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Reply #240 posted 07/22/17 4:21am

luvgirl

BlueShakooo said:

Am I the only one here, hearing humour in that song?!



"That dame is so fine": Horns play a line that sound like a fanfare,


makes me smile everytime I hear it.



"'cuz my baby don't love me no more, she said >Maybe I do, just not like I did before<"


Prince mimicks her voice, funny!



"Wally come and go out with me tonight, we'll tear it up like we used to do":


Drum roll on "tear it up": I smile



"And if I don't find somebody, somebody will find me",


not very depressing, is it?



And it's about friendship.


As if he said: "Hey, Wally ... I guess I need some distraction."



It's just bittersweet to me.


Optimistic sadness.



[Edited 7/20/17 5:58am]

[Edited 7/20/17 5:59am]



This is exactly what I thought about it. He's sad because he doesn't have the only person in the world he could talk to anymore, but he still sounds resolved and optimistic through his sadness.

It's a cute song and I like it. I've listened to it quite a few times trying to love it, but it's not his best song ever in my opinion. No way. Not even close... Now, "Come Home" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Wally is not a song I'll be returning to over and over, just every now and then when I remember that I have the infamous "Wally!"
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Reply #241 posted 07/22/17 4:31am

airth

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luvgirl said:


...He's sad because he doesn't have the only person in the world he could talk to anymore, but he still sounds resolved and optimistic through his sadness....


Perhaps you're right, but I hear completely the opposite. It sounds to me like he's putting on a brave face, behind which he's desperate, depressed, and at a loss what to do.


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Reply #242 posted 07/22/17 5:16am

RaspBerryGirlF
riend

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fen said:

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

You could well be right that it's not that different but it's hard to say really. My interpretation of what Susan Rogers said was that Prince felt the original take was far too emotionally devastating and so in his rerecording he decided to dilute that considerably by injecting more levity into the tone of his performance and adding lots more instrumentation. Having listened to this version I could well believe that a stripped down, rawer version of this song, with Prince playing it relatively straight instead of joking around, could be incredibly powerful. I could well be completely wrong but sadly we'll never really know. I'm just glad that we finally get to hear a version of this song and like you I think this rendition of it is great as well.

[Edited 7/17/17 11:14am]



I agree with this entirely. That said, musically this version doesn’t sound particularly busy or over-elaborate to me.

You're right, I definitely think the instrumentation in this version works very well and feels appropriate for the sentiment it's conveying. That said, I think what I was getting at in my original post was that perhaps the bombast of the horns and the blazing guitar solo might not have worked as well in the context of the original if it was more despairing and mournful. Again that's speculation though as we'll never know what the original truly sounded like.

Heavenly wine and roses seems to whisper to me when you smile...
Always cry for love, never cry for pain...
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Reply #243 posted 07/22/17 7:04pm

macaylasdad

I was just talking to Wally Safford a couple of weeks ago about this song...he offered to let me hear it and I declined...but now it's out! I really like it!

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Reply #244 posted 07/22/17 7:05pm

rdhull

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macaylasdad said:

I was just talking to Wally Safford a couple of weeks ago about this song...he offered to let me hear it and I declined...but now it's out! I really like it!

Why did you decline?

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #245 posted 07/23/17 1:26am

Thewooh

macaylasdad said:

I was just talking to Wally Safford a couple of weeks ago about this song...he offered to let me hear it and I declined...but now it's out! I really like it!



Would be interesting to find out if his version is the same as the leaked version.
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Reply #246 posted 07/23/17 8:55am

novabrkr

OnlyNDaUsa said:

novabrkr said:

I honestly didn't expect a song titled "Wally" to be among his best tracks.

It really isn't either.

for one the song title has almost nothing to do with the quality of the song

and two you have not heard it...


I doubt the composition itself on the earlier version differs signficantly from the version that's gotten leaked.

Can you prove otherwise?

