Peppe Wille's song Do yourself a Favor was recorded
by both Jesse Johnson and Prince.
What is strange is that both songs have a
lot of things in common in sound.
Prince's and Jesse's version sound a like
yet Peppe's version is different.
So Jesse heard Prince's version and stole a lot of things or...?
[Edited 4/9/10 18:03pm]

I just heard that song for the first time a few weeks ago. I knew nothing about the back story. I love it though. Does it date back to those 94 East recordings? What does Peppe's version sound like?

I thought for sure that Jesse did the song in order to get back at Prince for stealing the title of his album, "Shockadelica". I could be wrong, but there is a good back story on that. I hope Boris can clear it up.

i perfer prince version its more organic and raw just got that low key funk 2 it i guess ill say experimental as jesse version seem more contained and produced people compare prince and jesse but thats like comparing apples and oragnes they both good but totally different and jesse really cant compare 2 prince he dont wanna b called a prince protege but he was nothing but local be4 prince and has no proof that he would of been something without prince

ernestsewell said:

Pretty sure Prince recorded his version before Jesse did.

Militant said:

I never said he did. I said Jesse did the song in order to get back at Prince. The difference is that Prince never released his version. Jesse did.

xpertluva said:

Pepe's version sucks. It's this strange sort of late 70's faux-groove with a really dated sound. Prince took it and simplified it. The chord progression is similar between the two but the arrangements are much different.

Meanwhile, Prince's version is incredible (I think). I just heard Jesse's version a couple days ago, and while it's practically the same song, it doesn't compare to Prince's version at all!

http://www.dtt-lyrics.com...A-Z.html#D

ernestsewell said:

Cool. I misunderstood what you meant.

that song he sang on oprah is in my head at the moment...


...da dee da dee da....then your woman wont wanna mess around...sum, sum.

myfavorite said:

Sleep Around!

CerpinTaxt said:

Funny that our thoughts are exactly the contrary.

While I like P's version, over Jesse's, for me nothing can compare to the beauty of Pepe's original. 'If you see me' (original title) and 'Games' are nearly masterpieces to me. For that tracks alone I'm grateful that 94East existed.

ernestsewell said:

It's said Prince recorded "Shockadelica" on September 16th while Jesse's album that includes his version of "Do Yourself A Favor" was released in October. If your speculation is correct, things must have been proceeded so quickly in Jesse's side.

thebanishedone said:

Jesse knew (and probably had a copy, as well as Pepe) of Prince's version. I think "DYAF" was already recorded when Prince "stole" the title "Shockadelica" but there are many reasons why Jesse would steal Prince's arrangements: Prince had canceled Jesse's ASCAP royalties out of "The Bird" and "Jungle Love" and he also had built "The Bell Of St. Mark" around a beat Jesse had created without crediting him at ASCAP for this. Jesse probably felt like he had lost a great deal of money from these 3 songs (each was a successful single and the albums they were on sold well), so i guess he found it natural to use Prince's arrangements on "DYAF" and get writing credits and royalties out of them in retaliation. It basically was Pepe's song so he knew Prince wouldn't make a fuss over it but the irony is that when Prince used the title "Shockadelica", he probably didn't know about Jesse using his version of "DYAF"
[Edited 4/10/10 10:47am]

Well, Prince recorded that track in '82 and Jesse released his 'Shockadelica' album in '86.

So I think it's highly unlikely that Jesse's inclusion of the track on his album could be any sort of response to Prince's airing of his Shockadelica before the album was out.

I can't find the info right now, but I could swear I read something about Prince playing this version of the song to Jesse in the car. Is anyone certain on this?

vitriol said:

Ur story is actually Pépé's story from the 94 East's Symbolic Begining liner notes. Prince did play it in a car to Pépé.

vitriol said:

You're highly unlikely to be correct on that part.

ernestsewell said:

Prince wrote Shockadelica because he heard Jesse's album of the same name and told him that an album with a great title needed a great title track.

Now if Prince heard this album and then wrote Shockadelica as a response, how did Jesse steal Do Yourself A Favor, which is on the album, as a response to something that had not yet happened?

vitriol said:

I love If You See Me as well. But I'm not sure if it's because I dig Do Yourself A Favor so much, or if the song would have caught me ear had I never heard Jesse or Prince's versions.

databank said:

Prince credited Jesse with Shortberry Strawcake (which Jesse had no involvement in) probably as some sort of twisted way of paying off JJ for pilfering The Bell Of St. Mark. But P probably added insult to injury as The Bell Of St. Mark became a somewhat successful single.

squirrelgrease said:

Correct, but it was only cover credits: Jesse wasn't declared at ASCAP for that, so it was worthless.

squirrelgrease said:

I sought out the original because of this thread. I love it too. It sounds kinda like some laid back jazz/funk fusion. Unfortunately the only copy I could find cuts off after 2 minutes.

Gotta dig it out the crates and listen. I keep running the chorus in my mind w/ Andre Cymone's song Kelly's Eyes. They seem similar but its been a while.

ernestsewell said:

Oh, and why do you 'think' so?

I gave a reason to justify my assertion, what's yours?

vitriol said:

I read it.

ernestsewell said:

One can imagine that Jesse recorded and added the song at the last minute, then. Where did you read this?

databank said:

That I didn't know. And it's pretty awful on Prince's part if that's the case.

squirrelgrease said:

It did?

xpertluva said:

The original, meaning If You See Me? The whole 94 East CD is available for as little as 73 cents. It's been released in various configurations over the years with and without If You See Me. http://www.amazon.com/94-...B000AQ0U68

Incidentally, Pepe auctioned off the master tapes a few years back, so I'm sure it will be released again and again... unless Prince won the auction.

squirrelgrease said:

When was the last time you were at a Sheila E. concert and someone yelled out, "'The Glamorous Life' my ass! We want 'The Belle of St. Mark'!"?