For me it is a pity that it has not been published. I want to know your opinions.

[Edited 1/12/19 15:25pm]

[Edited 1/12/19 15:26pm]

We don't have firm recording dates for the song. It may have not been recorded in time for the album, if indeed it was ever a [serious] candidate; it may have been held back for a future album, by which time the sound had changed, and P moved on.

.

[Edited 1/12/19 18:04pm]

The song is more of a Rebels song, not something that would fit on Dirty Mind. It was recorded in 1980. The copyright, according to sources, was filed August 4, 1980, so it was completed before that.

Rightly so, princevault notes that it's a more monotone, hypnotic, almost dance-y production and is probably why it wasn't included on something like Dirty Mind. And while there are fast songs like "Sister" on there, that's still very guitar driven, and has an open sound to it. "Lisa" feels like polished new wave - which would have made a great song for The Rebels project for sure.

Let them save it for the Deluxe Edition second disc

iZsaZsa said:

It’s about him taking another guys gal, so I’d much rather have Head.

Well. Who wouldn't?!

TrivialPursuit said:

iZsaZsa said:

It’s about him taking another guys gal, so I’d much rather have Head.

Well. Who wouldn't?!

It's one of my all-time favorite outtakes. In fact, I like it more than any song on Dirty Mind! I agree it feels a little different to that album, though, but maybe it could have worked as a B-side.

it's a good song but I don't think it's a good fit for the album.Would have been a great B-side,though.

Oh yeah, yeah (1 2 3 4)

Lisa, let's go 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, let's go 2 the village
Lisa, let's go
Tell your man, he'll understand
Lisa, let's go

Lisa, we're going 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, I don't care
Long as U know, somewhere
Some day, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, I don't care, oh
Lisa, I don't care

Lisa, let's go get blasted
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, I know U're nasty
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, it's OK
Long as U know, some day
Some way, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, it's OK

*

Lisa Coleman!!!! No doubt Prince had a crush for awhile Love everything about this cool, funky, discoey track!!!! Especially like that you can clearly hear his falsetto and lower register together. Also love that it seems "unfinished". I picture Prince just throwing it together one night when he was bored

TrivialPursuit said:

iZsaZsa said:

It’s about him taking another guys gal, so I’d much rather have Head.

Well. Who wouldn't?!

LOL

violetcrush said:

Oh yeah, yeah (1 2 3 4)

Lisa, let's go 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, let's go 2 the village
Lisa, let's go
Tell your man, he'll understand
Lisa, let's go

Lisa, we're going 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, I don't care
Long as U know, somewhere
Some day, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, I don't care, oh
Lisa, I don't care

Lisa, let's go get blasted
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, I know U're nasty
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, it's OK
Long as U know, some day
Some way, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, it's OK

*

Lisa Coleman!!!! No doubt Prince had a crush for awhile Love everything about this cool, funky, discoey track!!!! Especially like that you can clearly hear his falsetto and lower register together. Also love that it seems "unfinished". I picture Prince just throwing it together one night when he was bored

I like "Lisa." It's bouncy and fun. As far as a crush goes, I think Prince's wording of "Strange Way" (a song Lisa said Prince wrote for her after they had an argument) comes across as a bittersweet response to someone he romanced.

rednblue said:

violetcrush said:

Oh yeah, yeah (1 2 3 4)

Lisa, let's go 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, let's go 2 the village
Lisa, let's go
Tell your man, he'll understand
Lisa, let's go

Lisa, we're going 2 the movie
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, I don't care
Long as U know, somewhere
Some day, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, I don't care, oh
Lisa, I don't care

Lisa, let's go get blasted
Lisa, let's go
Lisa, I know U're nasty
Lisa, let's go

It's alright, it's OK
Long as U know, some day
Some way, we'll be 2gether
Lisa, it's OK

*

Lisa Coleman!!!! No doubt Prince had a crush for awhile Love everything about this cool, funky, discoey track!!!! Especially like that you can clearly hear his falsetto and lower register together. Also love that it seems "unfinished". I picture Prince just throwing it together one night when he was bored

I like "Lisa." It's bouncy and fun. As far as a crush goes, I think Prince's wording of "Strange Way" (a song Lisa said Prince wrote for her after they had an argument) comes across as a bittersweet response to someone he romanced.

