What a strange track!

I have not listened to the d&P album in along time...

I guess i never paid much attention to Willing And Able! is is a really cool traffic, reminds me of some Three Dog Night/Steely Dan type rock mixed with synths & gospel.

Idk if i have seen many people talk a ton about the track... but i am really falling in love with it!

I have heard the diamonds album a few times.. but i always skipped over this one for some reason on repeat listens....

the only track where tony m is even tolerable. i like it a lot. it's a cool song.

the live in the studio version is cool too.

IstenSzek said:

the only track where tony m is even tolerable. i like it a lot. it's a cool song.

the live in the studio version is cool too.

Yeah at the end where he sound like a radio announcer(Well imo he does ) he doesn't give a silly rap & sounds good.

DAMN I feel so weird for sleeping on this track for so many years.

My fav song on Diamonds and Pearls is Insatiable.

In response to clbrook's thread that got locked: He asked,

Willing & Able.

Gunsnhalen said:

What a strange track!

I have not listened to the d&P album in along time...

I guess i never paid much attention to Willing And Able! is is a really cool traffic, reminds me of some Three Dog Night/Steely Dan type rock mixed with synths & gospel.

Idk if i have seen many people talk a ton about the track... but i am really falling in love with it!

I have heard the diamonds album a few times.. but i always skipped over this one for some reason on repeat listens....

I love D&P album, and always LOVED "Willing and Able" but I agree that there's always songs you skip over or don't like for a while, and then you rediscover it and say, hey, this is great! Probably just because of the sheer volume of music he's put out, and also because he does so many different styles of songs and unexpected strange things that you might not realize first time around that you'd like it.

The vocal on it is excellent, a falsetto gospel - go figure! I like the Montreux version in his regular voice too, and how he gets the audience to be his choir.

There's a thread in P&R titled "I listen to Christian music" and Toejam posted that we all do - this is prince.org after all! So funny, but true - W&A is a prime example, as well as Thunder.

I love the entire D&P !

luv4u said:

I love the entire D&P !

Same here!

I love the video version of the song.
Back in the day, I tried everything to tape it from the TV.

A couple of years ago, someone gave me an audio copy.

Now I play it more than the album version.

One of the best from D&P by a mile.

Highlight of the album.

I can't believe that I regarded this as one of the weaker tracks when I was a kid, it's absolutely one of the best on the album.

This track is just dope and that's all there is to it. I'm kind of rediscovering this album for the first time in awhile, and it's actually pretty fucking good for the most part. This track just KILLS tho.

Remember when Spike was supposed to direct a video for this instead of Money Don't Matter 2 Nite?

PS - I remember reading that this song was created after Michael Bland started playing the beat during a rehearsal. Kind of the same way "Everywhere" came about. Mike was thinking "ska" and Prince took it somewhere completely different.

[Edited 10/13/12 14:09pm]

Though I'm not a big fan of D&P [It's good moments are really good....but the bad moments...], this is one of my favorite songs on the album too.

gerhard12 said:

Listen to the liveversion at montreux jazzfestival!great!!

The best version is when they used it in the pre-game Super Bowl broadcast many years ago, and they had 5 or 10 players mime the Tony M. rap part.

But seriously, I like the song and it's fun to play on the guitar.

yep one of my favorite tracks on that album.

RodeoSchro said:

The best version is when they used it in the pre-game Super Bowl broadcast many years ago, and they had 5 or 10 players mime the Tony M. rap part.

But seriously, I like the song and it's fun to play on the guitar.

I totally remember that! Is that version circulating? I could never remember if the one from the SB was the one on the D & P video compilation.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

RodeoSchro said:

The best version is when they used it in the pre-game Super Bowl broadcast many years ago, and they had 5 or 10 players mime the Tony M. rap part.

But seriously, I like the song and it's fun to play on the guitar.

I totally remember that! Is that version circulating? I could never remember if the one from the SB was the one on the D & P video compilation.

Not that I've seen, but who would want it? It was just as video of NFL players as I recall. I don't remember Prince being in it. Was he?

All I can remember is the head shots of the players on the Tony M rap part, and laughing.

RodeoSchro said:

luv4u said:

I love the entire D&P !

Me too - great cd with lots of fun and funky songs.

IstenSzek said:

the only track where tony m is even tolerable. i like it a lot. it's a cool song.

the live in the studio version is cool too.

Funny, I think the rap part on it is totally unnecessary and doesn't fit the song at all.

It's a cool song, a bit of a risque type of a track to put on an album that was an obvious attempt at making a hit record (another track on the album that leaves me scratching my head in that sense is "Strollin'").

SchlomoThaHomo said:

RodeoSchro said:

Not that I've seen, but who would want it? It was just as video of NFL players as I recall. I don't remember Prince being in it. Was he?

All I can remember is the head shots of the players on the Tony M rap part, and laughing.

I didn't see the actual airing, but I remember the local news playing a clip of it the night before. It was him in a rehearsal type situation doing the song. I just assumed that's what was aired during the SB.

It might have been. I just can't remember anything but huge white guys miming Tony M.

I have found out that the song was also used during the video montage of the closing credits of the 1992 Super Bowl. In fact, the last thing Greg Gumbel says before he signs off is that "the Washington Redskins were willing and able". Of course, the video ends right there. Our good buddy The Web Sheriff must have put the screws to the NFL, LOL.

But the performance I remember was early in the day, before the game started. It was part of the pre-game stuff a couple hours before kickoff.

PurpleChi said:

In response to clbrook's thread that got locked: He asked,

Willing & Able.

The version on The Work (2), with the Michael Bland drum itnro.

Does anyone know what Prince says at the start, just after he counts it in?

He says, "One, Two, Three, and...Wait. Put on the tape."

Thanks Purple Chi.

So many great tributes on here, had no idea it was as popular.

I am still playing the rough version and can't get enough of it.

NPG, when they're truly - for want of a better phrase -(ahem) in mass attack! (who else does 'sex-gospel' so well? )

RodeoSchro said:

I enjoy llistenning to this song, though I absolutely dislike Tony's voice..!

I dig the video as well. I love the intimate, studio-gospel, jazz vibe to it. I also love Prince's spins in that.

The song, as experienced through the video, highlights Prince's skill as bandleader but also his meticulous eye for detail (the end drum thang)