With the Democratic presidential race getting heated,
it is surprising to note another, entirely separate Bernie/Clinton
feud. The Bernie in question here is Bernie Worrell, keyboardist and songwriter
in Parliament and Funkadelic. The Clinton in question is George Clinton, lead
singer of same.
Together with bassist Bootsy Collins, these men made
up the songwriting core of the two groups for most of the 1970s and early
1980s. Their accomplishments are of course legion and not worth discussing here
at length. Suffice to say that while Parliament and Funkadelic had dozens of
members, those three men (plus Eddie Hazel) were the most restless sonic innovators.
Today, Clinton still tours and performs often with a
Bootsy and Bernie-free version of Parliament/Funkadelic (now just a single
band). He still records music fairly often (most recently this collaborationwith Kendrick Lamar and Ice Cube) and enjoys his status in many documentaries and awards
shows as an elder funk statesman. Even more recently, he has become a crusader
for musicians’
rights and digital rights protection.
Worrell, by contrast, has lived the last decade in
relative obscurity and bankruptcy. In January of this year, his wife Judie
wrote on Facebook that Worrell was suffering from fourth-stage lung cancer. The
note mentioned that he was rejecting chemotherapy and going on an expensive
treatment plan, but seemed hopeful that Worrell was in good spirits and still able
to play occasional gigs.
As usually happens with the
deteriorating health of older legends, the music press ignored the news until celebrities rallied to the cause. So it was that on April 4,
Pitchfork and Stereogum reported on the news of a benefit at Manhattan’s
Webster Hall. Bernie attended, and in addition to the Black Rock Coalition
house band, guests included Rick Springfield, Paul Shaffer, Meters guitarist Leo
Nocentelli, Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison and David Byrne, and P-Funk head
Meryl Streep.
Also attending and playing were George Clinton and
Bootsy Collins. Clinton and Collins came on stage together, Collins presenting
Worrell with a psychedelic melodica present while Clinton hugged the
keyboardist. They played through a weird jam version of “I’d Rather Be With You”
with Bootsy on drums, then continued with “Flashlight” (always one of the best
showcases for Worrell’s playing). A general spirit of conviviality and joy, in
spite of Worrell’s illness, seemed to be the main feeling in the crowd.
So it was odd for me to see that night, posted just
hours before the concert began, this Facebook note:
The note (not written by Worrell, but by his wife)
makes a number of claims that go against Clinton’s persona as a crusader for
musicians’ rights. The first claim is that Clinton called Worrell’s bankruptcy
claims “fictitious.” This seems odd for someone who fought so
valiantly for musicians instead of labels to own the rights to their music. I
searched Google for “Bernie worrell bankruptcy” and found nothing (it
is here that I might humbly defer to my esteemed colleague, who is an actual
journalist and might know how to look up these things). I see no evidence of Clinton denying or dismissing Worrell's legacy or contributions in any interview.
The other main claim is Clinton’s “outright theft of
everyone’s royalties.” If true, this outright theft isn’t mentioned by other
surviving members of the P-Funk clan, including Bootsy, Michael Hampton, and
others. We know a large portion of their catalog is credited to “Clinton/Collins/Worrell,”
and we also know that Clinton has had a long legal battle with the firm Hendricks & Lewis, maintaining that his signature was forged on various agreements that gave up copyrights to his songs. Has Clinton since negotiated a new deal with the owners of his catalog that gives him more money and rights than his former partners?
There doesn’t seem to be clear information on the
Internet about this either. It is downright mysterious. Judie then responded to
a fan accusing him of “appearing on stage with him and ripping [Clinton] apart
in a fbook post.” She responded:
Judie Worrell’s description of the moment (where Worrell
did his best to ignore Clinton) does seem contradict actual footage
that shows the men, well, hugging each other. Maybe Worrell was hugging back
out of politeness, but the genuine camaraderie between Collins, Clinton, and
Worrell at that moment seemed real (at least, according to eyewitness accounts). There is nothing more sad than the spectacle of musicians
who clearly hate each other doing the reunion racket (Hey, Slash and Axl
Coachella 2016). Think about any time David Gilmour and Roger Waters step on a stage together. This…didn’t look like that.
So what is going on? Judie promises that Bernie’s
upcoming autobiography will tell all. Does it have something to do with the
fact that George Clinton goes on the road as “George Clinton &
Parliament/Funkadelic”? Is it because George Clinton is a more well-known and beloved musician today? What caused the rift between the two men, and why?
Neither seems willing to acknowledge a problem exists.
If we had an actual music press, they might want to
consider asking: is George Clinton really shortchanging his bandmates? If so,
how? And why is no one reporting on it? Professing on one hand to battle for
the rights of musicians, while at the same time diminishing the accomplishments
of one’s band members, is the kind of two-faced move one might expect of a very
different Clinton. Let us hope it is not true.
