I played rhythm guitar back then growing up listening and dancing to this. And as a DJ running the grooves out of the CJ & Co. tracks. Mr. Coffey makes a guitar talk. Excellent.
Who gives a hoot about what color someone is. I loved this instrumental in the spring of 1972 and never gave one thought to the race of the artist / I just enjoyed the music
Wow !!! I have been a fan a long time ,but just thought to look you up on Youtube . Thanks for posting . I had to share .Now my friends will see what I already knew .Next time post the extended version !
Saw your show last night in NY at the Bell House. Spectacular! I look forward to your next show! Opinion: I actually prefer you without a singer. Feel you can really set it loose and take it out there without one.
Demais! Por muito tempo procurei por esse som, que ouvia ainda nos tempos da Radio Excelsior e do Antonio Celso. É como ter encontrado uma pérola, perseguida por muitos anos.
@DeborahWinter you're a fuckin' idiot. You just keep telling yourself how "superior" you dopes are. Meanwhile in the real world, you asses keep proving how truly fuckin' stupid you are, by continually doing the same shit that has kept you poorly educated, in poverty, drug abuse, section 8 housing, prison, and killing each other in record numbers. But that's the white devils' fault, huh? Moron.
I remember that day he was on AMERICAN BAND STAND, PEOPLE FREAKED OUT , CAUSE WE ALL THOUGHT THIS DUDE WAS BLACK .WE WERE SO STUPID BACK THEN . IM BLACK ,AND I FELL IN THAT PIT AS WELL . IT WAS A TIGHT JAM WHEN IT CAME OUT .
DENNIS?!! YOU POSTED THIS?! OH MY GOD... I did NOT know you were White! I'm happy to have lucked up on this video! I would have been totally ignorant for the rest of my life! THANK YOU! You just kicked me dead in the- you know what you did..!
I tip my hat to you, Mr. Coffey. And thank you for my making my last 36- 37 years a bit more bearable (I'm 39!)
Thanks for posting this Dennis...it is great that people got to hear an example of your solo work, which to this day remains the best of innovative guitar work!
When was Scorpio or the album that contained Scorpio released? I bought the single in November 1971 and the album a little after. It bugs me because I remembered hearing the song somewhere long before November 1971...like June or July 1971. Any info on the month and year this song was completed and released either on single or LP form? Whichever came first?
It peaked on the charts in 1972 - #43 on 72's Billboard top 100.
I was surprised to see that - at #43, Coffey's hit was ahead of come classic songs that year by AL Green, Cher, Chicago, Alice Cooper, James Brown, etc.
Just heard it on a rebroadcast of American Top 40 from Oct. 72 - they air the shows on KKLX in Las Vegas every Sunday morning - very interesting to hear again and look up some of those songs...
Awww man...that's not the version I remember. I love this song .... it's the reason I took up the bass guitar. But I wish they would just play the song the way it was recorded or close to it.
Thank you for posting this Mr. Coffey. I'm a hip hop guy and you know how much we love and respect you as an architect of what became hip hop. Thanks for all the great music.
You bet-TA get DOWN grandpa!!! And that it was said with NOTHING but respect, cause he's playin' the HELL outta that guitar!!! I was born in '73 and i LOVE old school funk!
Mr. Coffey it is a pleasure sir, been a fan since this record came out in '72, good to see you still doing your thang. listening to you inspired me to pick up the guitar.
@Christopher89123 sounds like tritone substitutions on a circle of fourths (but, i'm not near an instrument right now), pretty common in jazz, tritone subs give that chromatic movement. i just looked this up because someone told me about the bass solo - where is it? this just sounds like boring wah wah wank.
@jaimepaullamb: You're entitled to your opinion, of course; however I disagree with your use of the word "wank" (British slang; its' American equivalent would be "jerkoff"). Mr. Coffey is far from a self-pleasuring hack. He's worked with all the Motown greats, and a great assortment of other talent as well (not the least of whom is Quincy Jones). Further, I think you seek the original studio version. The bass solo on that recording is performed by Bob Babbitt, Coffey's Motown session colleague.
