Funkadelic “Can You Get To That” Song Facts and Lyrics

The song “Can You Get To That” was the second track of Funkadelic’s masterpiece album “Maggot Brain”, released July 12th, 1971. Maggot Brain has been called “interplanetary funksmanship”, find out why!

Clinton wanted to re-capture the feeling of his early band’s “old school doo-wop days”. The earliest iteration of Parliament Funkadelic was a doo-wop group called The Parliaments.

The band recorded the album at United Sound Systems in Detroit. Raymond Davis provides that super deep voice and the iconic “I want to know” line. Isaac Hayes’ backing group, Pat Lewis, Diane Lewis and Rose Williams (known as Hot Buttered Soul) contributed the gospel-heavy feel.

Eddie Hazel laid down the crazy funky acoustic guitar beat, in stark contrast to the track before it, “Maggot Brain”.

“Eddie could play anything, but on ‘Can You Get To That,’ I needed him to lay down that ‘crazy funky beat’ on the acoustic. It had to be rhythmic and steady to carry those harmonies.”

– George Clinton

George Clinton called the track “socially conscious folk-funk” in his memoir. Rolling Stone Magazine rather famously called the record a “shattered, desolate landscape.”

Songs all over “Maggot Brain” were later heavily sampled, and “Can You Get To That” is no exception, having been sampled on several chart-topping hits.

Sleigh Bells’ hit 2010 song “Rip Rill” famously used the acoustic guitar riff and clapping as the song’s backbone. Nas’ 2008 song “You Can’t Stop Us Now” and it that soulful, communal style was heavily influential in Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!” era.

The song has been featured in movies like 2021’s Ghostbusters:Afterlife and tv shows High Fidelity, Snowfall, Black-ish and Outer Banks.

Here are the words to the song:

I once had a life, or rather
Life had me
I was one among many
Or at least I seemed to be
Well, I read an old quotation in a book just yesterday
Said, “gonna reap just what you sow
The debts you make you have to pay”
Can you get to that?

Can you get (I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey) (get to that)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that

I recollect with a-mixed emotions
All the good times we used to have
But you were making preparations
For the coming separation
And you blew everything we had

When you base your love on credit
And your loving days are done
Checks you signed with a-love and kisses
Later come back signed “insufficient funds”
Yeah, get to that

Can you get (I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey) (get to that)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that

Can you get (I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey) (get to that)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that

Can you get
I want to know if you can get to that

When you base your life on credit
And your loving days are done
Checks you signed with love and kisses
Later come back signed “insufficient funds”
Y’all get to that

Can you get (I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey) (get to that)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that

Can you get (I want to know)
I want to know if you can get to that (hey) (get to that)
Can you get (can you get to that)(I want to know)

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Here’s Funkadelic – Can You Get To That on YouTube:

Here is Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill (Official Video), sampling Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” as the song foundation: