My mother raised me on a steady diet of smooth R&B -- Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and the like -- with some Buddy Holly & Elvis Presley rockabilly -- plus great blues-like vocalists such as Janis Joplin & Tina Turner, among MANY other artists.

So anyway... I go over to my ma's house this afternoon, and when she goes into her room to get ready to go somewhere with me, I take out the Ray Charles CD she has in her home stereo and I pop in Prince's 3121. I play "Satisfied."

My mother comes out of her room... "Is that a new one by Prince?" I say, "Yeah, you like it?" She listens to it for awhile and says, "I think that's my all-time favorite Prince song." She loved it!! I knew she would.

Though done many different ways by many different people (including Prince himself), "Satisfied" is probably one of the best examples of this bluesy gospel-like r&b genre of music. My mother would smile at different points during the song and say things like, "D'ya see how he just did that?" She knows. Yep, and Prince knew too. This is a very well-crafted, well-produced, and precisely performed song by him.

Show your love...

It's a great little number, even better than On The Couch (which I also loved)

Snap said:

Yes it is.

orgnoting AndGodCreatedMe

The problem is, Prince can pull off this genre, so seemingly effortlessly, that we can easily take songs like this for granted...

Satisfied is a well-crafted, extremely soulful song, and the recording of it is fantastic. Coming so quickly after On The Couch, (as far as releases go), however, it is easy to view it as "more of the same".

Come to think of it, most of us do that to all of his new songs, don't we?

We are spoiled by his diversity and productivity...

When he performed Satisfied at the NAACP awards
I thought it sounded terrible & formless.
So far I've only heard a snippet of the song but I like what I heard.
I keep seeing reviews & people keep comparing it to On The Couch
in such a negative way.
But I like On The Couch so I'm looking forward to hearing all of Satisfied.

jpav said:

...You make a good point. I've been underwhelmed by "Satisfied" so far, but maybe for the reasons you just mentioned in your post. My father would probably love this song for the same reasons Snap's mom does...
[Edited 3/11/06 17:16pm]

I just noticed that the back-up vocals for one part are "Seek... and... destroy!"

Prince covering that song would be interesting.

This is actually ranking in my top three of the album, "Survivor" voting be damned!
[Edited 3/11/06 20:20pm]

Gohi said:

Much better than On The Couch. I wish On The Couch was the way he per4med live, then we'd be tawkin

My mom called me tonight, and she said, "Did you get your CD? That's an incredible song. It should be an award winner." And then she started telling me about the song that won an Academy award this year and all the other garbage out there -- "Who's going to be singing that stuff 10 years from now?" Another reason why "Satisfied" stands out as a "damn fine song"!!

MikeMatronik said:

yeah well I'm a sucker for his ballads

But to be honest I think ballads are a bit easy when it comes to P.
I don't think he has to think a lot before he can produce one, but still Satisfied right now is one of my favorite songs

I cannot play this song once. I repeat it 2 or 3 times before moving on to the next song. When I buy the REAL cd, this will be the first one that I remix. It's way to short.

paisleypark4 said:

Yeah Satisfied is much better than On The Couch.

Can Prince stay Satisfied for long?

I really don't like this song. Not sure exactly why but think maybe it has something to do with someone talking on a cell phone when they could be gettin down with Prince.

MickG said:

Hate to say it but in general, honies are a dime a dozen. Every blue moon you meet one and keeps your attention for a while but that's RARE.

Satisfied is a classy song that NO ONE in R&B is even trying to make. As usual Prince is doing what he does best with Satisfied, showing the kids what time it is and how wack their wack asses really are.

GO HEAD PRINCE WITH YO BAD SELF!!!!!

purplecam said:

That's the interesting thing about P's music. He can do a song like "Satisfied", and us (spoiled) fans can overlook it based on the fact that he can make it in his SLEEP. But, if you think about it, there's not ONE other sucessful artist today who can (or even come close to) make this type of music without sounding out of place. Very strange, isn't it??

"Satisfied" is what P is all about! I remember the same types of things being said about "Call My Name" when "Musiclogy" came out. But, for me...that song is classic Prince, and ranks right up there with the best ballads he's ever made. And, once again, he did it in his sleep...

ThirdStrike said:

I agree.

Gohi said:

co-sign. the little "hmmmmm..." he does at the beginning cracks me up for some reason, though.

It is great. One of my faves on the CD, though I actually like "On the Couch" better, just because it's a bit funnier lyrically.

I love this song

Snap said:

Awesome that you and your mother could talk shop over music

AndGodCreatedMe said:

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

stoppit!

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Just trying to hook a dutch girl up

People were calling this "On the Couch Part II" and I was disappointed. Then I finally listened to it and happily found out it's a million times better. Whoever said it's what On The Couch should have been was 100% correct.

The whole album is excellent.