How come when I listen to "Tell Me Something Good" (the Chaka Khan song)  I always lose track of where the beat is? I can tap my foot to the 'pulse', but when I try to count out the beat (1-2-3-4) I always get thrown off, like I'll think I know what to call "beat 1" but as the song goes on it seems like where I was counting beat 1 gets off place.
i've only heard that song a couple of times but if i recall correctly the verses have sort of a backwards groove, i believe the clav (funk keyboard) is playing downbeats, in a way you would expect upbeats to be played. so it might be easy to hear the verse backwards. the top of the chorus is "Tell," and likely that part is easy to hear correctly. but the verse surely flipped you around. and the more you get to know the song from that perspective, the harder it will be to un-hear it that way