Remember staying up past Johnny Carson on a Friday night? Back in the ’70s, if you made it to 1 a.m., NBC rewarded you with The Midnight Special, ninety minutes of real bands playing for a real studio audience. On one of those late nights in the summer of 1976, the Godfather of Soul himself showed up and told America exactly what to do: get up offa that thing.
In this Iconic Performances feature, we look at James Brown’s appearance on The Midnight Special, which the show’s official archive dates to August 6, 1976. We’ll cover the song he came to sell, where he was in his remarkable career, and why the clip still makes people want to move. The full performance is waiting for you at the end of the article.
▶️ Want to see the Godfather of Soul in action? Scroll down. The performance clip is at the end of the article.
The Song That Got the Crowd Off Its Seat
“Get Up Offa That Thing” was born, Brown said, out of frustration. He was playing a club in Fort Lauderdale, and the audience just sat there, politely listening to one of the tightest funk bands in the world. Hot, tired and feeling low, he yelled at them to get up and dance until they felt better. As he later admitted, “I probably meant until I felt better.”
He turned that shout into a song and cut it fast. Unlike most records of the time, built up track by track, “Get Up Offa That Thing” was recorded live in the studio in just two takes, with his band the J.B.’s. It came out in 1976 as a two-part single (the B-side, “Release the Pressure,” simply continues the groove), and it was the title track of an album released by Polydor that July.
A Family Songwriting Credit
Look at the label and you won’t see James Brown’s name in the writing credits. Because of his troubles with the IRS over back taxes, he credited the song to his wife, Deidre, and their daughters Deanna and Yamma. It’s one of those little details that tells you a lot about the pressures behind the glitter.
Where James Brown Was in 1976
By the mid-’70s, James Brown had already lived several lifetimes. Born on May 3, 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina, and raised in Augusta, Georgia, he had shined shoes, sung in talent shows, and worked his way up to the Apollo Theater, where he debuted in 1959. His 1963 album Live at the Apollo sold more than a million copies, and “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” won him his first Grammy in 1965. Along the way, he earned his famous nickname: the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business.
The new decade was harder. Disco was taking over the dance floors he had helped invent, and its slick, polished sound was squeezing out his rawer, one-chord funk. That’s what makes “Get Up Offa That Thing” special. It reached No. 4 on Billboard’s R&B chart, returning him to the Top Ten after a year away, and it climbed to No. 45 on the Hot 100. It became his biggest hit of the late 1970s.
Inside the Midnight Special Performance
The Midnight Special was the brainchild of producer Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special in August 1972 and ran as a weekly series from February 1973 to March 1981, airing on NBC at 1 a.m. Eastern, right after the Friday Tonight Show. Wolfman Jack was the gravel-voiced announcer and frequent host. Unlike many TV shows of the day, it was built around live performances, which is exactly why James Brown fit it so well.
Watch the clip and you’ll see the James Brown show in miniature. He’s in a dark suit at center stage, working the microphone stand like a dance partner, while a horn section in bright red suits punches out the riffs. Dancers in shimmering gold outfits move on the tiered stage around him, and the studio crowd is right there with him. It’s only a few minutes long, but it captures what the record was always about: a bandleader daring the audience to stay seated.
After the Party
The late ’70s weren’t kind to Brown’s chart career. After “Get Up Offa That Thing,” thirteen of his Polydor singles missed the R&B Top 10. But he never stopped touring, and a new generation rediscovered him. His songs became the most sampled in hip-hop, he appeared in The Blues Brothers (1980), and “Living in America” from Rocky IV won him a Grammy in 1987. He was one of the first artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and received Kennedy Center Honors in 2003.
He also re-recorded “Get Up Offa That Thing” for the 1983 comedy Doctor Detroit and kept it in his shows for decades. James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73. Fans in Augusta, where a bronze statue of him had been unveiled the year before, covered it in flowers, flags and handwritten notes, as you can see in the photos above.
Why It Still Works
Some songs are about dancing. This one is an order to dance, and that’s why it keeps working at weddings, ball games and backyard parties nearly fifty years later. It even turned up on the Miss America stage in 2013, when Mallory Hagan tap-danced to it for her talent. And if you need a little lift on a gray day, there may be no better advice in popular music: get up, and dance till you feel better.
Listening Tips
- Hear the studio version. The 1976 album Get Up Offa That Thing on Polydor has the original two-take recording.
- Go to the source. Live at the Apollo (1963) is still the best way to understand why people called him the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business.
- More from the same show. The official Midnight Special channel also has Brown performing “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” dated September 13, 1974.
- Funk companions. Follow it with Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” (read our story of that 1978 classic), then browse our Disco & Funk and 70s Gold sections.
Get Up Offa That Thing Quick Facts
| Artist | James Brown with the J.B.’s |
| Song released | 1976 (Polydor), as a two-part single |
| Credited writers | Deidre, Deanna and Yamma Brown |
| Recording | Cut live in the studio in two takes |
| Chart peaks | No. 4 R&B; No. 45 Billboard Hot 100 |
| TV show | The Midnight Special (NBC, 1972–1981), created by Burt Sugarman |
| Performance date | August 6, 1976, per the show’s official archive |
| Album | Get Up Offa That Thing (July 1976) |
Sources
- “Get Up Offa That Thing” on Wikipedia (with its cited sources, including Brown’s autobiography)
- Get Up Offa That Thing (album) on Wikipedia
- James Brown on Wikipedia
- The Midnight Special (TV series) on Wikipedia
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: James Brown
- The Midnight Special official YouTube channel: performance description and date
Photo Credits
- Featured image: James Brown performing live in Hamburg, February 1973 by Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: James Brown in the Musikhalle, Hamburg, February 1973 by Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: Bob Both and James Brown at Polydor Records in New York, 1973 by Labordressing, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Featured image: James Brown in concert in Tampa, Florida, 1983 by Cherie Diez, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: The James Brown statue in Augusta, Georgia, December 2006 by Cary Bass, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: James Brown at the North Sea Jazz Festival, around 1996 by Robbie Drexhage, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- In-article image: Candles and roses at the James Brown memorial, Augusta, December 2006 by Cary Bass, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
