I was re-reading the 1985 Rolling Stone interview. Just some interesting tidbits after all this time:

Prince is fiddling with the tape deck inside the T-Bird. On low volume comes his unreleased "Old Friends 4 Sale," an arrow-to-the-heart rock ballad about trust and loss.

"Old Friends 4 Sale" ends, and on comes "Strange Relationships," an as-yet-unreleased dance tune. "Is it too much?" asks Prince about playing his own songs in his own car. "Not long ago I was riding around L.A. with [a well-known rock star], and all he did was play his own stuff over and over. If it gets too much, just tell me."

I wonder who he was riding around with? Also, it's cool to hear about these songs early on, although we know where they date back to already.

A few minutes later, Prince and his father pull in front of the Warehouse, a concrete barn in an Eden Prairie industrial park. Inside, the Family, a rock-funk band that Prince has begun working with, is pounding out new songs and dance routines. The group is as tight as ace drummer Jellybean Johnson's pants. At the end of one hot number, Family members fell on their backs, twitching like fried eggs.

Just a cool moment with The Family. They're mentioned more #mce_temp_url#in the article.

A few hours later, Prince is kneeling in front of the VCR, showing his "Raspberry Beret" video. He explains why he started the clip with a prolonged clearing of the throat. "I just did it to be sick, to do something no one else would do." He pauses and contemplates. "I turned on MTV to see the premiere of 'Raspberry Beret,' and Mark Goodman was talking to the guy who discovered the backward message on 'Darling Nikki.' They were trying to figure out what the cough meant too, and it was sort of funny." He pauses again. "But I'm not getting down on him for trying. I like that. I've always had little hidden messages, and I always will."

And he certain did. I remember when I found the hidden (backwards) vocals wrapped around the drum beat in "Irresistible Bitch". It was such a cool find after all this time. Of course, that "hidden messages" statement only fuels the conspiracy theorists these days about his death and the endless "did he know" ideas.

"I turned on MTV to see the premiere of 'Raspberry Beret,' and Mark Goodman was talking to the guy who discovered the backward message on 'Darling Nikki.'

And he certain did. I remember when I found the hidden (backwards) vocals wrapped around the drum beat in "Irresistible Bitch". It was such a cool find after all this time. Of course, that "hidden messages" statement only fuels the conspiracy theorists these days about his death and the endless "did he know" ideas.

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Feeling lazy, can you fill me in on the hidden vocals/messages? TIA.

bigtimefan said:

"I turned on MTV to see the premiere of 'Raspberry Beret,' and Mark Goodman was talking to the guy who discovered the backward message on 'Darling Nikki.'

And he certain did. I remember when I found the hidden (backwards) vocals wrapped around the drum beat in "Irresistible Bitch". It was such a cool find after all this time. Of course, that "hidden messages" statement only fuels the conspiracy theorists these days about his death and the endless "did he know" ideas.

.

Feeling lazy, can you fill me in on the hidden vocals/messages? TIA.

If memory serves, it's him saying "irresistible bitch", woven into that rubbery noise around the drum beat. It's SO faint. You really have to isolate it with headphones on to hear it. You can hear it more in the beginning before he starts singing.

As far as "Darling Nikki", is the last 90 seconds or so of the track, after the song ends.