Follow this campaign on Twitter https://twitter.com/Prince4Xmas and FB https://www.facebook.com/...Christmas/

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We can use both hashtags

#prince4christmas

#prince4xmas

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We are planning a campaign for a Prince song to reach the UK Christmas Charts Number 1 place.

The Xmas chart is a normal selling weekly chart (it is the chart that is announced on Friday 23rd December this year counting sales from 16th to 22nd December, therefore telling us what is the UK Xmas No 1). It is like any other week throughout the year. Any song can be in it, regardless of its style.

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The UK has made a big deal about this Xmas Number for decades and it always seems to be an honour for an artist to try and get.

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Many thanks in advance for all those who will be participating in this process. Let this be our way to stand up from the sad events of this particularly difficult year whilst bringing back some well deserved spotlight on Prince's legacy by celebrating his music together.

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People in other countries (not just the UK) can also participate in this if they wish, starting by choosing your favourite song(s). The more people, the higher the chances of making it happen!

You can also org.note me with your choices if you wish to remain anonymous. Thanks!

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UPDATE

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If you are ready, you can start selecting your favourite 3 out of those below - based on the orgers suggestions - in preparation for the shortlist. Please note that we could only keep songs that are available for download... Hence the absence of some great, and perhaps better-suited tracks.

The next step will be a poll to select our final song... more info will be posted on here soon!

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So far we have the following songs to choose from. I have gleaned a few more from the "What Prince song did you have in your hear today" thread and other regular popular choices.

As you can see there is quite a mixture of upbeat/slow/sad/happy styles...

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• Still Would Stand All Time

• The Cross

• Sometimes It Snows In April

• Another Lonely Christmas (many of you have mentioned that this is perhaps too sad)

• The Ladder

• Wow

• 7

• Good Love - avail. for download on Bright Lights, Big City (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack))

• Fallinlove2nite

• Diamonds and Pearl

• Thunder

• The Arms Of Orion

• There Is Lonely (another sad one)

• Old Friends 4 Sale

• Comeback

• The Beautiful Ones

• Call My Name

• Beginning Endlessly

• Future Soul Song

• The Question of U

• I Wanna Be Your Lover

• FREE URSELF

• Paisley Park

• 4 The Tears In Your Eyes

• If I Was Your Girlfriend

• Adore

• When Doves Cry

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The original post below was regarding my first choice, Still Would Stand All Time. Feel free to post your own choice and we can then try and organise a voting system for a final decision.

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This has been on my mind for quite some time now. I feel that this song corresponds perfectly to what normally makes it to the charts just before Christmas in the UK. It has that perfect majestic spiritual and hopeful resonance, a breathtaking build-up and the intro is very evocative of those festive childhood memories...

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Who else on here thinks this could be an ideal Prince song to campaign for which would give Prince's popularity a second lease of life by introducing new generations and new fans to something else than the re-hashed Purple Rain and other hits...

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Trivia

• The song contains a three tone sampled flute from (an unidentified rendition of) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (Prinvevault)

[Edited 10/29/16 9:42am]

[Edited 10/30/16 2:23am]

I quite like the song, but prefer the demo with Prince on background vocals.

paulludvig said:

I quite like the song, but prefer the demo with Prince on background vocals.

Unfortunately I haven't heard it. Do you think it would work the same for that kind of purpose though, and what do you think of the idea of this song as a single release for the end of 2016? To me the album version sounds perfect just as it is. I really love the Steeles vocals and they - or a similar group - could even perform the song with the recording of Prince's voice if it was needed for TV appearances or other promotional purpose...

The Steeles – NON-Profit Company

It's mission: "To educate and inspire young people through Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Pop, R&B, and the Classics-with the intent to encourage students to pursue a higher education or profession in the arts and entertainment industry." *This corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific, purposes-including for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) for the IRS code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

The Steeles website

I can get behind this.

CherryMoon57 said:

paulludvig said:

I quite like the song, but prefer the demo with Prince on background vocals.

Unfortunately I haven't heard it. Do you think it would work the same for that kind of purpose though, and what do you think of the idea of this song as a single release for the end of 2016? To me the album version sounds perfect just as it is. I really love the Steeles vocals and they - or a similar group - could even perform the song with the recording of Prince's voice if it was needed for TV appearances or other promotional purpose...

