The title is slang for a thick roll of money, so it means that the money roll is so heavy, that it drags a man along the ground.

Corporate World---the unreleased Time album from 1989

Murph Drag
9 Lives
Donald Trump (Black Version)
Love Machine
Data Bank
Shake!
Corporate World
The Latest Fashion
Release It
My Summertime Thang


In June 1989, back from video shootings to "Batdance", [Prince] starts to work on a new THE TIME album, entitled [Corporate World]. The project started as a collaboration of [Prince] and [Morris Day] with some small input by [Jerome Benton] without worth mentioning. The other members of the original line-up weren't involved in the project at this time. The sessions were held at Paisley Park and lasted most of the summer. Work on the album was completed in early September 1989 and contains the following tracks: Murph drag, Nine lives, Donald Trump (black version), Love machine, Data bank, Shake!, Corporate world, The latest fashion, Release it and a reworked version of My summertime thang.

Most of the tracks were newly written and tailored for the project, except Data bank was based on a jam that was recorded with the Revolution on 17th June 1986, My summertime thang was originally recorded with [Morris Day] and [Jesse Johnson] in March 1983 for possible inclusion on [Ice Cream Castle] and Nine lives was originally recorded with Cathy "Cat" Glover (lead vocals) and Margie Cox (background vocals) in December 1988 / January 1989 for a planned but finally aborted album by Cat.

"Corporate World" (1989)[Corporate World] was set for release on 14th November 1989 with Nine lives planned as the first single release. However, the project was put on hold when Warner Bros. Records wanted to involve all the original members of THE TIME. The company were adamant that "Graffiti Bridge", the planned third motion picture by [Prince], should feature the complete original line-up of the band, like the successful influence in the "Purple Rain" motion picture 5 years ago.

After a meeting with [Prince], it was decided that [Jesse Johnson], [Monte Moir], [Jimmy Jam] and [Terry Lewis] should participate and take an active part by writing and recording new tracks for the revised album, which later was renamed to [Pandemonium]. The additional recording sessions took place late 1989 - this time without much input by [Prince].

Murph drag, Nine lives and Corporate world are previously unreleased, but all tracks circulating on bootlegs amongst collectors.

Murph drag is a minimalist funk number sporting a chattering "Controversy"-style rhythm guitar part and a synth providing lead lines like the Minneapolis sound. The song is about a dance only people with money can do. The title is slang for a thick roll of money, so it means that the money roll is so heavy, that it drags a man along the ground. A sample of [Morris Day]'s "What time is it?" phrase is used frequently during the song. Candy Dulfer supplies some saxophone lines, but her contribution is not very prominent. Nine lives is a melodic pop-number with a haunting chorus sung by Margie Cox in a soulful voice and rapped verses by [Morris Day]. He's dreaming about a mega fine lover with a heck-a-pump body sayin' good time. [Morris Day] will die from the heat generated from the moment, that their eyes meet. At the end of the song he says: "This is the '90s and everybody wants a lover, a life-long lover with nine lives". Corporate world sounds like an update of [Prince]'s electro-pop of the 1981-83 era, boasting a slightly robotic drum machine pattern and horn-like synth decorations. Some female voices, including Jana Anderson, add a multi-layered vocal to the soulful chorus. The message of this song is, that big companies should spend money to make a better world, a new-soul nation, where kids can grow up in safe. The song includes a sample of "Don't call me nigger, whitey" (1969, from Sly & the Family Stone's album "Stand!").

Thanks for the scoop, I appreciate it. That was a very interesting read. I never knew what "Murph Drag" meant until now.

Interesting indeed It's fun to speculate on what could have been.What if this album had been released,as planned,in November 1989? How would it have done commercially? Would it had been considered a premature Time comeback? It's really just a Prince/Morris/Jerome album.Was it a good idea to shelve it and create another album ('Pandemonium') instead?

Those descriptions need to be updated as "Murph Drag" was released through the NPG Music Club.

"9 Lives" is great - I love the beginning - "This is the 90's..." HA!

Those descriptions need to be updated as "Murph Drag" was released through the NPG Music Club.

"9 Lives" is great - I love the beginning - "This is the 90's..." HA!

I also love the "Nine...Nine...Nine...Nine...Nine...Lives!" opening to this song. I like how Prince wrote a song that was originally intended for Cat called "Nine Lives". I think it's cool how he played into the, "Cats have nine lives" saying.