# This is a man`s world

# But it wouldn`t be nothing

# Nothing

# Nothing

# Nothing...

`You might say l`ve got a marker on my back l never knew was there.

`They fixed it where l couldn`t see it myself.`

# This is a man`s world...

`l was marked in many different ways, with names, for example,

`and each one has a different story behind it.`

# This is a man`s world...

`As a kid growing up in a whorehouse l was called Little Junior.

`As a teenager in prison, they called me Music Box.

`On the road in the `50s, l was Mr Dynamite,

`the hardest-working man in show business.`

James Brown had the first sense of street credibility,

because he took it to the streets, the ghettos and the black community first.

# Without a woman or a girl #

`ln the `60s, when l said, ``Die on your feet, don`t live on your knees,``

`l became Soul Brother Number One.`

He not only had the number one record,

he had changed the whole cultural paradigm of black America.

He wasn`t a hot artist, he was a way of life.

`Then they called me the Godfather Of Soul.`

He could be a tyrant, he could be generous.

He could be extremely patient and tolerant

and he could be demanding beyond reason.

`And they called me His Bad Self

`when the lRS and the police came down on me.`

# You make me feel so good l wanna scream

# People...

`ln the `80s and `90s l was known as the Minister Of The New Super-Heavy Funk

`to a new generation of hip-hoppers and rappers.`

ln the beginning was the heavens and the earth,

and there was James Brown, right there,

with a big ``E`` on his forehead for ``Entertainment``.

- # When l say - # Can l scream...scream?

- # Let me scream - # l heard, l heard a scream

# Let me scream

(Screams)

He deserved every title placed on him, from Soul Brother Number One

to the King Of Soul, the Minister Of Super-Heavy Heavy Funk,

and the Godfather Of Soul.

`l`ve been called many names in my time,

`but my legal name, the one l`m known by today, is James Brown.

`l first came to Augusta, Georgia back in 1 938.

`My Aunt Honey ran a gambling house here.

`Some people called that a crime. l called it survival.`

lt`s funny when you remember what it means, being almost 70 years old.

l remember when it was almost like new.

And you see those houses torn down now, it`s unbelievable.

This is really the beginning for me. This is where everything started.

On this side of the street, ladies and gentlemen,

it was white.

Everybody was white who lived here. And we was black, we lived over there.

We lived that close together in two different communities.

`l lived in Honey`s house, on Augusta`s south side.

`That`s when they called me Little Junior.

`We got our own gang started there, me and Mr Thomas Cook.`

What you say, my man?

He remembers it was my aunt that raised me.

Boy and Honey and all of them.

- ls Willie Mae doing OK? - Yeah, she`s OK.

(lnterviewer) What went on in that house? How did she make a living?

Right out, right there?

How`d she make a living?

Selling... She sold untaxed liquor, unstamped liquor.

And we called it a house of ill repute.

That`s what was happening there.

We used to go hustling the soldiers in 1 940, 1 941 , and go get `em a girl.

Cos we had to have money.

l danced where you see that sign. l danced for the soldiers.

l picked up, l don`t know, l guess about $6.

lt was $5 for rent, and l gave all the money to Miss Honey.

1 8 people in the house. You couldn`t do nothing.

lt had an impact on him. Why wouldn`t it?

You have to sing and dance, thank God for your talent,

but you have to sing and dance for nickels and dimes to feed a family.

He`s been hungry, he`s been poor, he`s lived in the slums,

he`s lived in a place that wasn`t fixed up and wasn`t lit up.

We all have, l have too.

And he don`t want to go back.

`l was born in a one-room shack near Barnwell, South Carolina.

`The year was 1 933.

`l guess we lived about as poor as you could be.

`l remember my mother standing at the door of the cabin ready to leave.

```You keep the child, Joe``, she said to my daddy.

`l didn`t see her again for 20 years.

`l was four years old.`

lt was my daddy`s business. Why they broke up, l don`t want to know.

When they broke up, l`m sorry l was the baggage they were worrying about.

God says, ``Vengeance is mine.`` l can`t punish my mother and my daddy.

`The best thing l remember is the 1 0-cent harmonica my father gave me.

`He did a lot of turpentine work.

`There were pine trees all around the cabin and he worked them.

`My daddy was gone a lot, travelling the turpentine camps.

`So l was left to myself.

`l played with sticks and with doodlebugs.

`Years later, l recorded a tune called ``Doodle Bug``.

# Doodle bug...

`Being alone in the woods like that, having nobody to talk to,

`gave me my own mind.

`No matter what came my way after that,

`prison, personal problems, government harassment,

`l could fall back on myself.`

l`ve been with him to the backwoods of South Carolina where he grew up.

He spent a lot of time alone.

His father left him alone, his mother had gone till he was in his 20s.

Somewhere in them woods, a spirit got in him of determination

that he either won`t let go or it won`t let him go,

but both of them haven`t let the world go for the last 4 7 years.

He decided, ``One day l`m gonna be some... l`m going to show everyone.

``l`m going to show myself first.

``l know what l can do, but l`ll show everyone l can do it.``

Yeah, l don`t want nobody to give me nothing.

l`ll go to work. Don`t give me nothing, you understand me?

But give me the chance to earn it. Don`t give me a handout, give me a way out.

# So alone, gee l hate to see you go

# You mean the world to me, you know You just said so...

`What helped me find a way out in those days was music.

`l`d met another kid called Leon Austin.

`He showed me how to play piano with both hands.`

He got interested in playing the piano

because the piano was just sitting there in the house

and we both really was learning.

You know, he...

l would play the boogie-woogie with just three keys, you know like...

...like that.

He would always add something to it as he learned it.

We stayed there until we got the boogie-woogie down.

l wanted to perfect boogie-woogie.

lt was big at the time, but you`d better not be caught doing it in church.

`ln order to use their piano,

`l started cleaning out Trinity Baptist Church before services.

`There was gospel singing and hand-clapping,

`and the preacher would really get down.

`l`m sure a lot of my stage show came out of the church.`

l think James Brown was tremendously influenced by preachers.

When l hear a preacher looking for a note...

And when he finds that note,

then he would work on that one note for a long time.

And when he wanted to take it higher he`d say, ``Take it up a little higher.

``A little higher,`` then ``Higher!``

And ``Higher!``

The next thing you know he goes ``Higher!`` and it becomes a scream.

Owww!

# Please, please, please, please, please, please...

(Continues singing)

When somebody screams ``Ow!`` it was pain, mental pain

and physical pain.

There ain`t but two pains, mental and physical.

You had to think about that one for a while. There`s not but two.

Tears of joy people cry because they`re happy, but it`s not pain.

They`re happy. Happy is happy and unhappy is unhappy.

There`s only two, physical and mental.

l think personally l`d rather have physical pain.

l can go to the doctor and take care of that, but that mental pain...

The Lord gotta take care of that. l can`t do it myself.

Mental pain comes from White Man having two water fountains.

At a petrol station or any major place we had to go to the bathroom,

they had ``Ladies``, which was white, and ``Men``, which was white.

That`s where that pain comes from.

```Yes, sir``, ``No, sir`` is what my daddy would say in front of white people.

`But l didn`t accept the life he accepted.

`When they took him away to the navy during World War ll,

`l started to be a street kid, a little thug.

`l was listening to all the sounds around me,

`from street bands to Louis Jordan and Duke Ellington.

`But what l really wanted to do was box.

`My idol was Beau Jack, lightweight champion of the world,

`who, just like me, started making his living on Augusta`s Broad Street.