released today in the UK 32 years ago.

Initial tracking took place on 8 July, 1985 at the Washington Avenue Warehouse, Eden Prairie, MN, USA. Clare Fischer arranged and recorded orchestration for the song at some point in mid-late 1985 at Monterey Sound Studios, Glendale, CA, USA, but Prince preferred the track without orchestration, and chose to use the track without orchestration for the final release.

Girls and boys!

He only knew her 4 a little while
But he had grown accustomed 2 her style
She had the cutest ass he ever seen
But he did 2, they were meant 2 be
They loved 2 kiss on the steps of Versailles
It looked like rain, mama, birds do fly

CHORUS:
I love U baby, I love U so much
Maybe we can stay in touch
Meet me in another world, space, and joy
Vous êtes très belle, mama, girls and boys {U're very pretty, ...}

He gave her all the love that anyone can
But she was promised 2 another man
He tried so hard not 2 go insane
Birds do fly, it looks like rain

CHORUS

Life is precious baby, love is so rare
I could take the breakup if U say that U care
He had 2 run away, his pride was 2 strong
It started raining, baby, the birds were gone, oh

Maybe (CHORUS)
Meet me in another world
Vous êtes très belle, mama, girls and boys

I want U, baby (CHORUS)
Maybe we can play 2day
Vous êtes très belle, girls and boys

Sheila E & Lisa on the left Susannah & Wendy on the right

Parade version

• Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted
• Lisa Coleman - keyboards and vocals
• Wendy Melvoin - guitars and vocals
• Bobby Z. - drums and percussion
• Brown Mark - bass and vocals
• Dr. Fink - keyboards
• Susannah Melvoin - background vocals
• Eric Leeds - horns
• Atlanta Bliss - trumpet
• Sheila E. - background vocals
• Marie France - French spoken word (credited for "French seduction")

anyone know who directed the Girls & Boys video?

video directors

Kiss-Rebecca Blake,

Mountains video directed - Prince

Girls & Boys -

AnotherLover...-Daniel Kleinman

The video was nominated in Best Video category at the 7th Minnesota Music Awards (on 16 April 1987).

Starring Prince, Eric Leeds, Wendy & Susannah Melvoin, BrownMark, Bobby Z, Mico Weaver, Matt Fink, Lisa Colemen, Jerome Benton Wally Safford & Gregory Brooks

Studio de la Victorine, Nice, France 22 November, 1985

Susannah Melvoin

Under the Cherry Moon... The record (Parade) is fantastic. It was a very, very loaded time. There was lots of stuff going on, but, the record was amazing. The “Girls and Boys” music video was shot in Nice on the set of the film. It was actually fantastic. I remember it being really grand. There we were in Nice and it was so beautiful there. It was just kind of a magical time. I felt like a princess. I think all us girls did, because of the hair and makeup. We were like “Oh my God, this is fantastic! Do me!” It was really fun.

http://beautifulnightschi...-with.html

I've always wondered why this wasn't released as a single in the US.

databank said:

I've always wondered why this wasn't released as a single in the US.

me too.This song had "Top 10 hit" written all over it.

SoulAlive said:

databank said:

I've always wondered why this wasn't released as a single in the US.

me too.This song had "Top 10 hit" written all over it.

It was very popular in France.

Gotta be my favorite song on Parade. D'accord, c'est le raison pour j'habite avec les francophones.

From the get-go, this was my favorite song on Parade. It was just so funky to my 17 year old ears, I couldn't get enough of it. And when I heard the newer arrangement on the SOTT tour, it was even better. The song, the 12" cover, the video ("BOO!")... I couldn't get enough of it.

TrivialPursuit said:

From the get-go, this was my favorite song on Parade. It was just so funky to my 17 year old ears, I couldn't get enough of it. And when I heard the newer arrangement on the SOTT tour, it was even better. The song, the 12" cover, the video ("BOO!")... I couldn't get enough of it.

I loved the arrangement on the SOTT tour, better than the native Hit N Run and any version after. I followed the SOTT tour around most of Europe and most nights, the intro/build up to Girls and Boys was one of my favourite moments, because hardcore could work out where the chords were going, but the general audience only went wild when an 'older' (one year, lol) hit finally turned up, save for the LRC snippet.

Never understood why this wasn't a global second single from the album.