Great idea and I think it could work as a Christmas type song but lets not tell Larry

dodger said:

CherryMoon57 said:

Unfortunately I haven't heard it. Do you think it would work the same for that kind of purpose though, and what do you think of the idea of this song as a single release for the end of 2016? To me the album version sounds perfect just as it is. I really love the Steeles vocals and they - or a similar group - could even perform the song with the recording of Prince's voice if it was needed for TV appearances or other promotional purpose...

Great idea and I think it could work as a Christmas type song but lets not tell Larry

Christmas or not, I think the song delivers a very powerful peace message to the world, something that Prince always had at heart.

And after this particular difficult year, it can also act as a 'soother' for all the people that are still hurting.

CherryMoon57 said:

dodger said:

Great idea and I think it could work as a Christmas type song but lets not tell Larry

Christmas or not, I think the song delivers a very powerful peace message to the world, something that Prince always had at heart.

And after this particular difficult year, it can also act as a 'soother' for all the people that are still hurting.

An advertised single release would be perfect but I don't see that as being likely.

The only way I can see it potentially working is by the way of one of those campaigns to get it there, like they did with Rage Against The Machine out of the blue becoming Xmas No 1 (over X Factor) and like the Munchkins (Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead) getting to No 2 when Margaret Thatcher died a few years ago.

I would love it to happen but the question is how do you build momentum? When? (the week before Xmas in one hard hit? Or a build up so it enters the charts and gets played on radio and builds popularity that way with one final campaign push the week before).

It's available to download as a single track on iTunes (on Graffiti Bridge) so I would buy it when the times right. As far as I am aware anything that's available to download through one of the official sources (iTunes etc) counts as a sale so therefore counts towards to the UK Top 100 (even if it's not officially released as a single)

I hope something can be done. This year Xmas No 1 sales would be for purchases between 00.01 Friday 16 December to 23.59 Thursday 22 December.

Spayne said:

CherryMoon57 said:

Christmas or not, I think the song delivers a very powerful peace message to the world, something that Prince always had at heart.

And after this particular difficult year, it can also act as a 'soother' for all the people that are still hurting.

An advertised single release would be perfect but I don't see that as being likely.

The only way I can see it potentially working is by the way of one of those campaigns to get it there, like they did with Rage Against The Machine out of the blue becoming Xmas No 1 (over X Factor) and like the Munchkins (Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead) getting to No 2 when Margaret Thatcher died a few years ago.

I would love it to happen but the question is how do you build momentum? When? (the week before Xmas in one hard hit? Or a build up so it enters the charts and gets played on radio and builds popularity that way with one final campaign push the week before).

It's available to download as a single track on iTunes (on Graffiti Bridge) so I would buy it when the times right. As far as I am aware anything that's available to download through one of the official sources (iTunes etc) counts as a sale so therefore counts towards to the UK Top 100 (even if it's not officially released as a single)

I hope something can be done. This year Xmas No 1 sales would be for purchases between 00.01 Friday 16 December to 23.59 Thursday 22 December.

One good strategy based on your suggestions would be for the fans to only buy the track in between those strategic dates and to combine that with a gradual radio campaign - enrolling national radios like BBC Radio 2 - with an increased airplay in the weeks preceeding the final 2 weeks before Chrismas. It is a great song so with the right amount of support, it could do extremely well.

It's too religious

lynx said:

It's too religious

It's actually about peace and love, not religion.

A great reminder for all religions/people.

• The song contains a three tone sampled flute from (an unidentified rendition of) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (Prinvevault)

I never knew, though Fink once explained that GB was full of unrecognizable samples from classical music. Anyone can tell me when exactly this flute sample appears?

CherryMoon57 said:

lynx said:

It's too religious

It's actually about peace and love, not religion.

A great reminder for all religions/people.

Are you kidding? "Tell me can you see the light, if you just open up your eyes, so much you will know..." Sounds like a church service when I was a kid. At best we can say a double meaning but Prince is very preachy here.

databank said:

• The song contains a three tone sampled flute from (an unidentified rendition of) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (Prinvevault)

I never knew, though Fink once explained that GB was full of unrecognizable samples from classical music. Anyone can tell me when exactly this flute sample appears?