@reggie44 yeah, i found the version with the bass solo (nice!). babbit's no joke. i'm sure coffey's not either. i just hate gratuitous wah wah (especially auto-wah - which i suspect is going on in this version). and, yes, by 'wank' i mean stroking off. that is to say - this sort of uncreative and ineffective use of that particular effect is pointless. i mean, if it's used to legitimately enhance rhythmic texture or to accentuate the speech-like quality of a single-line passage, then fine.
@DennisCoffey . Thank you for the music man. Without guys like you, there would be much less hip hop,('83-'93) and my world would be worse for it. So...thank you.
Lool everyone thought that he was black until you see his pictures on his records LPs! like have said "scratchatune" all the problem is to findddddddd the funkkkkk ..i'm trying everyday lol
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Man, why ruin your best song? The guitar sounds bloody awful, what's with that modulation rubbish? Get that funk fuzz back on it! You can't even hear the bass AT ALL. The drummer might as well not be there.....he clearly doesn't care about this song and you can't hear him anyway. And why is there someone on keyboards? Bongos - he's not playing the right pattern that made it so funky. Sorry to sound like a music geek, but this song is important to us good music lovers!
Babbitt's most notable bass performances are "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie "War" by Edwin Starr, "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye, and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" by The Temptations.Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips, "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band, Supernatural Thing by Ben E. King and "Rubberband Man" by The Spinners.
Coffey played Scorpio on the Soul Train back in '71. God knows if this clip is still in existence. he also did a five-second interview in that Shadows of Motown doco, which didn't cover a cotton-pickin thing!
Much respect to DC for his talents, I was buying his stuff all the way back to the late 60's...... BUT GEE why does that guitar he's playing sound so awful? Sounds like a banjo, and a cheap one at that.
it's good, but no way near as good as the original. not even close. why, oh why did so many of the cool 70's funk guys get sooooo cheezy after around 1975? and get worse and worse as time went on?! quincy jones, lalo schiffren, james brown, george benson, the meters, bill withers etc all used to sound raw and funky but later on, it just sounds watered down and disco-y.
Mr WA WA ! Mad Props to this funk Master - Hay remember the FUNKY CHICKEN ? - when I was a kid I remember doing the dance. Dennis and Bob Babbit locking down the groove back in the day!! Long Live the Funk !!!!!!!
nice to see any footage of dennis..I'm not very keen to his guitar sound on this though.. too much watery phasing..what happened to your Fuzz box Dennis??? That's what MADE those old classics..(oh and babbit's bass ) if it was released sounding like this..it would end up in that AOR section.. haha.. thanks for the post
nnis was the one who created the new sound of Motown as in Cloud Nine, Psydelic Shack, and others.I still have the 45 "Scorpio" growning up in Motown was a pleasure. Geri in Detroit
This is what my zodiac sign sounds like. :)
Mannchild11 5 days ago
I played rhythm guitar back then growing up listening and dancing to this. And as a DJ running the grooves out of the CJ & Co. tracks. Mr. Coffey makes a guitar talk. Excellent.
Mannchild11 5 days ago
Fuckin awesome
jimmyfasswriter 2 weeks ago
Thanks so much for posting this!
thoughtstrings 1 month ago
Don't care if you believe it or not, but I got my first guitar (an epiphone acoustic) from Dennis Coffey's son Jimbo.
mrblackeric43 1 month ago
Man is this really Dennis Coffey?! I mean the channel??? Incredible!!! :)
kafcin 2 months ago
Jam On Yall!
GrandameLadyJ 3 months ago
Who gives a hoot about what color someone is. I loved this instrumental in the spring of 1972 and never gave one thought to the race of the artist / I just enjoyed the music
druhbe1996 3 months ago
U JINGILING BABY ....GO HEAD BABY.....LLCOOL J
MrQUIETSTORM1 4 months ago
Support His NEW RECORD! and Buy It! Support the Scorpion
Thumbs up !
leftbanked 5 months ago 3
Excellent! I still have some of the original 45's.
wjp255 6 months ago
Man Dennis yu have been one of my heroes for years, why it's a Ball of Confusion!!!
