Bit like Miles Davis grabbing the mic for some freestyle raps.
Interesting, totally different to the rest of his oeuvre, and not really a piece of pure genius. But interesting he tried it, no doubt.

Blue Light

FunkyDissCo said:

U have given me an idea for another thread

There are some Prince songs that are "Un Princey" so I think we can count "Blue Light" as one?

Blue Light 100% It totally fits with the Love Symbol album.

I have never liked reggae but Blue light is definitely not a bad song. I prefer it to the Rippa one which lacks melody to me.

I used to hate Blue Light, but I was just a little kid when it came out. Recently I have gotten into it because I can relate to the words now being in a long term relationship. You know trying to keep it hot and stuff. I still like Ripop better though.

I love both songs but I prefer Blue Light.

Ripopgodazippa by a country mile.

Ripopgodazippa.

I just couldn't stand ripop
and gradually I could tolerate it
and then I recognized the gulping and some of the lyrics and ugh

I have to go with Blue Light. I don't get Ripopgodazippa at all, if you know what I mean I do find it amusing, tho, in that it makes me think of some Asian martial arts movies where gurus and masters pass their wisdom and skills to their young, immature disciples. The song got that feel of background music for the kind of movies. Prince's voice sounds like...one of those gurus or masters

CallMeCarrie said:

I agree with the above but since I heard Blue Light 1st and fell in love with it, I'm gonna have to choose that but I do like both.

Bohemian67 said:

Ripopgodazippa slighty wins this one for me.

bluefish said:

I agree with you.
Folks seem to hate it, but I love the part when he says

"come like to cold winds/whatever/Montreal part"--it's just delicious.

TheVoid said:

I think its the Jamaican/reggae style rap near the end people dont like, its hilarious tho!

Blue Light...alot more commercial and easy on the ear than Rippop...sound like he was trying to hard on that one.

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

They're both sex songs ... to say the least

Blue light is a bit pop, but as an actual song I prefer it. For the cooler groove I prefer Ripop...

I find the line "if you're always with me you'll never need to call" all the more interesting/bizarre after Mayte's revelation that she was not allowed to call her husband.

Someone started a thread similar to this one also here:

http://prince.org/msg/7/335979

I've only heard "Ripogodazippa", but not "Blue Light" so I have to say "Ripogodazippa". But there's another track that definitely has a reggae/caribbean beat that I like and that is "The Sun, Moon and Stars". There's no way you can miss it, especially the part just before and during the rap part, and when he says "Chippee" in the lyrics and says "boc, boc, boc" before he goes into the rap line. There's no way you could miss that track having a Caribbean beat.
[Edited 5/13/10 16:43pm]

I like them both although the lyrics to Ripop are just...

I always thought Blue Light was a lost single. As the follow-up to 7, it would have done really well.

Bohemian67 said:

You need to spend some time with someone who knows about reggae music, then you will love it... To get started youtube: - Roxanne, I shot the sheriff!

Blue Light is a very good reggae music - style track by Prince

But so is Ripopgodazippa that's a fine track!
[Edited 5/14/10 2:50am]

Dreamer2 said:

Okay so I listened to teh "Blue Light" track, and I have to say that he did do good job with that one. He didn't need to actually put on a Caribbean accent to do a track with a reggae beat. It is a pretty good reggae track. I still like the track "The Sun, Moon, and the Stars" as well, which has a bit of reggae/calypso/latin beats in it.
[Edited 5/15/10 21:02pm]

Dreamer2 said:

Actually I know I shot the sheriff. Who doesn't almost impossible to not like that one. I also saw Lucky Dube at the Milky way for a concert, many years ago. Reggae's just a little slow for me.

Bohemian67 said:

Reggae has many types/forms, slow reggae is called Lovers, or Lovers Rock (Sade)..but you have fast reggae, Roots, Dub, Dancehall etc...(Sly and Robbie), Rap/Hip-Hop comes from Reggae sound systems so it's not slow. Two-Tone, Ska i.e. (No Doubt) sound comes from early reggae sound..

You need to get into it, it's massive ...
[Edited 5/14/10 9:22am]
[Edited 5/14/10 9:22am]

Blue Light by far. Great, sensual melody.

I like them both, but Blue Light is my favorite.

peter430044 said:

I agree.

Dreamer2 said:

Yeah, I probably don't enough about it. Listened to Ska though and you're right it's a faster rhythm. Actually I like it when they sing in French