AGREED

why oh WHY wasn't this the 2nd single???

he did it again on SOTT ..

dont get me wrong.. Mountains and If I Was Your Girlfriend are two of my all time favorites... but they just arent second singles ... both albums had monster first singles and could have been much bigger .... at least IMO

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

AGREED

why oh WHY wasn't this the 2nd single???

he did it again on SOTT ..

dont get me wrong.. Mountains and If I Was Your Girlfriend are two of my all time favorites... but they just arent second singles ... both albums had monster first singles and could have been much bigger .... at least IMO

I agree.Prince made some questionable choices when it comes to singles.

SoulAlive said:

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

AGREED

why oh WHY wasn't this the 2nd single???

he did it again on SOTT ..

dont get me wrong.. Mountains and If I Was Your Girlfriend are two of my all time favorites... but they just arent second singles ... both albums had monster first singles and could have been much bigger .... at least IMO

I agree.Prince made some questionable choices when it comes to singles.

In that case, I wonder if WB isn't responsible? Maybe they felt G&B was too "weird" to catch American audiences? They already weren't hot for Kiss before it became a hit, so maybe they decided from the beginning that if Prince was gonna release that oddity as the first single, they'd follow up with the most radio-friendly song on the record, i.e. Mountains? Then UTCM flopped, Parade didn't sell extraordinarily despite Kiss' success and Prince didn't make a proper tour in the US beyond the short Hit N Run experience, so they decided that Europe was enough for G&B? IDK, obviously Prince was still in a position to force their hand on it if he'd really have wanted to release it in the US, but I suspect they told him they'd rather not and he just let it go. Pure speculation on my part, so don't take it as gospel. I'm sure someone knows how it really happened.

databank said:

petalthecat said:

I wonder if folks are aware that this is one of the tracks that inspired Dr Dre's G-funk sound...

ollowing the smash success of its predecessor "Kiss", "Girls & Boys" peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, but was not released as a single in America. Prince's former drummer, Bobby Z. later commented that the song may have helped the entire album and film achieve bigger success, 'second singles sometimes weren't right... "Kiss" was a complete smash and set the album up huge. In my opinion it should then have been "Girls & Boys", not "Mountains"'. The music video for the single consisted of clips from the film and separately-shot footage of The Revolution, including Prince's then-fiancee Susannah Melvoin.

"Girls & Boys" is a funk offering featuring both live drumming as well as Linn drum machine. The keyboard hook is a peculiar duck-like sound. This is the first official Prince single to include saxophone contributions of Eric Leeds. The lyrics speak of characters similar to Christopher and Mary from Under the Cherry Moon, although their actions are not seen in the film. The song includes a seduction spoken by Marie France in French, as well as an early attempt by Prince to deliver a short rap.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Following the smash success of its predecessor "Kiss", "Girls & Boys" peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, but was not released as a single in America. Prince's former drummer, Bobby Z. later commented that the song may have helped the entire album and film achieve bigger success, 'second singles sometimes weren't right... "Kiss" was a complete smash and set the album up huge. In my opinion it should then have been "Girls & Boys", not "Mountains"'.

Around the time of Parade,I began to notice a pattern.A strong first single would be followed by a questionable second single:

Parade= Kiss followed by "Mountains"

SOTT= title track follwed by "If I Was Your Girlfriend" (a great song but perhaps too weird for pop radio)

Lovesexy= Alphabet St. followed by "Glam Slam"

These second singles killed the momentum of these albums.

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Following the smash success of its predecessor "Kiss", "Girls & Boys" peaked at number 11 in the UK charts, but was not released as a single in America. Prince's former drummer, Bobby Z. later commented that the song may have helped the entire album and film achieve bigger success, 'second singles sometimes weren't right... "Kiss" was a complete smash and set the album up huge. In my opinion it should then have been "Girls & Boys", not "Mountains"'.

Around the time of Parade,I began to notice a pattern.A strong first single would be followed by a questionable second single:

Parade= Kiss followed by "Mountains"

SOTT= title track follwed by "If I Was Your Girlfriend" (a great song but perhaps too weird for pop radio)

Lovesexy= Alphabet St. followed by "Glam Slam"

These second singles killed the momentum of these albums.

