Song of the Day: The Parliaments “(I Wanna) Testify”

George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic fame was by no means an overnight sensation. Before finding popularity in the 1970s Clinton toiled in a doo-wop soul band called The Parliaments (named after the cigarette!) starting out in the back of a New Jersey barber shop in the mid-50’s. After releasing lot of singles on small labels The Parliaments finally got their hit in 1967 with “(I Wanna) Testify” which reached #3 on the R&B charts and #20 on the pop charts. Apparently Clinton was the only member of the band to actually make the session in Detroit even though the band’s name is on it.

This amazing track should have been Clinton’s big break but record label problems and other issues put off his fame by a few more years. Clinton re-recored “Testify” a few times and its been covered by the Dells, Ron Wood, and Jonnie Taylor among others. Testify!