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Reply #247 posted 07/23/17 9:02am

OnlyNDaUsa

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novabrkr said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

for one the song title has almost nothing to do with the quality of the song

and two you have not heard it...


I doubt the composition itself on the earlier version differs signficantly from the version that's gotten leaked.

Can you prove otherwise?

I never said it was... I also never said I could evaluate the quality of a song I have not heard. I again used the 2 versions of "Old Friends" as case and point that the other may be a vastly better song.

"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!"
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Reply #248 posted 07/23/17 9:11am

novabrkr

OnlyNDaUsa said:

novabrkr said:


I doubt the composition itself on the earlier version differs signficantly from the version that's gotten leaked.

Can you prove otherwise?

I never said it was... I also never said I could evaluate the quality of a song I have not heard. I again used the 2 versions of "Old Friends" as case and point that the other may be a vastly better song.


Well, okay. "Old Friends 4 Sale" is a decent example in that regard, although there was a much longer gap between the recording and the re-recording than the case was with "Wally" (as far as I've understood). I do like the later version of OF4S though.

I'm just not hearing that much going on in the melody of this leak that'd suggest the earlier version would be that much better. I suppose it's still a "show tune" type of a piece, even if it has a sparser arrangement.

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Reply #249 posted 07/23/17 2:26pm

wasitgood4u

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First listen similar to many, underplussed.
Second listen - truly amazing song. Totally understand how a rawer version would get you. I'm not familiar with all the unreleased stuff but I think it's pretty unique in P's catalogue. It takes the playful guy talk of some of the tracks he made with Morris and puts it with a situation of heartbreak, that makes it so real. Like he's trying to put on his persona but he's so torn he can't. And its SO specific - Wally, the sunglasses, the specific situation on a specific night. It actually reminds me of some later cuts like Reflection and June which also seemed among his most sincere in their specificity.
The music plays the same game and so mostly works - it's trying to cover up the raw heartbreak with flourishes, but the heartbreak pushes through. The Ma-la-di-da is just that unsuccessful attempt to sing it away and the crushing guitar is just the pain breaking through.
Powerful stuff.
"We've never been able to pull off a funk number"

"That's becuase we're soulless auttomatons"
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Reply #250 posted 07/23/17 2:27pm

wasitgood4u

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Oh, the only downer is that it also sounds like a total Flight of the Concords take-off 🤣
"We've never been able to pull off a funk number"

"That's becuase we're soulless auttomatons"
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Reply #251 posted 07/23/17 3:38pm

macaylasdad

rdhull said:

macaylasdad said:

I was just talking to Wally Safford a couple of weeks ago about this song...he offered to let me hear it and I declined...but now it's out! I really like it!

Why did you decline?

I think the "legend" of the song is more interesting then the song...If i woild of heard it and been disappointed then the "mystery" would of died... same thing like the vault songs ...there is so much hype to get it out, but what if the songs were like the opinion of "Jughead"??

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Reply #252 posted 07/23/17 3:44pm

EddieC

macaylasdad said:

rdhull said:

Why did you decline?

I think the "legend" of the song is more interesting then the song...If i woild of heard it and been disappointed then the "mystery" would of died... same thing like the vault songs ...there is so much hype to get it out, but what if the songs were like the opinion of "Jughead"??

And what if you'd been underwhelmed in front of Wally--I mean, no, it's not about him or his work or anything, but still, if he shares it with you and you're "eh,yeah. Okay" it could be a bit uncomfortable.

Or maybe that's just the way I think.

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Reply #253 posted 07/23/17 3:45pm

rdhull

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macaylasdad said:

rdhull said:

Why did you decline?

