A Funk Odyssey is the fifth studio album by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai. The album was released on 3 September 2001 in the United Kingdom under Sony Soho Square and 11 September 2001 on Epic Records in the United States.
Combining features of funk, disco and electronica, the release of the album represented the peak of international commercial success for Jamiroquai, and in the ensuing world tour the group became a household name in many countries. The sleeve art of A Funk Odyssey features Jay Kay posed in front of a series of lasers that form the famous "Buffalo Man" logo, making it the first Jamiroquai album not to feature the logo prominently on its cover. The album marks a departure from the band's previous acid jazz sound; the band finds themselves in a disco funk vibe, and is also very focused on an electronica sound, evident especially in "Twenty Zero One" and "Stop Don't Panic". A popular fan interpretation was that "Main Vein" was a song written about Denise van Outen, Jay's ex-girlfriend; however, in Jay Kay's interview that describes almost the whole album, song by song, Kay proves indirectly that this interpretation is absurd. The song is actually about Jay himself, and his fighting with 'boring reporters'.
What are you going to do to make me hate me
I can't see how you can this time
A fistful of lies and a verbal decimation
It's so sad but keep on trying
I got no chains or fancy aspirations
But I've still got a losing streak
I don't need praise or instand admiration
It takes more than you to make me weak
What are you going to do to stop me this time baby
You being trying to funk around my mind lately
Well I'm getting so sick and tired of
Hearing about it
Like I'm not the man and I don't exist
You wanna know about this and you wanna
Know things about me
But what you're saying always has a vicious poison twist
Why do you do it to me
Why do you do it to me
You're messing with my mind
I'm breaking out, I'm breaking out
I'm flying higher than a pig in space
And they've been so blind, they've been so blind
I was born in '69
Amd I'm telling the world
But they don't wanna know about me
No no no
I wanted just to do my thing
I wanted just to make my life
Have that swing and Ooo feel so good