????? is that more Princebonics?

The 'one' is the first beat in a musical bar. Most Prince songs are in common time - four beats in the bar.

Prince sometimes calls out for the audience to clap on the 'two and four' - the second and fourth beats in the bar.

When he gives out an instruction to the band - 'on the one' - he is directing the band to stop playing on the first beat in a bar.

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[Edited 9/11/05 23:25pm]

GlitterStream said:

Oh, oh, now my english isn't good enouth, but I try.....

U know - often, when Prince plays a song Live, he shout's out - on the one -
and the Band stops playing on the one -
1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 "on the one!" and Booom - the song stops on the next one.

Hmmmm do U understand, what I mean

J.S.

It's instructions to the band. In a live setting you'll often hear Prince
say things like this to let the band know he wants them to stop, or break the
song down, or go into another section, or end or whatever.

"One the one" refers to the first beat in the bar. So if the band is playing
and he says this, it means he wants all the band members to stop on the first
beat of the next bar.

"Good God!" is Prince's cue for the band to start playing again after one of
these stops.

Or he can say more specific instructions too, like "Guitars and drums on the one"
would mean he wants everyone to stop playing on the first beat of the next bar
apart from the drummer and the rhythm guitar.

He also has lots of specific phrases linked to certain musical passages or
sections of songs. For example, when he yelled "Hear me in the back!", it was
a cue for the band to go into the final section of 'It's Gonna Be A Beautiful
Night'.

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[Edited 9/11/05 23:28pm]

langebleu said:

YES - that's what I tryed 2 say

J.S.

GlitterStream said:

No Princebonics.....


The One theory originally came from James Brown.....

The true meaning of Funk is the One.....


P-Funk adopted that theory for their grooves also.....


Surprise the heck outta me when Prince started to use it...

Because back then in his early interviews, he would say he wasn't influence by anyone, when you can hear J.B. & P-Funk all over his grooves....

OOOOOHHHHHh okay. So what does Vanity mean in "Undress" when she says "my love is on the one"?

GlitterStream said:

It means that she's up for the downstroke....

GlitterStream said:

that she drank her 40 and ready for anything.

BorisFishpaw said:

isn't that "hit me in the back?"

and what about things like "fishtail", "turn around", "A-train"

let's see if we can come up with more.

I think when Prince says "Vegas", 4 example, he's instructing the band 2 hold one long note. And when he says "gimme 2", gimme 3", etc. he wants the band 2 play that many quick hits starting, uh, on the one...

dawntreader said:

VEGAS!

dawntreader said:

I don't know about fishtail...

turn around is like a fill between sections...like a break....it can be long but is usually 1 to 2 bars in length...

pretend U had a cheesy elec keyboard from the 80's and it had a cheesy drtum sequencer...ther would be a fill button...that's a kind of turn around. It's kind of a break or bridge between 2 sections of a song.



A-Train it the name of an old blues/jazz standard and is prolly a refrence to it and a horn line he's prolly "sampling" from it.

paisley2002 said:

I've often wondered if this (and "Las Vegas" - the same thing, of course) is a phrase that other musicians use, and where it came from? Why Vegas?

dawntreader said:

Yeah, I've always heard "hit me in the back"

Another one:

"Confusion!"

and

"In-ter-mission" (which refers to the Hornheads piece Intermission, which is what they played when he called this out)

booyah said:

I was wondering why he yelled out "CONFUSION!!". Okay. Thanx 4 the responses. I can sleep easier now.

dawntreader said:

what about chicken grease?

dawntreader said:

When Prince said "A-Train" in 'It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night' the band started playing 'Take the A-Train' by Duke Ellington.

I think the "turnaround" is the part of the song the comes right before the bridge. I'm probably wrong.

GIMME 25!

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

BAM!

Pretty self explanatory.
[Edited 9/12/05 11:14am]

doeineffect said:

'Take The A-Train' was written by William Thomas Strayhorn, usually known as Billy "Sweet Pea" Strayhorn - who joined Duke Ellington's band as pianist in 1939. The song became became Ellington's theme song i.e. it is often referred to as Duke Ellington's 'Take The A-Train', and mistakenly considered an Ellington composition.

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booyah said:

The only time I remember him saying 'Vegas' was on the One Nite Alone Live DVD, and he said 'Vegas' because he was in Vegas and was trying to get a response from the crowd.

booyah said:

He uses the term "Vegas" because it's a schmaltzy, almost Vegas-show type ending that the band goes into. Just listen to it every time he gives them the "Vegas" cue, and you'll hear what I'm talking about.

Whenever he shouts "Vegas" (or sometimes Vegas E) the whole band will go into the E chord to end the song

JimmyNothing said:

Exactly! What you said..

JimmyNothing said:

Or another chord - at the end of "It's About That Walk", 4 example, he says "Vegas on the C".

"Break it way down low."

"I like it"

"C'mon back, band!"


Schöne Grüße

Who can name the earliest example of Prince using the expression 'on the 1' on an official release?

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funkpill said:

game show buzzer.. ehhhhh... wrong

langebleu said:

Mountains?