The Payback

Written by James Brown, John Starks, and Fred Wesley—with lyrics originally by Wesley but heavily revised by Brown—this sparse funk song with wah-wah guitar was released as a two-part single in February 1974. It became the first in an unbroken succession of three singles by Brown to reach number one on the R&B charts that year, also peaking at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming his second and final single to be certified gold by the RIAA.