while we are on the topic of parade's 'creative' editing:

one thing that's always bothered me on 'do you lie' is the male voice that goes 'ok, merci' after the little girl's intro. why didn't prince edit that out? sloppy job?

anyone's thoughts?

lofimofo said:

Of course not, such a mistake wouldn't have happened, it's more likely a sort of "private joke" by Prince... & i think it adds a lot of cgarm 2 the intro

U know, these things happen when u're in a creative process...

lofimofo said:

Feels right to me. Seems shes looking for the kids and the old geezer says there they are "les voici"

My problem is with girls and boys ending so abrubtly, just makes it hard to use the track on a compilation cd. Pity it was left out of the hits. The version on girl 6 is way too loud to use with the older prince tracks.

i donno. i feel it takes away from the girl's spontaneity. the sound engineer (or whoever recorded this snippet) is thanking the girl for saying 'kids who lie don't go to heaven', and his voice sounds so matter-of-fact...

talking about the crative process, i've heard brian wilson *unwillingly* let background conversation be heard on 'pet sounds', although his reputation in the studio is that of a maniac.

omnithanos said:

It's available on one of the European Hits CD-singles, which collected many of the hits that weren't on The Hits - I think it was on Peach... I forget if it's the edit or the full track, though.

booyah said:

It's the edit

lofimofo said:

The guy who responds "Ok Merci" "Matter of Factly" is actually very important. He's actually telling the little girl "Yeah OK, thanks" as if to say "whatever run along now". Think about it. If Prince just had a Child saying "little children who lie don't go to heaven" by herself (In a matter of fact voice) how offensive would that be? It's good that he left the man's voice in. The man basically shoos the young girl away as if her statement were nonsense.

FanofDaFascist said:

interesting.

i don't think that would be offensive though because she's just a little girl saying something naive, something her grandparents might have said to teach her lying is a bad thing. you know, like resorting to the boogeyman or something.

i think the man's voice clearly comes from the taping itself... 'ok thanks, good job' (a word of encouragement to the litte girl right after she recorded her part).

lofimofo said:

Parade is a very interesting album. After reading (Hahn,Possesed p. 86 where Susan Rogers reveals that the drumlines of the first four songs, "Chris. Tracy's Parade," "New Position," "I Wonder You," and "Under the Cherry Moon," appear on the Album "exactly" as they were recorded. Prince, taped the lyrics to a mike stand (not for singing but to tell how the songs would be constructed) and instructed Rogers not to stop taping as he paused between the songs. Most of the other instruments were all recorded within that same day. Now go back and listen to these songs which as Hahn put it.. were pretty much all mapped out in an afternoon.

thanx for the info. 'parade' does feel like that, indeed. a burst of unpolished creativity. the end result sounds rushed (which is cool -- better than over-produced)... when it came out, some critic derogatively called it a 'bunch of demos for would-be drummers'

ps: i like your pitch

Barbefunkoramaque said:

I never noticed that

I think I will
listen to Parade tonight
[Edited 1/18/06 17:08pm]

It's clearly meant to there. And all the better for it 'Do U Lie' is one of the finest moments in the Prince canon IMO.

lofimofo said:

lol I didn't see it as a bad cut but I did find it annoying... then again I dont really like talking bits in songs I must say. I think if there weren't talking parts on the 'Come' album i probably would've liked it more.

Must say I do think 'Do U Lie?' is a great song

NouveauDance said:

I have to go back and listen, dont' remember the man.

I read about him doing the drums for all 4 in one take too.

But he must've overdubbed with some drum machine cuz there's electric sounds on them too (crunchy snares).

JaneyPoos said:

goes without saying


thanx for your input ya'll...

for those who think it was voluntary, why do you think prince would leave it like that? did he want to reveal the process of recording?

would you say parade's style is 'rough minimalism' and partly about displaying prince's self-confident genius by a casual treatment of sound and editing?

what about 'creative error'?
[Edited 1/19/06 1:23am]

lofimofo said:

never really thought of it as some kind of mistake, just thats how it was supposed to be.

GaryMF said:

I thought that was
"CT's Parade"/"New Position"/"I Wonder U"
that he did the percussion
in one take
[Edited 1/19/06 11:35am]