You will hear this around the 2.11 mark. As for the Prelude, it will take me a little longer to spot it, but I will get to it whenever I have more time.

lynx said:

CherryMoon57 said:

It's actually about peace and love, not religion.

A great reminder for all religions/people.

Are you kidding? "Tell me can you see the light, if you just open up your eyes, so much you will know..." Sounds like a church service when I was a kid. At best we can say a double meaning but Prince is very preachy here.

Believe it or not, we do get a lot of these kind of songs over here (last year's UK number 1 had a Gospel style too) around Christmas time in the UK and it never stopped them from entering the charts, quite the opposite.

Last year's number 1: https://www.youtube.com/w...8qHXlShfUQ

I much prefer Prince's song of course, but this gives you an idea of what people generally expect.

CherryMoon57 said:

Last year's number 1: https://www.youtube.com/w...8qHXlShfUQ

I much prefer Prince's song of course, but this gives you an idea of what people generally expect.

I remember that one. A mash up of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel and Fix You by Coldpay.

CherryMoon57 said:

databank said:

I never knew, though Fink once explained that GB was full of unrecognizable samples from classical music. Anyone can tell me when exactly this flute sample appears?

You will hear this around the 2.11 mark. As for the Prelude, it will take me a little longer to spot it, but I will get to it whenever I have more time.

Thx, I've heard it But er.... u got me confuded here: Princevault speaks of ONE sample, not 2 different samples.

databank said:

CherryMoon57 said:

You will hear this around the 2.11 mark. As for the Prelude, it will take me a little longer to spot it, but I will get to it whenever I have more time.

Thx, I've heard it But er.... u got me confuded here: Princevault speaks of ONE sample, not 2 different samples.

I meant locating the loop in the actual original Debussy piece

https://www.youtube.com/w..._7loz-HWUM

I really didn't care for this song early on. It seemed like a forced cousin-sister-friend to "Purple Rain" or "Sometimes It Snows In April". It was slow, boring, unremarkable.

Yet, over time I've learned to appreciate it in a whole new way. I think it was just me not skipping over it when I'd play the GB album (many times only playing the Prince material). I think when he hits the "we're not alone people!", he nails it. That's when the whole song locks up for me.

It really is a beautiful song. And sort of does recap the end of 2016, not just with his death, but Bowie, Frey, Alan Rickman, Maurice White, George Martin, Merle Haggard, Guy Clark, Ali, Elie Wiesel, and more - 2016 can suck a dick. "Still Would Stand All Time" can be a note of comfort in all that.

The UK really makes a big deal out of the Christmas #1. I think there are enough fans willing to spend 99p to buy a song. (In theory fans around the world could help using a proxy server to buy the song from a UK site - it's not cheating it's disrupting the music industry like Prince would have wanted).

"Another Lonely Christmas" seems like an infinitely easier sell as a Christmas song though?

TrivialPursuit said:

I really didn't care for this song early on. It seemed like a forced cousin-sister-friend to "Purple Rain" or "Sometimes It Snows In April". It was slow, boring, unremarkable.

Yet, over time I've learned to appreciate it in a whole new way. I think it was just me not skipping over it when I'd play the GB album (many times only playing the Prince material). I think when he hits the "we're not alone people!", he nails it. That's when the whole song locks up for me.

It really is a beautiful song. And sort of does recap the end of 2016, not just with his death, but Bowie, Frey, Alan Rickman, Maurice White, George Martin, Merle Haggard, Guy Clark, Ali, Elie Wiesel, and more - 2016 can suck a dick. "Still Would Stand All Time" can be a note of comfort in all that.

YES. This is what I'm talking about, plus whatever is going on in the world right now.

Noodled24 said:

The UK really makes a big deal out of the Christmas #1. I think there are enough fans willing to spend 99p to buy a song. (In theory fans around the world could help using a proxy server to buy the song from a UK site - it's not cheating it's disrupting the music industry like Prince would have wanted).

"Another Lonely Christmas" seems like an infinitely easier sell as a Christmas song though?

It sounds like a good plan... If all of us could unite and make it happen of course. Another Lonely Christmas, despite its obvious title doesn't seem as strong and the lyrics aren't as universal as Still Would Stand All Time, so it would probably not have the same impact, but that's just my personal view of course. I think there is a poll sytem on this website, maybe if other people could suggest other possible tracks, perhaps we could all vote and stick to whatever the majority wants.