I think the "legend" of the song is more interesting then the song...If i woild of heard it and been disappointed then the "mystery" would of died... same thing like the vault songs ...there is so much hype to get it out, but what if the songs were like the opinion of "Jughead"??

ah, gotcha..agreed too but I dont think would have been able to pass on hearing it. But now that we have, like you sid and Ive always said, the mystery is now gone....and some of the thrill like BB said

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #254 posted 07/23/17 3:51pm

macaylasdad

rdhull said:

macaylasdad said:

I think the "legend" of the song is more interesting then the song...If i woild of heard it and been disappointed then the "mystery" would of died... same thing like the vault songs ...there is so much hype to get it out, but what if the songs were like the opinion of "Jughead"??

ah, gotcha..agreed too but I dont think would have been able to pass on hearing it. But now that we have, like you sid and Ive always said, the mystery is now gone....and some of the thrill like BB said

i like the song too...but you know, the story is it was a personal song...even behind Prince's superstardom, he was a person like you and me...I am sure if was a personal as the story says, Prince didnt want anyone to hear it...hence why he deleted it. But i also makes me wonder...how many more "wally" type songs are left in the vault?

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Reply #255 posted 07/23/17 3:53pm

rdhull

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macaylasdad said:

rdhull said:

ah, gotcha..agreed too but I dont think would have been able to pass on hearing it. But now that we have, like you sid and Ive always said, the mystery is now gone....and some of the thrill like BB said

i like the song too...but you know, the story is it was a personal song...even behind Prince's superstardom, he was a person like you and me...I am sure if was a personal as the story says, Prince didnt want anyone to hear it...hence why he deleted it. But i also makes me wonder...how many more "wally" type songs are left in the vault?

Its like his diary and not for public consumption. Us judging the song on this and that kind of makes me feel weird about it.

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #256 posted 07/23/17 3:55pm

laytonian

NouveauDance said:



Reciprocity said:


Susan Rogers has over hyped a lot and she was the one who had me wanting to hear Wally.



rolleyes


.
But Susan Rogers wasn't talking about this version.
She was talking about a much more emotional and raw version that P used to get some feelings out.
.
Welcome to "the org", laytonian… come bathe with me.
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Reply #257 posted 07/23/17 4:07pm

imprimis

Am I alone in my beliefs that this is the one and only 'Wally' there has ever been, independent of various degrees of overdubbing or revisiting (that changed/'ruined' the intimacy of the original recording), and that there is faulty memory or mythologization at play with the claims that the an earlier take was too deeply personal and erased?

.

[Edited 7/23/17 16:09pm]

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Reply #258 posted 07/23/17 4:21pm

jaawwnn

imprimis said:

Am I alone in my beliefs that this is the one and only 'Wally' there has ever been, independent of various degrees of overdubbing or revisiting (that changed/'ruined' the intimacy of the original recording), and that there is faulty memory or mythologization at play with the claims that the an earlier take was too deeply personal and erased?

.

[Edited 7/23/17 16:09pm]

Without any hard facts each version is as likely as the other, no?

I see no reason to call Susan a liar about this but maybe what we have comes directly from the tape of the original session that she said Prince made. Maybe not as well though.

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Reply #259 posted 07/23/17 5:11pm

EddieC

imprimis said:

Am I alone in my beliefs that this is the one and only 'Wally' there has ever been, independent of various degrees of overdubbing or revisiting (that changed/'ruined' the intimacy of the original recording), and that there is faulty memory or mythologization at play with the claims that the an earlier take was too deeply personal and erased?

.

[Edited 7/23/17 16:09pm]

You're probably not alone in your beliefs. I tend to believe that the whole story is so strange that there was some sort of debate over erasing it. And I would think that Rogers would know whether or not that happened. And I don't see any reason for her to lie.

So, why not assume that she's telling the truth? Now, as to whether this differs much from what he had at the end of that first pass at making the record: the intimate version she loved so much was destroyed in her view by the overdubs he did that first night. I'm guessing he was proving a point to her--she dared to question what he was doing, and he showed her that it wasn't her place to do so, and that what he'd done was his to do with as he wanted, no matter what Rogers or anyone else thought. Now, I think he then went right back and did it all again, probably pretty much just like he had the first time, because he thought there was something significant in the song, even if he never would release it.

