The Funk Detour refers to a 1976 incident, one of Dick Nixon’s seemingly endless forays into the world of funk music.
By 1975, Nixon’s rehabilitation tour had taken him through television studios, supermarket encounters with rock stars, and one unforgettable night on Soul Train.
Music, oddly enough, had become the safest place for him. Musicians tended to treat him less like a disgraced president and more like a curious cultural artifact—something to be studied, teased, and occasionally invited onstage.
This produced unpredictable results.
The Funk Summit ’76
One of the strangest occurred during Nixon’s visit to London later that year. Officially, the former president had traveled to observe what aides described as “a lively discussion of the British parliamentary system.”
Instead, he wandered into something else entirely.
The resulting event—later nicknamed “Funk Summit ’76”—would become one of the most widely circulated cultural oddities of the decade.
The best surviving account appeared in Rolling Stone, attributed (with characteristic uncertainty) to rock critic Lester Bangs.
ROLLING STONE
October 1977
“TRICKY D TAKES THE MOTHERSHIP
Nixon Joins Parliament’s ‘Funk Summit ’76’”
By Lester Bangs (probably)
In a twist no acid trip could have predicted, Richard Milhous Nixon—once the stiffest man in America—has found his groove.
The former President, still chasing what aides call “rehabilitation through relevance,” arrived in London expecting to observe a debate on the British parliamentary system.
Instead, he wound up inside the Mothership, shoulder-to-shoulder with George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective.
“I thought it was a bicameral legislature,” Nixon later told reporters.
“Turns out it was a bi-cosmic experience.”
Witnesses say Nixon entered Westminster expecting to observe a parliamentary session.
Five minutes later he was waving a glow stick inside what aides later described as a “temporary legislative annex,” while Bootsy Collins delivered a bass line strong enough to shake nearby masonry.
Security attempted to escort Nixon out after he tried to filibuster during “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker.”
But George Clinton intervened.
Clinton announced:
“Let the man funk. “He’s been impeached by the system — now he’s free.”
The evening’s strangest moment came when Nixon noticed Garry Shider, Parliament’s diaper-clad guitarist and resident spiritual hype man.
Apparently interpreting the outfit as a symbolic protest against inflation and textile scarcity, Nixon marched to the microphone.
Nixon gestured toward Shider, declaring:
“This brave young man represents the fiscal responsibility of the new generation. He wears only what the economy allows. I endorse this—uh—budgetary transparency.”
The crowd roared.
Shider winked.
The diaper sagged triumphantly.
By night’s end the P-Funk crew had rechristened Nixon:
“Tricky D — Minister of Boogie Affairs.”
George Clinton later told reporters that Nixon “laid down a pretty tight speech pattern — sort of a cross between a groove and a guilt trip.”
Asked if he would return for another session, Nixon smiled and said:
“My fellow Americans. After careful review… we are one nation under a groove.”
Archival Note
Several bootleg recordings from the event circulate among collectors, though none capture Nixon actually dancing.
Most instead feature him clapping slightly off-beat while attempting to explain congressional committee jurisdiction to Bootsy Collins, who can be heard replying:
“Man, is that in the key of funk?”
Production Note
Nixon reportedly referred to the Parliament stage apparatus as a “non-aligned orbital platform,” requesting brief access to its “launch protocols.”
Requests were denied following consultation with cultural liaisons and local fire authorities.