As a relatively new Prince fan I, from time to time, are aware of my flaws in this highly proclaimed community. This is one of those moments where I'm a simple subject outside the box called Prince.org. This song never ever did anything for me, and to take it one step further, this song had me reaching for the skip button quicker than you could say "stop!". The singing is boring, borderline droning. I don't like the arrangement or the structure of the song. I haven't even invested much of my time reading into lyrics. Now, where I never catched up is the praise this song got from virtually everyone who mentions it. With people calling it one of his best work to date. What exactly am I missing? Believe me, I've tried listening to this song several times.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:00pm]

It's because you find no joy in repetition.

Go away please

I didn't really get it at first. Baringing in mind I know next to nothing about you, I would recommend either the It Ain't Over live version or the early mix with the Kick drum intro (commonly labelled as #1). They're both far superior versions compared to the one on Graffiti Bridge.

bluegangsta said:

I would recommend either the It Ain't Over live version

Just experienced a "holy shit" moment. Thank you good sir.

Still don't like the original version.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:46pm]

Wolfie87 said:

bluegangsta said:

I would recommend either the It Ain't Over live version

Just experienced a "holy shit" moment. Thank you good sir.

Still don't like the original version.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:46pm]

That's my "go to" version.

warning2all said:

The original Linn drum intro: Prince underestimated the power of that intro by cutting it out on "Graffiti Bridge" coming off "We Can Funk". And the "Graffiti Bridge" Casette has an extra bit on the end instead of cutting to "Love Machine" like on the cd. It was perfect.

I don't like the GB version of "We Can Funk" either. That's not the one I listen to...

Kill him right away. Kidding, you just don not like it, it's ok.

warning2all said:

The original Linn drum intro: Prince underestimated the power of that intro by cutting it out on "Graffiti Bridge" coming off "We Can Funk". And the "Graffiti Bridge" Casette has an extra bit on the end instead of cutting to "Love Machine" like on the cd. It was perfect.

The intro used on the GB, which is still abbreviated, was already put into place during the Crystal Ball era.

What's the big difference between the album version and the drum intro?

214 said:

What's the big difference between the album version and the drum intro?

The mix builds up to completion, rather than inundating you right away.

214 said:

What's the big difference between the album version and the drum intro?

.

The 'club noise' (and horns for the CB version) are not part of the original. The original begins with a spartan, tribal, haunting electronic drum pattern that builds up, leading to the 'He like to frequent this club'. No part of the original drum build-up intro is retained in the CB/GB versions.

.

[Edited 2/19/16 18:05pm]

He like 2 frequent this club down up on 36th

Pimps and thangs like 2 hang outside and cuss 4 kicks

Talkin 2 no one in particular they say "The baddest I am tonight!"

Four letter words are seldom heard with such dignity and bite

All the poets and the part time singers always hang inside

Live music from a band plays a song called "Soul Psychedelicide"

----

I'm just gonna stop there...FAN--FUCKING--TASTIC!

UncleJam said:

He like 2 frequent this club down up on 36th

Pimps and thangs like 2 hang outside and cuss 4 kicks

Talkin 2 no one in particular they say "The baddest I am tonight!"

Four letter words are seldom heard with such dignity and bite

All the poets and the part time singers always hang inside

Live music from a band plays a song called "Soul Psychedelicide"

----

I'm just gonna stop there...FAN--FUCKING--TASTIC!

Indeed, haunting and beautiful and kind of sad.

Wolfie87 said:

As a relatively new Prince fan I, from time to time, are aware of my flaws in this highly proclaimed community. This is one of those moments where I'm a simple subject outside the box called Prince.org. This song never ever did anything for me, and to take it one step further, this song had me reaching for the skip button quicker than you could say "stop!". The singing is boring, borderline droning. I don't like the arrangement or the structure of the song. I haven't even invested much of my time reading into lyrics. Now, where I never catched up is the praise this song got from virtually everyone who mentions it. With people calling it one of his best work to date. What exactly am I missing? Believe me, I've tried listening to this song several times.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:00pm]

I don't think I can explain it if u don't get it. However JIR wasn't a fave of mine for the first few years. I liked it aw'igh but not the way I liked The Question Of U for example. Then one day, probably about 6 or 7 years after I purchased the album in 90 it hit me. The song was genius. A true moment of poetry (lyrics included), a "pensieve" like in Harry Potter.

I also sang it and rehearsed it a lot for an exam in my music school at the time and it allowed me to go deeper into it.

It really got nothing to do with "the arrangement or the structure of the song". It's got to do with capturing a poetic moment/idea and making a poem out of it.

The problem is this absurd habit of pressing the "skip" button y'all have. How can a song grow on u if u skip it every time? As I just said in a recent thread I always listen to full albums and that's how most of my favorite songs or albums became my darlings, because I allowed myself to get into them. No one can truly appreciate music with this skipping habit. U only get to enjoy what you enjoyed on a first impression and that's a very superficial approach to music. And how can a song possibly be SO irritating that one feels the need to skip it anyway? This is weird.

