The Meters – Stretch Your Rubber Band – 1971

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One of the tightest, funkiest funk bands in the late sixties/seventies. This song is pure raw funk with a great bass riff that drives the groove along. The vocals, in funk tradition are part of the groove, and serve to vocalize the title. They ask the listener to “Stretch it to the left” and then “Stretch it to the right”. Classic funk lyrics!

They were the house band for producer Allen Toussaint, and played behind artists the he produced such as Lee Dorsey and Dr. John. They played behind Dr. John’s classic funk hit “Right Place Wrong Time”, that’s The Meters doing their thing.

Their first albums were all on Josie records and had that raw, simplistic funky groove. Later, when they moved to Reprise Records, they changed to a more sophisticated funk with elements of rock. However, they never lost the funk and made some outstanding albums.

This is one of my favourite funk tunes of theirs due to its gritty groove. It just doesn’t give up and there ain’t no sitting down when this is playing in a club!

Dave Moore