The Isley Brothers ~ Fight The Power 1975 Funky Purrfection Version

Ernie Isley was hopping into the shower to prepare for his first trip to Disneyland when the lyrics “time is truly wasting, there’s no guarantee, smiles in the making, we got to fight the powers that be“ came to him. He jumped out and wrote the lyrics down. When it came time to record their “3 3“ LP, the Isleys updated their sound from their previous hits. Ernie brought his song and they recorded the music track. The urgent pulsing of “Fight The Power“ originally had the lyric “nonsense“, but vocalist Ronald decided that the tone of the song became beefier when he used “bullshit“ and truer to the spirit of the music. Ernie was not so sure, but once they sat down together they realized that they did not have to be politically correct and the bullshit lyric remained. He remembers performing the song in concert, and that the 18K audience joined in on the bridge for the “bullshit going down“ was an amazing feeling. “Fight The Power“ hit #1 R&B for three weeks, #13 disco and #4 on the Hot100 in the hot hot summer of 1975.