Lisa joined the band at some point in 1980, so if the song "Lisa" is inspired by her, he may have develioped a little crush on her early on. Lisa said Prince played her Strange Way when she got back to his house after they had had a big fight. I think she was living at his house at the time, and he told her to move out - or so the story goes. I think the lyric "sometimes I really want you baby, I want you sexually, but I don't want our friendship relation to suffer, can't you see?" would speak to his friendship and feelings for her. I think in that song he's saying that he's frustrated because he's attracted to her, but knows he can't do anything about that - I'm guessing he knew by that point they were not going to be anything more than friends.

violetcrush said:

rednblue said:

I like "Lisa." It's bouncy and fun. As far as a crush goes, I think Prince's wording of "Strange Way" (a song Lisa said Prince wrote for her after they had an argument) comes across as a bittersweet response to someone he romanced.

Lisa joined the band at some point in 1980, so if the song "Lisa" is inspired by her, he may have develioped a little crush on her early on. Lisa said Prince played her Strange Way when she got back to his house after they had had a big fight. I think she was living at his house at the time, and he told her to move out - or so the story goes. I think the lyric "sometimes I really want you baby, I want you sexually, but I don't want our friendship relation to suffer, can't you see?" would speak to his friendship and feelings for her. I think in that song he's saying that he's frustrated because he's attracted to her, but knows he can't do anything about that - I'm guessing he knew by that point they were not going to be anything more than friends.

To me, the song sounds like a response to a romantic experience that happened, but that's just the vibe I get from the song. And, to state the obvious, even if part of a song is literal, it's not necessarily literal "end to end."

rednblue said:

violetcrush said:

Lisa joined the band at some point in 1980, so if the song "Lisa" is inspired by her, he may have develioped a little crush on her early on. Lisa said Prince played her Strange Way when she got back to his house after they had had a big fight. I think she was living at his house at the time, and he told her to move out - or so the story goes. I think the lyric "sometimes I really want you baby, I want you sexually, but I don't want our friendship relation to suffer, can't you see?" would speak to his friendship and feelings for her. I think in that song he's saying that he's frustrated because he's attracted to her, but knows he can't do anything about that - I'm guessing he knew by that point they were not going to be anything more than friends.

To me, the song sounds like a response to a romantic experience that happened, but that's just the vibe I get from the song. And, to state the obvious, even if part of a song is literal, it's not necessarily literal "end to end."

Anything's possible for sure. Once I read Lisa's story about that song I just connected it with his feelings about her and their fight. She said he played it for her as soon as she got back to the house. Seems that was a common routine for him - playting someone a song instead of just talking to them about it.

violetcrush said:

rednblue said:

To me, the song sounds like a response to a romantic experience that happened, but that's just the vibe I get from the song. And, to state the obvious, even if part of a song is literal, it's not necessarily literal "end to end."

Anything's possible for sure. Once I read Lisa's story about that song I just connected it with his feelings about her and their fight. She said he played it for her as soon as she got back to the house. Seems that was a common routine for him - playting someone a song instead of just talking to them about it.

Yes!

rednblue said:

violetcrush said:

Anything's possible for sure. Once I read Lisa's story about that song I just connected it with his feelings about her and their fight. She said he played it for her as soon as she got back to the house. Seems that was a common routine for him - playting someone a song instead of just talking to them about it.

Yes!

Pulled this from princevault about Strange Way...

*

Lisa Coleman mentioned the track during a 2004 interview, admitting that the song was written about her. She was living with Prince in 1981; they had an argument when he suggested she finds her own place; she left and drove around for a few hours; when she returned, Prince had written and recorded this song for her, with the lyric "I guess I have a strange way of saying I love you". In 2017, she repeated the story for Vulture.com, but said she had been out at the only bar in Chanhassen following their conversation, and Prince's technician Don Batts came in to say that Prince wanted to talk to her, and felt bad.

TrivialPursuit said:

The song is more of a Rebels song, not something that would fit on Dirty Mind. It was recorded in 1980. The copyright, according to sources, was filed August 4, 1980, so it was completed before that.

