Papa Don't Take No Mess

{{Infobox song

| name = Papa Don't Take No Mess

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = James Brown

| album = Hell

| A-side = Papa Don't Take No Mess Part I

| B-side = Papa Don't Take No Mess Part II

| released = {{Start date|1974|08}}

| recorded = August 23, 1973, International Studios, Augusta, GA

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Funk

| length = {{plainlist}}

• {{Duration|m=4|s=30}} (Part I)
• {{Duration|m=5|s=00}} (Part II)

{{endplainlist}}

| label = Polydor
14255

| writer = {{plainlist}}

• James Brown
• Fred Wesley
• John Starks
• Charles Bobbit

{{endplainlist}}

| producer = James Brown

| chronology = James Brown charting

| prev_title = My Thang

| prev_year = 1974

| next_title = Funky President (People It's Bad)

| next_year = 1974

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|T0QQUps8954|"Papa Don't Take No Mess"}}|header=Audio video}}

}}

"Papa Don't Take No Mess" is a funk song performed by James Brown. An edited version of the song released as a two-part single in 1974 was Brown's 17th and final number one R&B hit and peaked at number thirty-one on the Hot 100.{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=85}}White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records. The full-length version, nearly 14 minutes long, appeared on the double album Hell.

Like "The Payback," "Papa Don't Take No Mess" was originally recorded for a rejected soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Hell Up in Harlem.

Record World said that the song is "carefully fashioned from disco and pure black

leather funk."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=August 24, 1974|accessdate=2023-03-15|title=Hits of the Week|page=1|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/74/RW-1974-08-24.pdf}}