Prince was in two zones at that point: cocky and christ like. And that is why he could not see the errors. 1 UTCM would have been HUGE, if the movie portrayed performance scenes, was diected by a real movie director who would have made the better choices for the movie. As a result Mountains could have still been the 2nd and it worked. But Girls & Boys would still have been the best dance follow up to Kiss.

those 2nd follow ups were Prince's quasi spiritual messages

Christopher as a tragic artist would have been a much more avant garde film. Prince as a right out gigolo just did not endear me to him. But an artist moving among the Bourgeoisie and in similar fashion, wealthy housewives having affairs would have been cool.

.

Christopher and a band of artists and musicians, would have opened the door 4 a much more interesting story. along with all the colourful haute couture.

.

Even without them being speaking parts, just the presence in scenery settings and background performances as well as a few direct performances would have seriously spiced the movie up.
Prince & the Revolution

David Coleman & Jonathan Melvoin
Sheila E and her band(they definately deserve a movie spot after all the hard work during the 1984-1985 period)

the Family

Mazarati (probably not performing but hanging out in a bar/club etc)
Jill Jones
Clare Fischer and orchestra

the ballerina dancer

1. Under the Cherry Moon Outro - Piano Instrumental (Intro Voice over)
2. An Honest Man - Piano Instrumental (Titles)

featuring Clare Fischers string musicians set behind Christopher

3. Christopher Tracy’s Parade (Nice)

the grotto various artists hanging out creating

4. Incidental Strings (Mirror, Mirror, 17 fold)
5. Incidental Sax & Strings (That Bela Lugosi look)
6. Incidental Sax & Strings (Bath phone call)
7. Do U Lie? (Mary’s party)
8. Planet Rock (Party Jam)

Christopher and musicians hired for the party (more believable reason to be there)

the Family playing High Fashion or Susannah's Pajamas

9. Incidental Drums (Christopher & Mary’s eyes meet)
10. Mia Bocca: Intro (Mary reappears)
11. New Position (Party Conga)

the Revolution lead by Prince & Jill on Mia Bocca
and then New Position sending Tricky out to get the conga line dance going)

12. Happy Birthday (Jonathan calls)
13. Incidental Strings (Mary & Christopher)
14. Do U Lie? – Piano Instrumental (Mrs Wellington’s phone message)
15. Incidental Organ (Christopher & Mrs Wellington)
16. I Wonder U (Mary thinks of a retort)
17. Alexa De Paris (Dance on the veranda)

the Revolution Prince Clare Fischer orchestra

18. Do U Lie? – Instrumental (Isaac’s car at Mrs Wellington’s)
19. Incidental Drums & Bass (Mary wants to take boat out)
20. It’s A Wonderful Day – Instrumental (Butterscotch, Chocolate)
21. Incidental Chamber music (Restaurant)
22. Girls & Boys (making a scene at the restaurant)

Christopher & the Revolution/Family/Mazarati/Sheila E coming uptown to show Mary and the bourgeoisie how to party(the Girls & Boys video) with the rest of the camp coming and spreading out dancing and such

23. I Wonder U (Mary in bed)
24. Love Or Money (I know, let’s spend it!)

somewhere in here is the cafe with the bat scene (Sheila E A Love Bizarre) as a band in the background

25. Life Can Be So Nice (Waiting at the Hippodrome)
26. Junk music (Car race at the Hippodrome)
27. Under the Cherry Moon Istrumental (Christopher & Mary)
28. Venus De Milo (Phone booth)
29. Old Friends 4 Sale – Strings only (Tricky confronts Christopher)
30. Mountains – Part 2 (Let’s run away, for couple of hours)
31. Incidental Drums & Bass (Tricky says something he shouldn’t)
32. Incidental Strings (Mrs Wellington & Christopher)
33. Anotherloverholenyohead (Race to the airport)
34. Incidental Sax (Isaac gets to the plane)
35. Kiss (Define ‘Love’)
36. Incidental Sax (Isaac on the phone)
37. Kiss – Part 2 (Tricky oon the run)
38. Venus De Milo (Mary wakes up in the grotto)

all the ladies in the camp looking over Mary as Prince returns

39. Incidental Strings (Tricky fights back)
40. Sometimes It Snows In April (Miami)
41. Mountains (End Titles)

It's not just horns, it's saxophone. It's not just saxophone, it's baritone saxophone. I could marry the bari in that song - I love it so much.