For You: Soft & Wet, Just as Long as We're Together, In Love

Close, three of these got twice the votes of all others.

Last album...

Prince -- "should've been singles"

1. Bambi (9 votes)
2. Sexy Dancer (8 votes)
3. I Wanna Be Your Lover (7 votes)

"Bambi" and "Sexy Dancer" ARE the singles that should've been. Instead, "I Wanna Be Your Lover/My Love Is Forever" was released on September 22, 1979, and rode the U.S. R&B charts for 23 weeks, knocking Michael Jackson "Off the Wall" to lay claim to the #1 spot for two weeks in December, and it almost made the Top Ten on the U.S. Pop charts, stalling at #11 in January. It was Prince's first Top 40 Pop hit and his first GOLD single. It was also Prince's first single release in the UK and made it #41 in January on the UK charts. A 12" full album version was released in Holland and the UK. On February 9, 1980, "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?/Baby" was released as the second single -- Prince's first picture-sleeve release. It did pretty well, reaching #13 on the U.S. R&B chart, but strangely making no appearance on the Pop chart. One week in February, the Prince album gained GOLD status, and the VERY next week it was awarded PLATINUM status, selling more than one million copies. So, on April 26, 1980, Warner Bros gave the album one more chance by releasing "Still Waiting/Bambi" as the final single. The fact that this song made it to #65 on the U.S. R&B chart shows that Prince had already gained some followers, but it didn't make a dent on the Pop charts. And it's the one and only song that didn't gain at least one vote in this should've-been-singles poll. What if "Bambi" had been the A-side?

The reason "Bambi" was not released in English-speaking countries as the A-side is because the lyrics were thought to be unsuitable for radio. In Holland and Belgium, "Bambi" was released as the A-side with a picture sleeve. In Japan and the UK, "Sexy Dancer/Bambi" was released in April 1980 (along with an extended 12" version in the UK) and apparently it failed to chart.

Next album...

Which songs should have been released as singles from Dirty Mind?

1. Dirty Mind
2. When You Were Mine
3. Do It All Night
4. Gotta Broken Heart Again
5. Uptown
6. Head
7. Sister
8. Partyup

You may vote for songs that were already released. And you may choose "none of the above" if you'd like. Only your first three votes will be counted. I will give the Top Three picks in the next day or two, and then we'll continue to the next album.

My vote: When You Were Mine, Gotta Broken Heart Again, Partyup

edit: added UK info
[This message was edited Tue Sep 24 2:38:36 PDT 2002 by Jasziah]
[This message was edited Wed Sep 25 1:47:14 PDT 2002 by Jasziah]

Dirty Mind
Uptown
When You Were Mine

TRON said:

I agree with Tron on this one

Head is SO hot, but if we're talking radio play/videos...

Uptown
When You Were Mine
Do It All Night (are the lyrics to this too raunchy? I can't remember)

I guess an official release is different from a promotional single, right? Tell me how it works - Head would HAVE to get released to the DJ's at least, but I could see it not being palatable for radio @ that time...

Yeah, I would've said "Head" also but radio would never play such a song back then. Now, yeah, but it'd be as controversial as some of Eminem's stuff -- 20 years later! ha! Warner Bros probably could've gotten away with putting it on as a B-side. Can you imagine all the kids buying up the single, no matter what the A-side is!! They probably could've gained some attention in some markets with a promo-copy of "Head" -- but don't forget that less than a year before a lot of people (religious types mainly) were burning copies of the Prince album because of songs like "Bambi" and "Sexy Dancer" -- and maybe even for the "come" mentions in "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "When We're Dancing Close & Slow." "Head" and "Sister" went WAY beyond that, and I think that's what kept Dirty Mind from being as commercially successful as it otherwise would have been. It was a little bit ahead (excuse the pun) of it's time.

"Do It All Night" was possible as a single since "it" is still kind of vague, but remember that just six or seven years later radio had a fit with George Michael's song,"I Want Your Sex" which didn't stop it from being a Top 5 hit, actually helped it most likely. By the way, "Do It All Night" has some great lyrics...

