One Nation Under a Groove

Warner Bros. released it in September 1978 as the first single from the album, written by Clinton, Walter Morrison and Garry Shider with Clinton producing. It was Funkadelic's first million-selling single and the third for the P-Funk organization. It reached number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, spent six weeks at number 1 on the soul chart, the longest of any number one released in 1978, and went to number nine in the UK in January 1979, the band's only British hit. It also reached number 71 in Canada.

Clinton told the Guardian that after a Washington DC gig two young girls, LaTanya and Darlene, told him it had been like one nation under a groove, and he knew it had to become a song. He had only a hook at first and ad-libbed most of the rest in the studio, wanting the silky feel of the Dionne Warwick records made with Burt Bacharach, smooth but funky. He credited the two girls on the album cover. The line about being so high you cannot get over it and so low you cannot get under it had been used by the Temptations in Psychedelic Shack, and Clinton said it goes back to gospel. He said the song was about bringing humanity together, and that it could have been a Parliament record but Funkadelic needed a hit, and the guitar solo made it more Funkadelic. Rolling Stone called it the greatest funk track ever led by a banjo and quoted Clinton on the choice of band: Parliament is smashing, but Funkadelic is the movement.

Live and covers

Hampton recalled that live it could last half an hour, and that on one night the stage spaceship took off with the drum kit tangled up in it. The Style Council played it in concert in the 1980s and worked some of its lyrics into Dropping Bombs on the White House, and a live recording is on their 1998 album The Style Council in Concert. Devon Irons made a reggae cover called One Nation in 1980. Ice Cube sampled it on Bop Gun (One Nation) in 1993, and Aaliyah's Young Nation interpolates its chorus. Rolling Stone ranked the song number 178 on its 200 Greatest Dance Songs list in 2022, and NME placed it among the 20 best disco songs of all time.