What’s Funky?

I got a message from jimdwalton on myblog asking me how I define funk .

so I thought i’d give it a try…

While I think originally it meant some kinda smell – the first thing that most people think of is music – big in the 60s and 70s and couldn’t be defined when it emerged – it had a bit of Jazz, a bit of Blues bass, some rythimic riffs, some danceable drumbeats, all with some serious ‘stank’ put on top -it was raw, coudn’t be categorized. It just made you wanna move – it’s was Funky…

but the term has obviously grown so it can be used more generally – for example some people use it to describe a feeling – ‘he’s in a funk’ – person is feeling down, but not depressed, he’s mellow but not sad, can’t figure it out but don’t want to either cause sometimes it comforting to wallow – not quite like the blues, but it’s something else that makes you feeeel – it’s the funk…

hey – the smell one could be explained like that too – you can’t quite describe what the smell is – it’s got stench but not bad (you’d call it rotten then), it’s strong but not perfumy (that be scent) – it can only be described as funk… ‘man, that’s some serious funk coming outta that room’ – every teenager likes the funk of their own room! 

I basically use funk to mean anything that you can’t really define but has you coming back for more –  a mix of this, a mix of that, with a bit of stank on top… it keeps you coming back, makes you wanna digg in deep, makes you want more cause you can’t pin it down, it makes you wanna groove, makes you feel energized! – that’s funk…

how do you define funk??