LOL
One of my favourite licks ever Supremes "One day we'll be together"
PortieBhoy 7 months ago
mama gave birth to the soul children!
mst3kpimp 7 months ago
very nice upload and one of my fav. themes ...thank you
FunkyDebob 7 months ago
Wow !!! I have been a fan a long time ,but just thought to look you up on Youtube . Thanks for posting . I had to share .Now my friends will see what I already knew .Next time post the extended version !
menRstupidwomenRevil 7 months ago
wow , i thought he was black too, i remember this groove from back in the day , wow , music is so universal
blac2thafuture 7 months ago
dennis coffey is bad ass~
XTheSonofTheSunX 7 months ago
the white guy dennis is justin beibers uncle.
SIGNALSTAT 8 months ago
Absolutely awesome
faymx47 8 months ago
Will be seeing you at Bonnaroo on Saturday, looking forward to it big time.
MostDope69 8 months ago
Saw your show last night in NY at the Bell House. Spectacular! I look forward to your next show! Opinion: I actually prefer you without a singer. Feel you can really set it loose and take it out there without one.
rnrsoul62 8 months ago
The best part of this song was always Babbitt's bass work. Still great guitar though.
Gspotkemps 9 months ago
Demais! Por muito tempo procurei por esse som, que ouvia ainda nos tempos da Radio Excelsior e do Antonio Celso. É como ter encontrado uma pérola, perseguida por muitos anos.
cesargiometti 9 months ago
Dude is bad--color ain't got nothin to do with it. We used to jam to this back in the day and we knew he was white...who cared? The jam was/is bad!!
ricnros 10 months ago
Dude is bad--color ain't got nothin to do with it. We used to jam to this back in the day and we knew he was white...sho cared the jam was/is bad!!
ricnros 10 months ago
@DeborahWinter you're a fuckin' idiot. You just keep telling yourself how "superior" you dopes are. Meanwhile in the real world, you asses keep proving how truly fuckin' stupid you are, by continually doing the same shit that has kept you poorly educated, in poverty, drug abuse, section 8 housing, prison, and killing each other in record numbers. But that's the white devils' fault, huh? Moron.
61jamman 10 months ago
@DeborahWinter you're a fuckin' idiot.
61jamman 10 months ago
My Pops always said, "Music ain't got no racial barriers, just listeners". Pops was right as usual.
beaagent29p 11 months ago 7
smoooth... imagine this guy ordering coffee. "how would you like your coffee mr. coffey?"
iop223 11 months ago
I remember that day he was on AMERICAN BAND STAND, PEOPLE FREAKED OUT , CAUSE WE ALL THOUGHT THIS DUDE WAS BLACK .WE WERE SO STUPID BACK THEN . IM BLACK ,AND I FELL IN THAT PIT AS WELL . IT WAS A TIGHT JAM WHEN IT CAME OUT .
MultiGuarddog 11 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Bongo mans having fun. Check my channel for more funk.
kmp3000 1 year ago
There's Damon on the bass!
Soundin fine Mr. Coffey.
magicbus517 1 year ago
He's Black .... can't you hear it !!!
originalkillerguitar 1 year ago
JAM!!! I had the 45rpm.
zzrokk 1 year ago
Where's the bass solo? :[
x1te 1 year ago
@x1te good question..but no doubt this being a bad ass jam..would be cool to have mini solos for the rest of the very fine musicians hee
dbeater1 11 months ago
motown baby!! yeah
mjjcng8958 1 year ago
Childhood mems brought back just now (New Orleans, La - 1971!!)
woodie62 1 year ago
6:02 - i dunno why but the bongo guy is hilarious
TrollinOnMyFace 1 year ago
DENNIS?!! YOU POSTED THIS?! OH MY GOD... I did NOT know you were White! I'm happy to have lucked up on this video! I would have been totally ignorant for the rest of my life! THANK YOU! You just kicked me dead in the- you know what you did..!
