With the musicologists we have in here, I know it's not been overlooked. But, after a quick search, I only saw one post containing the track from YouTube a couple years ago, so at least I'm not the first to mention it. The bass groove to Ray Charles (Orchestra)'s 'Booty Butt' is the daddy to one of P's coolest tracks (IMO).. 'New Position'. Of course it's Prince-ified just enough so it's not a carbon copy, lol. To me, it's sort of like the way 'Dreamer' pays homage to Jimi, or James in 'Sexy MF' among others, I think it's cool when Prince openly acknowledges--in the music itself-- the greats that influenced him.

Anyway, I' m just surprised not to find at least a mini-thread on this one. Maybe y'all can direct me to it if I missed it.




http://www.youtube.com/wa...28TzikkZzo

I'm not trying to be contradictory, but I just listened to booty butt, and to me the only thing that sounds similar is the drums, and even that is sort of a stretch

Though I'd never heard booty butt before this and it is groove-tastic
[Edited 3/13/10 20:25pm]

I'm just talking bass line. speed up the bass from 'Booty Butt' a little and you've got the first part of "New Position"...

Wildboy said:

Although slightly different rhythmically, it is exactly the same notes and played in the same key - Bb Bb D Eb E F

However, its quite a typical soul/jazz/funk/blues progression. As to whether New Position is an "homage" to Ray Charles is debatable, as nothing else from the song really evokes Ray to me and it is entirely possible that Prince didn't listen to Booty Butt and think "I'm gonna use that bass line" - it could have just come naturally or have been an entirely unconscious use.