Never really cared for this track. Really wish it would have been cut from the album because The Dance is so beautiful and the ending is so sharp/dramatic/unexpected it is a crime that such a jam is followed by Get On The Boat.

I've tried revisiting it, but I can barely make it through the first minute. How do you feel about this track?

It gave me seasickness.

I went on a cruise a few years ago and they incorporated this song into a pirate themed musical. It made the song sound even worse..... if that's possible.

I like it. Probably not as much now as I did when I first heard it (it was my fav track from 3121 for some time), but I find it usually picks me up if I'm feeling a bit down.

I see your point about The Dance though. Obviously I wouldn't have wanted it cut, but even if The Dance had a few seconds (or more) of silence at the end, it might have done that ending more justice. I agree that it's quite an abrupt transition and probably didn't help GOTB's popularity, apart from anything else. I suppose it could have been a B-side instead...

I have never found 3121 to be a particularly coherent album, so it's normally shuffled into other things when I listen to it anyway. When I put GOTB on a playlist, I put it after Musicology - the way that track ends, having the percussion and brass come in so suddenly kind of works with the radio chopping and changing.

lol @ NouveauDance's response and exodus, what kind of cruise were you on?

Thanks for the altered perspective Chiquetet. I agree with you on the lack of cohesiveness on the album. While most of the tracks (imo) stand great individually, I can see what you're saying when you mention abrupt transitions.

In retropsect I can see aspects of Musicology bleeding through on Get On The Boat.

A few more seconds to The Dance would be nice, the first time I listened to that song when it ended I thought there was a problem with my walkman (yikes!) or something. But as I think about it more that raw sudden stop at the end of the track kind of adds a little dramatic flavor that maybe extending the outro would diminish?

Thanks for the responses guys!

MarquessMarq said:

A few more seconds to The Dance would be nice, the first time I listened to that song when it ended I thought there was a problem with my walkman (yikes!) or something. But as I think about it more that raw sudden stop at the end of the track kind of adds a little dramatic flavor that maybe extending the outro would diminish?

I nearly wrote 'extending the outro' and reworded it, because I agree - if it faded out, it would ruin the effect - but if that dramatic end led to complete silence for a few seconds, it's momentarily then as if the CD has finished.

I thought about suggesting that GOTB could have been a 'hidden track', but firstly that's been done to death (apparently not in Prince's opinion though, given the 67 odd tracks we got on 20ten...) and secondly, I suspect that many folks would be fairly disappointed to uncover that the hidden track is, in fact, Get On The Boat

Get on the Boat is banging!! What's up with y'all?!

I would rather jump out this boat, than get on

Its starts with horns.....And thruout the track the horns r cool so im loving it....Fuck ive just put it on and those horns r pumping...Maceo damn, this song is some funky shit....At 3.07 that piano solo followed by more horns....Fuck eye wanna get on the boat and party...this is a sweet track..Damn!

Normally his generic funk stuff of this era bores the hell outta me but I really like this one, yet to figure out why though.

bobbyperu said:

For me The Dance is always the one I skip when listening to this cd. Just like the other slow songs actually.... Get on the Boat is a nice Latin-flavored (and that's something new!) party track.

Some people are so lucky to be so easily pleased

I'm sorry but there are lots of dull Prince songs. Luckily he saved most of them for Bria.

davetherave6767 said:

Its starts with horns.....And thruout the track the horns r cool so im loving it....Fuck ive just put it on and those horns r pumping...Maceo damn, this song is some funky shit....At 3.07 that piano solo followed by more horns....Fuck eye wanna get on the boat and party...this is a sweet track..Damn!

I actually like this one, better than half the crap on the album.

"Get On The Boat" should have been the first or second single. Urban radio stations would have eaten it up and it would have been massive. For all intents and purposes, 3121 was a party album and he chooses Te Amo Corazon as the first single???????????????? Yuk.

It's one of those tracks that I didn't care for on the CD but worked for me live.