I tip my hat to you, Mr. Coffey. And thank you for my making my last 36- 37 years a bit more bearable (I'm 39!)
PatrioticPirate 1 year ago
Thank you Dennis. Youre a really baaadaaasss guitarrist.
funkberto 1 year ago
dennis coffey is white and he's one bad guitarist in
a good way
playsbass1969 1 year ago
Thanks for posting this Dennis...it is great that people got to hear an example of your solo work, which to this day remains the best of innovative guitar work!
LarryCosgrove 1 year ago
Dope as always, Dennis.
A fitting theme song for ALL Scorpios.
MrScorpio 1 year ago
A true Classic. Dennis one of the Motown Funk Brothers Keep Groobin..
Fusongs 1 year ago
When was Scorpio or the album that contained Scorpio released? I bought the single in November 1971 and the album a little after. It bugs me because I remembered hearing the song somewhere long before November 1971...like June or July 1971. Any info on the month and year this song was completed and released either on single or LP form? Whichever came first?
mikeeiland1 1 year ago
@mikeeiland1
It peaked on the charts in 1972 - #43 on 72's Billboard top 100.
I was surprised to see that - at #43, Coffey's hit was ahead of come classic songs that year by AL Green, Cher, Chicago, Alice Cooper, James Brown, etc.
Just heard it on a rebroadcast of American Top 40 from Oct. 72 - they air the shows on KKLX in Las Vegas every Sunday morning - very interesting to hear again and look up some of those songs...
brasscollection 1 year ago
Tight work Mr Coffey !
macmillions69 1 year ago
I got a chance to see him perform last night....so awesome!
jlm1973 1 year ago
Awww man...that's not the version I remember. I love this song .... it's the reason I took up the bass guitar. But I wish they would just play the song the way it was recorded or close to it.
HomeBuyersofOhio 1 year ago
Thank you for posting this Mr. Coffey. I'm a hip hop guy and you know how much we love and respect you as an architect of what became hip hop. Thanks for all the great music.
Revelator72 1 year ago
You bet-TA get DOWN grandpa!!! And that it was said with NOTHING but respect, cause he's playin' the HELL outta that guitar!!! I was born in '73 and i LOVE old school funk!
sraerica 1 year ago
DC , you one Badd Dude , , ,
God Bless You
58manoa 1 year ago
Mr. Coffey it is a pleasure sir, been a fan since this record came out in '72, good to see you still doing your thang. listening to you inspired me to pick up the guitar.
jody808 1 year ago
This is actually Denis Coffey's YouTube page?
Xelanderthomas 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Ok, I give up! What are the chords?
Christopher89123 1 year ago
Ok, I give up! What are the chords?
Christopher89123 1 year ago
@Christopher89123 sounds like tritone substitutions on a circle of fourths (but, i'm not near an instrument right now), pretty common in jazz, tritone subs give that chromatic movement. i just looked this up because someone told me about the bass solo - where is it? this just sounds like boring wah wah wank.
jaimepaullamb 1 year ago
@jaimepaullamb: You're entitled to your opinion, of course; however I disagree with your use of the word "wank" (British slang; its' American equivalent would be "jerkoff"). Mr. Coffey is far from a self-pleasuring hack. He's worked with all the Motown greats, and a great assortment of other talent as well (not the least of whom is Quincy Jones). Further, I think you seek the original studio version. The bass solo on that recording is performed by Bob Babbitt, Coffey's Motown session colleague.
reggie44 1 year ago
@reggie44 yeah, i found the version with the bass solo (nice!). babbit's no joke. i'm sure coffey's not either. i just hate gratuitous wah wah (especially auto-wah - which i suspect is going on in this version). and, yes, by 'wank' i mean stroking off. that is to say - this sort of uncreative and ineffective use of that particular effect is pointless. i mean, if it's used to legitimately enhance rhythmic texture or to accentuate the speech-like quality of a single-line passage, then fine.
jaimepaullamb 1 year ago
Sounds like a phase shifter
mrcool665 1 year ago
@ DennisCoffey - When are you coming to CT my brotha?
ramsef 1 year ago
I am using a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Wah pedal.