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Reply #260 posted 07/23/17 5:20pm

rdhull

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Susan Rogers was right on the money with her assessment of what she heard. There is no reson to disparage her or her opinions of her rndering of the exerience of what Prince orignally and succesively put to tape. The music or the feeling of the song we heard does not take away from what the emotion of the og and new lyrics expressed/expresses. I am willing to concede that, as should we all.

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #261 posted 07/24/17 12:05pm

djThunderfunk

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rdhull said:

Susan Rogers was right on the money with her assessment of what she heard. There is no reson to disparage her or her opinions of her rndering of the exerience of what Prince orignally and succesively put to tape. The music or the feeling of the song we heard does not take away from what the emotion of the og and new lyrics expressed/expresses. I am willing to concede that, as should we all.


Well said! cool

Liberty > Authority
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Reply #262 posted 07/24/17 11:17pm

HollywoodSt

Just heard it and like it.

A big thanks to the kind soul who allowed me to share in the wealth.
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Reply #263 posted 07/25/17 4:44am

NewpowerScarfo

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I've never heard of this song.

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Reply #264 posted 07/25/17 11:05am

Mindbells9

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jaawwnn said:

imprimis said:

Am I alone in my beliefs that this is the one and only 'Wally' there has ever been, independent of various degrees of overdubbing or revisiting (that changed/'ruined' the intimacy of the original recording), and that there is faulty memory or mythologization at play with the claims that the an earlier take was too deeply personal and erased?

.

[Edited 7/23/17 16:09pm]

Without any hard facts each version is as likely as the other, no?

I see no reason to call Susan a liar about this but maybe what we have comes directly from the tape of the original session that she said Prince made. Maybe not as well though.

This is true, and Wally has the actual tape. The version that leaked is the version that Wally played for me years ago, and he said that Prince gave him the tape when the session was done and just said "here, it's yours." and he never heard Prince speak about the song or the tape again.

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Reply #265 posted 07/25/17 11:33am

purplepolitici
an

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So did I lol (well a lil while after it came out). Its busy at times, but I like it alot. It's humorous n emotional (the "if I don't find somebody, somebody will find me" line got to me cuz its kinda my philosophy sad) n very interesting the whole narrative n storyline behind it. Thanks generous strangers! wave N Prince, of course wink.

For all time I am with you, you are with me.
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Reply #266 posted 07/25/17 12:24pm

purplewisdom

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help a fellow orger brother out>??>>??

"Dead in the middle of Little Italy little did we know
that we riddled some middleman who didn't do diddily"--BP
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Reply #267 posted 07/25/17 1:29pm

Allanya

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great song. biggrin

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Reply #268 posted 07/25/17 3:23pm

Bebop17

jaawwnn said:

imprimis said:

Am I alone in my beliefs that this is the one and only 'Wally' there has ever been, independent of various degrees of overdubbing or revisiting (that changed/'ruined' the intimacy of the original recording), and that there is faulty memory or mythologization at play with the claims that the an earlier take was too deeply personal and erased?

.

[Edited 7/23/17 16:09pm]

Without any hard facts each version is as likely as the other, no?

I see no reason to call Susan a liar about this but maybe what we have comes directly from the tape of the original session that she said Prince made. Maybe not as well though.

.

I don't know if you'd call it hard facts but The Vault entry for Wally cites some lyrics that do not appear in this version.

Gimme some horns ... uh!
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Reply #269 posted 07/25/17 4:46pm

OnlyNDaUsa

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Bebop17 said:

jaawwnn said:

Without any hard facts each version is as likely as the other, no?

I see no reason to call Susan a liar about this but maybe what we have comes directly from the tape of the original session that she said Prince made. Maybe not as well though.

.

I don't know if you'd call it hard facts but The Vault entry for Wally cites some lyrics that do not appear in this version.



I do not remember where I read it but there was more... like borrowing some money and then deciding there was no point... some say this version is missing some...but I am not sure... but yeah reports over the years had some mentions of other lyrics.

"Keep on shilling for Big Pharm!"
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