I love the latin feel to it. Although it gives a spiritual message. I can't listen to it without some hip-shaking off the latin rhythms and the energy the horns and percussions give it. The song starts off with a bang and ends that way.

[Edited 10/19/11 8:26am]

bobbyperu said:

For me The Dance is always the one I skip when listening to this cd.

If I was ever going to listen to 3121, which, you know, would have to be a very chilly day indeed in lil' ol' Lucifer's domain - The Dance would be one of, what, 2 tracks, that I would rip and leave the rest.

Hey, takes all kinds right!

Not my cup of tea really. It's one of those tracks where if it's playing, I don't mind if someone in the same room switches the hoover on.

I like the music. I think the bass plays some cool stuff and the performance overall is good. What I don't like are the lyrics. Not the message, mind you, but the delivery.

What is written as, "Get on the boat, people, (where people is used as - y'all)." to me sounds like, "Get on the Boat People."

What the hell have boat people ever done to you?

I know what he meant, but it sounds like he's saying something totally different. It seems clumsy. I fully realize this is my failing as a listener and not necessarily the fault of the writer.

I don't get some of you folks, but that's ok.

I think 3121 is one of this better albums. I LOVE "Te Amo Corazon", I like "Black Sweat" and like "Get On The Boat". The cheesy 90's retro crap I despise, like Lolita and Love, you people like.

I think Prince still has it in him to create another great album, but he surely must ignore what a good majority of people on this site think, becasue a whole lot of you have way worst taste in music than the general population.

it works in 3121, but isn't a great song. Prince seems to have alot of songs like this.

It's a strange way to end an album. I prefer he end them with sprawling ballads like Purple Rain.

V10LETBLUES said:

I don't get some of you folks, but that's ok.

I think 3121 is one of this better albums. I LOVE "Te Amo Corazon", I like "Black Sweat" and like "Get On The Boat". The cheesy 90's retro crap I despise, like Lolita and Love, you people like.

I think Prince still has it in him to create another great album, but he surely must ignore what a good majority of people on this site think, becasue a whole lot of you have way worst taste in music than the general population.

3121 was an interesting and fun album and era. Especially the various versions of 3121 that he played live in Vegas at various shows during that time. "Te Amo Corazon" is a beautiful ballad. I also like "Love" and "Incense and Candles". The thing about the 3121 album is that it had so many flavors of ice cream mixed into one big, waffle cone. You had a taste of R&B,(Love/Incense & Candles); Latin/Gospel (Get on the Boat) Gospel (The Word);Ballads (The Dance/Te Amo Corazon);Funk(Black Sweat);Pop(Lolita/Beautiful, Loved & Blessed) to Rock (Fury), proving once again that you can't lock Prince into one genre of music. Everyone has different musical tastes. There's no way anyone can expect everyone to like the same type(s) of music unless you're living in some delusional world.

[Edited 10/20/11 3:50am]

weak song and very weak album,

so very un-inspired, imo.

You would feel totally different about that track if you had heard him do it live in Vegas, at a 75-person aftershow, with Sheila on timbales.

As for The Dance, I've always preferred the version on The Chocolate Invasion. That one's vulnerable and amazing. The one on 3121 is bitter and overwrought.

^ Interesting.

I heard the 3121 version of The Dance long before I knew another version existed, enough time for me to develope quite the sentimental relationship with that track. So for me, I prefer the version on 3121. This leads me to contemplate (to a degree) the nature of when we experience Prince's music and how that ultimately molds and configures a good part of our appreciation or lack thereof, regarding his extensive diverse catalog.

Love reading this thread and seeing love, dislike, and lukewarm responses to the same track.

Good discussion, thanks for posting all.

Oh - I should add...

If you had heard him do it live in Vegas, at a 75-person aftershow, with Sheila on timbales...sitting in the front row, about 3 feet away from the man.

I was close enough to pick his pocket or pinch his ass. And I totally would have done it - if it wouldn't have meant getting kicked out and missing everything.

One of many good songs on the album and a good way to end it.