DennisCoffey 1 year ago 12
@DennisCoffey
mikeeiland1 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@DennisCoffey Ok, I give up! What are the chords?
Christopher89123 1 year ago
@DennisCoffey . Thank you for the music man. Without guys like you, there would be much less hip hop,('83-'93) and my world would be worse for it. So...thank you.
zedtransform 1 year ago
@DennisCoffey Very Cool Sound! Been diggin' your music for years.
joelalsmo 7 months ago
wat the hell kinda pedal is he using jesus christ thats so kool
ACDCrocks842 1 year ago
This song is teh hotneSS
bsivoljr 2 years ago
Hey that's Frat! Love this!
MelissaBehring 2 years ago
The bass player responsible for that EPIC solo on the 45 was (and remains) a pretty funky white boy, too... the incomparable Mr. Babbitt !
Color ain't got a dang thing to do with funk- 'less the color in question is blue.
musicrowbum 2 years ago 2
Didn't know that was Babbit. awesome. I really like the Gerald Calhoun's solo on the Kashmere Stage band version as well.
Coffey's solo gets pretty epic too around 2:27. He may not be playing any actual notes, but its still tight.
ericwolff6 2 years ago
Lool everyone thought that he was black until you see his pictures on his records LPs! like have said "scratchatune" all the problem is to findddddddd the funkkkkk ..i'm trying everyday lol
FonkyB 2 years ago
hey if you got soul you got soul, black or white it makes no odds...
music is music, everyone has the funk in them, its just finding it :)
scratchatune 2 years ago
i peep dat too lol
yb2smooth4ya 2 years ago
big fan of this man and the sessions he played on
jody808 2 years ago
Er..hang on...I thought...I thought... Dennis Coffey was white ? Good Lord !
The ultimate Respect is due to this man!
Umskiddy 2 years ago
Sorry I meant to say I thought he was black. Goes to show...music can be colourless if you have soul.
Umskiddy 2 years ago 10
@Umskiddy me too, I was dancing to his music in the 70's.
EmpressElizabeth1920 9 months ago
@Umskiddy Amen!
Dactuck 9 months ago
@Umskiddy coffee, like the drink.
rakuencallisto 9 months ago
@Umskiddy or youre just a racist.
snowdoc83 6 months ago
@snowdoc83 No, I'm not. Read my posts again.Including the one with 9 thumbs up.Peace.
Umskiddy 6 months ago
*LOL* So was the original bassist on the recording, Bob Babbit with that kickass bassline.
bladesaint21 2 years ago
@bladesaint21 yeah 1972 was babbitt
mrstwattysfella 2 years ago
@Umskiddy and joe messina
mrstwattysfella 2 years ago
wow....dude...is....white. thought for sure he was a black session guitarist from Jamaica...maybe I'm thinking of another Cofey...so sorry!
rowdymax1 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Man, why ruin your best song? The guitar sounds bloody awful, what's with that modulation rubbish? Get that funk fuzz back on it! You can't even hear the bass AT ALL. The drummer might as well not be there.....he clearly doesn't care about this song and you can't hear him anyway. And why is there someone on keyboards? Bongos - he's not playing the right pattern that made it so funky. Sorry to sound like a music geek, but this song is important to us good music lovers!
Jadell 2 years ago
After seeing them in Detroit I can say that Jadell is officially full of shit !!!
musicman24 2 years ago
I jus saw him tonight and he sounded betters than this, he didn't use that effect but he sounded awesome.
HURMSANFORD 2 years ago
Where was his concert, Sanford?
Large venue? Small one?
diuga1 2 years ago
A bar called Northern Lights, a medium sized place, he plays every Wednesday for free last time I checked.
HURMSANFORD 2 years ago
In what American city is this bar located?
diuga1 2 years ago
Detroit Michigan- what else. Just a small local bar with great sound. He plays once a week there.
