| "Out of Sight" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byJames Brown | ||||
| from the albumOut of Sight | ||||
| B-side | "Maybe the Last Time" | |||
| Released | July 1964 (1964-07) | |||
| Recorded | May 1964 | |||
| Genre | Funk[1] | |||
| Length | 2:23 | |||
| Label | Smash 1919 | |||
| Songwriter | Ted Wright | |||
| Producer | Fair Deal Record Corp. | |||
| James Brown charting singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio video | ||||
| "Out Of Sight" onYouTube | ||||
"Out of Sight" is afunksong recorded byJames Brown in 1964 featured on thealbum of the same name. Atwelve-bar blues written by Brown under thepseudonym "Ted Wright",[citation needed] the stuttering,staccato dancerhythms and blastinghorn sectionriffs of its instrumentalarrangement were an important evolutionary step in the development offunk music.
In his 1986 autobiographyJames Brown: The Godfather of Soul, Brown wrote that
"Out of Sight" was another beginning, musically and professionally. My music - and most music - changed with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", but it really started on "Out of Sight" ... You can hear the band and me start to move in a whole other direction rhythmically. The horns, the guitars, the vocals, everything was starting to be used to establish all kinds of rhythms at once... I was trying to get every aspect of the production to contribute to the rhythmic patterns.[2]
"Out of Sight" was the thirdsingle Brown recorded forSmash Records in the midst of a contract dispute with his main label,King. A significant pop hit, it reached #24 on theBillboard Hot 100,[3] and #5 on theCashbox R&B chart.[4] (Billboard had temporarily suspended itsR&B listings at the time.) It was also the last song he would record for over a year, as the court's ruling in his dispute with King barred him from making vocal recordings for Smash.
"Out of Sight" was one of Brown's first recordings to feature the playing ofsaxophonistMaceo Parker. ItsB-side, "Maybe the Last Time", was his last studio recording withthe Famous Flames. Besides its single release, "Out of Sight" appeared onan album of the same name, which was quickly withdrawn from sale. It was re-released on King in 1968 with one track missing under the titleJames Brown Sings Out of Sight.
Bruce Springsteen described the song as, "Pure excitement, pure electricity, pure 'get out of your seat, move your ass'. Pure sweat-filled,gospel-filled raw,rock and roll,rhythm and blues. It's like a taut rubber band."[5]
Performances of "Out of Sight" appear on the 1967 albumLive at the Garden and in the 1964concert filmT.A.M.I. Show.
with the James Brown Band:
