Cucumber slumber
(Zawinul/Johnson)
"'Cucumber Slumber' was a jam," Johnson told
Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser. "We were
recording in a studio in Connecticut, and I just came
up with [sings the famous bassline]. All of a sudden,
the drummer started playing, and it just took off from
there. It was a total improvised jam. I'd have to say it
was one of the best tracks for me. Not just because
of that bassline--that was a stroke of luck--but when I
listen to Wayne and Joe's solos, they're like, the
perfect solos. Every note, all the phrasing, is just
perfect, and I marvel at that. Even now I listen to that
track and I go, 'God, how'd they do that?'"
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Johnson continued.
"We kind of knew the three sections we'd done, and
we were doing another take of it. At one point, Joe's
playing, and I went to what you might call the bridge
and I looked over and Joe's headphones had fallen
off, so he was still playing the previous section. Then
all of a sudden his radar went up and he just shifted
gear, and it was brilliant, really amazing. It's still
there, if you listen, because when they mixed the
record back then, the big thing was quadraphonic
sound, so they couldn't lose it."
"Cucumber Slumber" has been extensively sampled
by rappers in the late 1980s and 1990s, a practice
that often included no remuneration to the original
artist. This led to some legal action, which was the
subject of a 1992 article by Fred Shuster, which
talked about a recent Federal court discussion
determined that unless authorization is given by the
copyright owner of the original material, the resulting
new recording is against the law. In the article,
Zawinul said the first responsibility of an artist is to
give credit where credit is due:
"If you steal something, steal it and play it yourself,"
Zawinul said. "In the case of sampling, some type of
money should be paid depending on what is being
used."
Rapper M.C. 100 Ft. Jesus appropriated 16
measures of the Weather Report tune "Cucumber
Slumber" for the track "Truth Is Out of Style," Zawinul
said, "and they never even got in touch with us."
Maureen Woods, owner of Mizmo Enterprises, which
administrates Zawinul's music publishing, said that
her company had contacted I.R.S. Records, which
represents M.C. 100 Ft. Jesus, but that there had
been no reply so far.
"Usually, you work out something to do with royalties
or a fee or something," Woods said. "If worse comes
to worst, you go to court."
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