It took me 20 years to fall madly in love with Cool though, so take your time with JIR

[Edited 2/19/16 19:26pm]

I was never a FAN of it at first. I think I only appreciated it in a time/era playlist. I appreciate the song in a different way now. I think it is one that hearing it mixed with other songs from the time helped me to envision it's beauty. July 1986 was a beautiful time

databank said:

Wolfie87 said:

As a relatively new Prince fan I, from time to time, are aware of my flaws in this highly proclaimed community. This is one of those moments where I'm a simple subject outside the box called Prince.org. This song never ever did anything for me, and to take it one step further, this song had me reaching for the skip button quicker than you could say "stop!". The singing is boring, borderline droning. I don't like the arrangement or the structure of the song. I haven't even invested much of my time reading into lyrics. Now, where I never catched up is the praise this song got from virtually everyone who mentions it. With people calling it one of his best work to date. What exactly am I missing? Believe me, I've tried listening to this song several times.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:00pm]

I don't think I can explain it if u don't get it. However JIR wasn't a fave of mine for the first few years. I liked it aw'igh but not the way I liked The Question Of U for example. Then one day, probably about 6 or 7 years after I purchased the album in 90 it hit me. The song was genius. A true moment of poetry (lyrics included), a "pensieve" like in Harry Potter.

I also sang it and rehearsed it a lot for an exam in my music school at the time and it allowed me to go deeper into it.

It really got nothing to do with "the arrangement or the structure of the song". It's got to do with capturing a poetic moment/idea and making a poem out of it.

The problem is this absurd habit of pressing the "skip" button y'all have. How can a song grow on u if u skip it every time? As I just said in a recent thread I always listen to full albums and that's how most of my favorite songs or albums became my darlings, because I allowed myself to get into them. No one can truly appreciate music with this skipping habit. U only get to enjoy what you enjoyed on a first impression and that's a very superficial approach to music. And how can a song possibly be SO irritating that one feels the need to skip it anyway? This is weird.

It took me 20 years to fall madly in love with Cool though, so take your time with JIR

[Edited 2/19/16 19:26pm]

Beautiful.

To each their own, but Joy In Repetition is one of the only times you'll see me use the word here ..... MASTERPIECE.

wow you don't like Joy In Repetition..

Ok, but.... that's....

ps Joy In Repetition is the only song I do like on the otherwise terrible "One Nite Alone.. Live" album...

That much longer live-version from the aftershow is just brilliant... amazing & wonderful..

databank said:

Wolfie87 said:

As a relatively new Prince fan I, from time to time, are aware of my flaws in this highly proclaimed community. This is one of those moments where I'm a simple subject outside the box called Prince.org. This song never ever did anything for me, and to take it one step further, this song had me reaching for the skip button quicker than you could say "stop!". The singing is boring, borderline droning. I don't like the arrangement or the structure of the song. I haven't even invested much of my time reading into lyrics. Now, where I never catched up is the praise this song got from virtually everyone who mentions it. With people calling it one of his best work to date. What exactly am I missing? Believe me, I've tried listening to this song several times.

[Edited 2/19/16 15:00pm]

I don't think I can explain it if u don't get it. However JIR wasn't a fave of mine for the first few years. I liked it aw'igh but not the way I liked The Question Of U for example. Then one day, probably about 6 or 7 years after I purchased the album in 90 it hit me. The song was genius. A true moment of poetry (lyrics included), a "pensieve" like in Harry Potter.

I also sang it and rehearsed it a lot for an exam in my music school at the time and it allowed me to go deeper into it.

It really got nothing to do with "the arrangement or the structure of the song". It's got to do with capturing a poetic moment/idea and making a poem out of it.

The problem is this absurd habit of pressing the "skip" button y'all have. How can a song grow on u if u skip it every time? As I just said in a recent thread I always listen to full albums and that's how most of my favorite songs or albums became my darlings, because I allowed myself to get into them. No one can truly appreciate music with this skipping habit. U only get to enjoy what you enjoyed on a first impression and that's a very superficial approach to music. And how can a song possibly be SO irritating that one feels the need to skip it anyway? This is weird.

It took me 20 years to fall madly in love with Cool though, so take your time with JIR

[Edited 2/19/16 19:26pm]

Like I said. I've tried several times to like this song before I got my habit of skipping it. And for the record, Cool is one of my favourite track by Prince/associates. Just shows the diversity of fans on this site.

But for a couple of tracks virtually everything on Graffiti Bridge is genius. That said Joy In Repetition stands out for being weird as well as brilliant, as in unusual rhythms, super syncopated. Just Friends/If You Want Me To Stay has a weird vibe to it too, sounding clumsily off the beat and the live version of joy in repetition on same album is equally brilliant btw. Open yo ears.

smokeverbs said:

To each their own, but Joy In Repetition is one of the only times you'll see me use the word here ..... MASTERPIECE.

I used to chat with a hardcore Prnce fan and she sent me a live version of this that had Prince open up with a blistering guitar solo. I think it was 10+ minutes. Anyone have any idea where it's from, or are there a million versions floatin around?

^ sounds very much like the released live-version from the "One Nite Alone.. Live" boxset..

thedance said:

^ sounds very much like the released live-version from the "One Nite Alone.. Live" boxset..

That's it. thanks. Just looked up the boxset, seems it's not going cheap. Damn.

Which version was intended for Crystal Ball?