It took me a while to recognize that this was a 12-bar blues. This is not your papa’s 12-bar-blues; this is not Chuck Berry’s 12-bar-blues. It’s a whole new “thang” — and funky as all get-out: disco and funk music are known for their use of octaves (playing the same named note an octave part, one after another, which gives the bass line that bouncy/jerky sound — even the pop/rock song “My Sharona” uses octaves, BTW), but this tune takes it to another level (literally) by playing three Es in a row as it transitions from the A chord back to the E chord, each note an octave lower than the previous one. Two successive octave drops — how funky can you get!?! Not much funkier than that, I don’t think.
Another song whose bass work is the epitome of funkiness is Sly and the Family Stone’s Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) featuring slapmeister Larry Graham. He also plays three consecutive Es, all different octaves in that riff. First, it’s the E on fret 7 of the A string, then open E string, then the E on fret 9 of the G string. It’s Funk-E! and Funk-AY! And plain old FUN!
Last week’s song was “Cold Sweat” by James Brown