Verse 1
Pardon me,
I wanna talk to you
I may be kinda shy
But I just gotta tell you
What I'm going to do
Someone over there says
He wants to get to know you
I don't care cuz
I really wanna hold you
And I'm so scared
He might do something to you that you'd like

Bridge 1
Now I've been waiting
Such a bloody long time
Just to get this close to you
Now that you're near me
I want you to hear me
I'll tell you what I wanna do

Chorus
Oh, I wanna do it
Do it all night
I wanna do it
Do it to you right

Verse 2
Giving up so easy
Is something that I never do
But I'm so easy, so easy
When it comes to loving you
Can't you understand that
I want to hug and kiss you
I'll do anything I can
Just to give you happiness
And I drown, baby, drown, baby
In your arms, c'mon baby
Can't you get to this?

Bridge 2
I've been waiting such a bloody long time
And you're talking to someone else
Now that I've got your attention
There's something I wanna mention

Hmm, not many easy singles from this album...

How about When You Were Mine, Do It All Night, and Partyup. Can you imagine people singing the final chant in clubs? Cool.

CalhounSq said:

I LOVE THAT SONG!!! I had totally forgotten about it until you mentioned it.I'm gonna go play it right now!! It's too funky!!!

"Now that I've got your attention...there's something I wanna mention"

DavidEye said:

LOL!!!



Jasziah, thanks for the lyrics!

When U Were Mine
Head
Dirty Mind

Uptown
Sister (hee hee hee )
When U were mine

Uptown
Dirty Mind
When You Were Mine

I remember reading somewhere that only one song was exepted for radio off of Dirty Mind. Can't remember which one !?

CalhounSq said:

nuh-uh. it wuz one of the more "tamer" songs on there, lyrix-wise.

mine:

when you were mine

uptown

i'd say "partyup" 2, but then they'd have 2 get rid of a certain word before it would get airplay...

starbuck said:

me too.

CalhounSq said:

Head actually did appear on a promotional release of some sort. in fact, i think every track on the album did, but i can't remember which were on what promos

1.UPTOWN
2.WHEN YOU WE'RE MINE
3.PARTYUP

AaronForever said:

yeah, the whole 2nd side of the album wuz released as a one-sided 12", methinx...i've seen it at a wrecka sto' a while back. costed almost $200 bux.

Jasziah said:

4 real?? hehehe, those religious zealots shoulda realized that the prince album wuz child's play compared 2 dm...but then again they probably got around 2 torchin his entire catalog. the smell of burnin vinyl musta intoxicated them.

this edit will self-destruct in 7 seconds....
[This message was edited Tue Sep 24 14:16:32 PDT 2002 by PlastikLuvAffair]

Head (what the heck...)
Dirty Mind
When u were mine

Wouldn't this song be the schiznick if it were released today? Check it:

PARTYUP
We don't give a damn
We just want to jam
Party up!
That Army bag
Such a double drag
Party up!

Got to party down, babe
Revolutionary rock and roll!
Goin' Uptown, babe,
How you gonna make me kill somebody
I don't even know?

They got the draft, uh, uh
I just laugh
Party up!
Fightin' war
Is such a fuckin' bore
Party up!

Got to party down, babe
Ooh, it's all about what's in your mind
Goin' Uptown, baby,
I don't wanna die I just wanna have a bloody good time!!

Party up
Got to party up
Party up
Got to party up

Because of their half-baked mistakes
We get ice cream
No cake
All lies
No truth
Is it fair to kill the youth?

You're gonna have to fight your own damn war
Cuz we don't wanna fight no more!!

You're gonna have to fight your own damn war
Cuz we don't wanna fight no more!!

You're gonna have to fight your own damn war
Cuz we don't wanna fight no more!!

You're gonna have to fight your own damn war
Cuz we don't wanna fight no more!!

I said we don't wanna fight no more
(gonna have to fight your own damn war)
Cuz we don't wanna
FIGHT
NO
MORE!!!

When You Were Mine
Do It All Night
Party Up

Man this is tough because except for Sister, they all could have and could be singles.

HEAD

Is it true that a video for "Bambi" was only shown in europe?

As far as I know there was never a video for "Bambi" back in 79/80 -- although, there have been some since, particularly the one from The Undertaker tape.