JillianFrederick 2 years ago
Thanks, Jillian
diuga1 2 years ago
i saw him play three weeks ago. he does all types of shiot that nite. he does all his classics... hell, he even did some miles davis stuff that nite.
frickinfrak 2 years ago
i used to love this song as a kid in the seventies, good to see Dennis Coffey
jody808 2 years ago
Babbitt's most notable bass performances are "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie "War" by Edwin Starr, "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye, and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" by The Temptations.Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips, "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band, Supernatural Thing by Ben E. King and "Rubberband Man" by The Spinners.
loosestudios 2 years ago
gotta be the funkiest white man to ever live.. hands down
djmrbrown00 2 years ago
Probably
crouchhill 2 years ago
Grooveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TizioBass 2 years ago
I don't think I've ever seen a drummer look less interested in playing! Classic tune nevertheless ;)
davedagreat69 2 years ago
lol! I know!! it's like he doesn't wana be there.
RayRays 2 years ago
Coffey played Scorpio on the Soul Train back in '71. God knows if this clip is still in existence. he also did a five-second interview in that Shadows of Motown doco, which didn't cover a cotton-pickin thing!
chuckcolson 3 years ago
wow i would pay to see that!!!!
djmrbrown00 2 years ago
I'd trade my entire record collection to see that!!!
MrHotpantsImComin 2 years ago
Much respect to DC for his talents, I was buying his stuff all the way back to the late 60's...... BUT GEE why does that guitar he's playing sound so awful? Sounds like a banjo, and a cheap one at that.
THEAIREDALER 3 years ago
it's good, but no way near as good as the original. not even close. why, oh why did so many of the cool 70's funk guys get sooooo cheezy after around 1975? and get worse and worse as time went on?! quincy jones, lalo schiffren, james brown, george benson, the meters, bill withers etc all used to sound raw and funky but later on, it just sounds watered down and disco-y.
quornflake 3 years ago
very good
fantastik59 3 years ago
Thank you!
We hope we'll see you on live in France soon!
funkystory 3 years ago
Nice
esgotos 3 years ago
Awesome
esgotos 3 years ago
Mr WA WA ! Mad Props to this funk Master - Hay remember the FUNKY CHICKEN ? - when I was a kid I remember doing the dance. Dennis and Bob Babbit locking down the groove back in the day!! Long Live the Funk !!!!!!!
uniquess 3 years ago 3
Graet Guitar under rated Legend Dennis Coffey,had more Genius and talent than anyone ever gave him credit for.
yomamadontdanz 3 years ago 3
Excellent, Dennis! You are the master!
DiscoVideoMix 3 years ago
hair and thangs is the shit i love that record....mad respect to dennis coffey...a true diamond in the rough
BadVizion 3 years ago
nice to see any footage of dennis..I'm not very keen to his guitar sound on this though.. too much watery phasing..what happened to your Fuzz box Dennis??? That's what MADE those old classics..(oh and babbit's bass ) if it was released sounding like this..it would end up in that AOR section.. haha.. thanks for the post
freqazoidiac 3 years ago 2
yeah if you've ever heard coffey's old records, they dont sound like this....
limeyamos 3 years ago
dennis coffey was part of cj and company. that group did the song" the devils gun "
poet3131 3 years ago
isnt there any vids of bob babbitt in young days cant find any!
greenysfleetwoodmac 3 years ago
nnis was the one who created the new sound of Motown as in Cloud Nine, Psydelic Shack, and others.I still have the 45 "Scorpio" growning up in Motown was a pleasure. Geri in Detroit
Moxxie202 3 years ago
Didn't Coffey also record "OTTA SPACE"?
paul51 3 years ago
Sorry, I was thinking of BILLY PRESTON!!
paul51 3 years ago
Dennis coffey is the best!!!!
Groove and Breaks to the people!!!!
brunogroovy 3 years ago
Nice phaser effect. I liked how he used octaves and fuzz to emulate a horn section.. I love this groove
chiknfulio 3 years ago
50 stars for the Motown guitar God!
jamersonshook 3 years ago
co-sign
kamesan 3 years ago
ditto
harvardlaw13 3 years ago
Detroit-style funk done right by the master!!
TheOwl 3 years ago