years, there have been attempts to get the Family Stone back on the road, sometimes with Sly, but it has never really clicked, which is a shame.
And Sly himself is a recluse. Ultimately, he decided to keep it for his band, which was a smart move. It was about anyone who was treated unfairly, stared at on the street, kept down, forced out.
The song was basically about how great his band was, and how they could make you, in fact, dance to their music. If a union guy came in, you better have your horn. I was freezing and just wanted to carry my small clarinet [to the studio, instead of the saxophone]. I had already done my horn parts. I was in the back room, just fβing around with the tune. Sly walked by and called me over.
He was smart. He heard something unique and it was the sound of a clarinet. When is the last time you heard of somebody in rock using a clarinet? Despite the tensions that later tore them apart, Sly loved his band. Sadly, the band only lasted a few years. Gregg Errico left in , and Larry Graham a year later. The band was finished by But they were great while they lasted. But hey, the pop charts get it wrong a lot. But Sly and the Family Stone popularized the term by using it in this song, and they walked it like they talked or sang it.
The Family Stone included men and women, and there were Black and white people in the group. The trick was not to become a victim of it.
