Right now i am listening to this song, that was originally released more then 20 years, and i think it still sounds as strong, fresh, endearing as at the time of its original release.

I just love the way he does incorporate exotic (eastern) instruments with his trademark-sound, without sounding forced. I mean: rhythem-wise it 'owes a lot' to the 1999 / Purple Rain sound: the 'side-clap' of the Linn drummachine, the funky synth-bridge, while the Darbuka, Ud and fingercymbals ad new colours to the mix.

Next to that, years before people like Paul Simon and Sting did try these kind of things, you have Prince, as a big, mainstream artist, trying to create 'world music'.

First of all, this song still sounds fresh nowadays, and not dated. It sounds like some timeless peace of psychedelic funk-pop, experimental enough to be daring, and still catchy enough to fall into the trap of 'arty farty' music,

ATWIAD is a deeply cool song to kick off an album. Reminds me in feeling to 'Peace Go With You Brother' from Winter in America (Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson).

Riverpoet31 said:

...and years after Peter Gabriel...

Put this song on in a crowded room and very few will guess that it's Prince. But why is that 'Papa, I think I wanna dance' bit cut short?
A great song.

While I love both this track and the album please get ur facts right re Paul Simon. Recording of Graceland began back in 1984 after engineer Roy Hallee gave him a tape of south african music to listen to in his car. Prince was busy touring PR at the time and while he was probably already recording ATWIAD, to suggest it happened "years" before Paul Simon is inface rubbish.

Even by release dates, ATWIAD only pre-dates Graceland by one single year. BUT, if you want to talk world music (african beats, vocals, arrangements) please stick with Paul Simon and go way back to 1973 and songs like "Loves Me Like A Rock." What about the south american styles on "EL Condor Pasa" dating back to when Prince was 11 years old?? Maybe the African steel band incorporated into "Mother and Child Reunion" in 1972. And like the previous post mentions...peter Gabriel was experimenting with world music and styles when Prince was in jnr High

I love Prince, I love ATWIAD,it's one of my favourite Prince albums and a great listen, but please don't think there was anything remotely new about mainstream artists experimenting with world music...George harrison was messing with indian/eastern music in '65 for gods sake. Let's just love his songs for what they are and not make them something ground breaking and new, which for the most part...they are not. He just makes damn fine music...along with many many more inspirational, talented artists who happen not to be Prince.
[Edited 3/6/07 17:30pm]

I like the song ATWIAD. I can play it and lose myself it doesn't sound like a particular time frame.

ATWIAD and PARADE were two albums that I will never tire of.

PurpleJedi said:

They're
I enjoy Around the World in a Day more than Parade... but I love them both 2 bits

theodore said:

It used to be the other way around for me, but now I appreciate ATWIAD more.

PurpleJedi said:

I think that's mainly because of songs like Condition of the Heart, Paisley Park and, my favourite, Temptation

Definetly one of my favorites!

I gained new appreciation for this song after hearing it at the COED concert last year. I listened to it for weeks afterward and saw it in a whole new light.

I love Condition Of The Heart from ATWIAD

I love the way the drum loop drifts out of sync, so that different elements of the rhythm are emphasized, and how it returns to its original pattern.

Constantly happens on Prince songs that rely on drum machines for the major beat. The same thing happened on Glam Slam and Mountains, as I recall.

Awesome song!!! Great album.....a very unappreciated album by the masses!

Great song.Love it!

God, I love this song. Each time I listen to it, I discover something I hadn't noticed before. It would've been nice to hear Prince fiddle areound with this style a bit more than he did.

I know that most people attribute it to the fact that it was psychedelia-inspired, but some of the druggier lyrics he wrote around this time period, including pieces from this album, sound a little too much like familiar ground for someone who claimed to be anti-drug.

I'm truly, truly sorry... but I can't resist.

Ah, but did Prince really write ATWIAD?

Again... sorry... salacious scandal-mongering of the worst kind, but I can't resist...

Love the song though. Love it to bits and back together again.

Superb album, too.

BoySimon said:

If you're going to insist on bringing it up, back that question up with a little more, eh?
[Edited 3/7/07 1:09am]

Oh, ok... Whether or no you credit the source as being credible, that's up to you. All I know is I spoke to her a few times and she appeared genuine - certainly was a fan - and, even though her book is 'gossipy'... like an extended cosmo article, the veracity of the telling of the story is still accurate... anyhoo... I tease...

In the book Slave to the Rhythm, it is suggested that ATWIAD is a song Prince hears on a tape of tunes recorded by David Coleman and Jonathan Melvoin:

Pg 101 UK paperback, "'We got a demo from them one day,' continues Lisa, 'and there was one song on it called 'Around The World In A Day'. Wendy and I flipped, and played it to Prince. There were a lot of different types of instrument on it, interesting sounds - Arabic music, the oud, cello, finger-cymbals, darbuka.'"

Seems to indicate that this is a tune, like a few others Prince inherited and made his own.

I love this song to bits. The whole album really.

BoySimon said:

It is a well established fact that "David Coleman" wrote the music for the song ATWIAD. Musically it is David's song. This is verified in multiple sources. Here's one:

http://www.uptown.se/2005...wiad.shtml

This isn't a matter of controversy, scandal or anything like that.

I was not aware that Uptown had confirmed this fact about the song. That's interesting. The book Slave... is so often traduced that I wondered whether anyone would give a reported fact in it credence. Hey-ho...

...still changes nothing, ATWIAD is a tremendous song on a tremendous album... and is also another song Prince has hijacked off someone else.

BoySimon said:

Well, it is one of the few songs of his where co-writing credit was given.
The story posted above is also repeated in Hahn's book, Possessed.

And I agree, it is a tremendous song regardless, I love it.

Love ATWIAD (the song). It made my custom greatest hits. A lot of people don't like it or ignore it, but I think it's genius. Great opening to a great album.

I love the part about half way through that starts:

ooh, la la

ooh, la la la la

no, shah shah

coltrane3 said:

funny that's the part
I been humming all the while
reading this thread

and then the laugh
"ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha"

aforementioned by you
"great opening to a great album"