If you've listened to any James Brown (like the classic "Get on the Good Foot!"), you've heard the godfather of soul yell "Shamanah!".

I've long had the theory that this was either James speaking in tongues, or he was showing his lost Jewish heritage by yelling James-Brownified Hebrew of some sort.

Imagine my disappointment when tonight I happened to think of an alternate (and much more plausible) theory: This is simply James-Brown-speak for "Show me now!" He usually utters the groovalicious incantation before some member of the band goes into some funk-tastic breakdown of chunky funkosity.

Oh well.