George Clinton Recalls Time-Altering UFO Encounter

George Clinton is to give a talk at the British Library about his obsession with space on Saturday, June 18. The lecture is part of an exhibition called Out Of This World.

Cosmos and aliens have been a recurring theme over the course of the 69-year-old funk icon's career. In the '70s, his band Funkadelic's live show featured a huge flying saucer called the P-Funk Mothership, from which the band members emerged.

In the band's mythology, the Mothership was the vehicle of Dr Funkenstein. The original was scrapped in 1982, but the Smithsonian Museum in America recently bought a replica built for a tour in the '90s.

Speaking to the Guardian ahead of his lecture, Clinton remembered a personal extra-terrestrial encounter. "One day Bootsy Collins [bass player in Parliament and Funkadelic] and I were in a car. It was 11 in the morning, broad daylight, and we were only a few miles from home. Suddenly a beam of light from a UFO hit us and we couldn't see a thing.

"It felt like only a few moments later when I got to my house, but my daughter said it was late and she was ready for bed. I'm telling you, time disappeared on that journey. We were taken to a weird place."

Watch the Video for George Clinton's 'Paint the White House Black'
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