Noodled24 said:

The UK really makes a big deal out of the Christmas #1. I think there are enough fans willing to spend 99p to buy a song. (In theory fans around the world could help using a proxy server to buy the song from a UK site - it's not cheating it's disrupting the music industry like Prince would have wanted).

"Another Lonely Christmas" seems like an infinitely easier sell as a Christmas song though?

This is actually a better choice. As much as I love SWSAT, you have to be more obvious for a mass audience.

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I know novelty songs and reality TV shows have often reigned at Xmas, but don't under estimate a good song in general - overall I think being part of something (and these days making it known on your social media accounts) is what people gravitate towards with Xmas No.1's - and Prince's passing + a song like this would be a good contender for #1, if there was a campaign and some radio DJ got behind it, say.

NouveauDance said:

Noodled24 said:

The UK really makes a big deal out of the Christmas #1. I think there are enough fans willing to spend 99p to buy a song. (In theory fans around the world could help using a proxy server to buy the song from a UK site - it's not cheating it's disrupting the music industry like Prince would have wanted).

"Another Lonely Christmas" seems like an infinitely easier sell as a Christmas song though?

This is actually a better choice. As much as I love SWSAT, you have to be more obvious for a mass audience.

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I know novelty songs and reality TV shows have often reigned at Xmas, but don't under estimate a good song in general - overall I think being part of something (and these days making it known on your social media accounts) is what people gravitate towards with Xmas No.1's - and Prince's passing + a song like this would be a good contender for #1, if there was a campaign and some radio DJ got behind it, say.

I think it is a great song too, but I am worried that those lyrics (about someone dying) might bring a lot of people down, I think there needs to be some kind of hope for it to work, which SWSAT brings whilst this one doesn't. It does have that Christmas pop feel though, vaguely reminds me of John Lennon Happy Chrismas and Elvis' Lonely Christmas combined, so perhaps it won't make people stop in their tracks as much when they hear it. I was thinking The Love We Make could be a good one too... There is still some time to decide though. Let's wait and see what other people suggest.

Wasn't there a cover of Mad World at Xmas #1 a few years back, that was depressing as fuck!

NouveauDance said:

Wasn't there a cover of Mad World at Xmas #1 a few years back, that was depressing as fuck!

There was... goes to show, anything goes I guess. So if anything I'd rather it was a Prince song that gets the spotlight.

We need to get more people involved in this, that's the least we can do, now is our chance to prove our worth as fans and not just talk but also act like true funk soldiers.

databank said:

• The song contains a three tone sampled flute from (an unidentified rendition of) Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy (Prinvevault)

I never knew, though Fink once explained that GB was full of unrecognizable samples from classical music. Anyone can tell me when exactly this flute sample appears?

I don't know if it's full of samples from classical music specifically, but it's certainly full of uncredited samples (Tower Of Power on "Release It", Jimi Hendrix on "Tick, Tick, Bang", The Chambers Brothers on "Thieves in the Temple").

Do we know what the sampled orchestra in "Love Machine", during the dialogue section, is?

olb99 said:

databank said:

I never knew, though Fink once explained that GB was full of unrecognizable samples from classical music. Anyone can tell me when exactly this flute sample appears?

I don't know if it's full of samples from classical music specifically, but it's certainly full of uncredited samples (Tower Of Power on "Release It", Jimi Hendrix on "Tick, Tick, Bang", The Chambers Brothers on "Thieves in the Temple").

Do we know what the sampled orchestra in "Love Machine", during the dialogue section, is?

Sounds a bit like a part of the Adagio in G Minor to me, but I can't hear it very well so I might be wrong.

To recap on this, so far we've got:

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• Still Would Stand All Time
• Another Lonely Christmas

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I would love to add The Love We Make and Last December, but some of you might be concerned about the 'religious' aspect, although I do think that these are beautiful songs that could really work for this. In 2008, Alexandra Burke won the crowds with her more gospel-ly version of Hallelujah, and it worked!
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The other thing we need to remember is that (obviously) our man will not be here to perform and therefore anything that allows for a choir (or that already includes one like Still Would Stand All Time) is a strong advantage, from a promotional point of view.

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Awaiting further suggestions