Feeling Funky on a Friday

On Lipps Inc "Funkytown"

Everybody knows “Funkytown,” but nobody knows it like I do. For about two years, “Funkytown” was my Mom’s ringback tone. Remember ringback tones? Not ringtones--ringback tones. They were songs you could program your phone to play whenever someone called you. They were huge in 2004. My Mom caught wind of them about a decade after that. Between the years of 2015 and 2017, instead of hearing “ring, ring” when I called my Mom, I heard 45 glorious seconds of “Funkytown.” In two years, I probably listened to the song over a thousand times. 

So when it comes to “Funkytown” I know what the funky I’m talking about, and, people, this song is bananas. 

Is it disco? Is it new wave? Is it synth pop? Similar to Donna Summer’s Giorgio Moroder era, it’s a little bit of all those things. It’s also an acquired taste. Like cigarettes, you will3 probably hate “Funkytown” the first 100 times you try it. That 10-note synthesizer line—here are the exact notes: beep-beep-beep-beep-beeeeeeep-boo-booo-beep-boo-b…