Rightly so, princevault notes that it's a more monotone, hypnotic, almost dance-y production and is probably why it wasn't included on something like Dirty Mind. And while there are fast songs like "Sister" on there, that's still very guitar driven, and has an open sound to it. "Lisa" feels like polished new wave - which would have made a great song for The Rebels project for sure.

I'm not sure who it was, either Mark, Matt or Bobby but I think it was Mark, but in a podcast one of these 3 said that he believed Prince never intended the Rebels to go anywhere near a record store shelf, that it was more a pipedream designed to keep the band busy and give them the impression they could have some sort of a "solo" project. Now IDK how accurate this is. It would, for example, be interesting to know if WB was ever appraoched about the project or if no one at WB heard of it at the time.

databank said:

I'm not sure who it was, either Mark, Matt or Bobby but I think it was Mark, but in a podcast one of these 3 said that he believed Prince never intended the Rebels to go anywhere near a record store shelf, that it was more a pipedream designed to keep the band busy and give them the impression they could have some sort of a "solo" project. Now IDK how accurate this is. It would, for example, be interesting to know if WB was ever appraoched about the project or if no one at WB heard of it at the time.

Hmm, just thinking out loud here, the way Prince was already writing music and working, I don't know if "keeping the band busy" with some pseudo-project was realistic. We do know there's a lot that Prince recorded tons of music and much of it was just because. It was never to keep the band busy, but rather because it's just what Prince did - he made music. Plus, didn't they stay in upstate California somewhere, or Colorado or something like that? That was very out of character, too. He was either in LA or MPLS.

All that's said, I'm neither advocating or dismissing the notion that whatever music recorded was never intended for release anyway. But the "keep the band busy" idea is what sounds off to me.

TrivialPursuit said:

databank said:

I'm not sure who it was, either Mark, Matt or Bobby but I think it was Mark, but in a podcast one of these 3 said that he believed Prince never intended the Rebels to go anywhere near a record store shelf, that it was more a pipedream designed to keep the band busy and give them the impression they could have some sort of a "solo" project. Now IDK how accurate this is. It would, for example, be interesting to know if WB was ever appraoched about the project or if no one at WB heard of it at the time.

Hmm, just thinking out loud here, the way Prince was already writing music and working, I don't know if "keeping the band busy" with some pseudo-project was realistic. We do know there's a lot that Prince recorded tons of music and much of it was just because. It was never to keep the band busy, but rather because it's just what Prince did - he made music. Plus, didn't they stay in upstate California somewhere, or Colorado or something like that? That was very out of character, too. He was either in LA or MPLS.

All that's said, I'm neither advocating or dismissing the notion that whatever music recorded was never intended for release anyway. But the "keep the band busy" idea is what sounds off to me.

Yes, I agree with your thinking. The fact that they flew out to CO for an extended period of time wouild indicate that Prince had something specific planned for that project. I think Gayle Chapman spoke about it during her interview with Prince Podcast. I'll have to listen to it again.

*

I thought I had read somewhere - or maybe it was Gayle who said they thought it was Prince's idea to showcase the band members' talent, because they each wrote and sang their own songs - or at least sang solo.

*

It could be that WB nixed the idea, because they wanted to stay focused on just Prince and keeping him in the spotlight. Would definitely be good to get more detail on that project!!

TrivialPursuit said:

paulludvig said:

TrivialPursuit said:

The song is more of a Rebels song, not something that would fit on Dirty Mind. It was recorded in 1980. The copyright, according to sources, was filed August 4, 1980, so it was completed before that.

Rightly so, princevault notes that it's a more monotone, hypnotic, almost dance-y production and is probably why it wasn't included on something like Dirty Mind. And while there are fast songs like "Sister" on there, that's still very guitar driven, and has an open sound to it. "Lisa" feels like polished new wave - which would have made a great song for The Rebels project for sure.

Wasn't The Rebels more of a rock group?

Yeah but I always got a heavy new wave vibe from them. It was certainly something Prince played around with, most pointedly on "When You Were Mine".

great as a B-Side but it would have added nothing to a super sharp 8 track album.

violetcrush said:

toots said:

violetcrush said:

Pulled this from princevault about Strange Way...

*

Lisa Coleman mentioned the track during a 2004 interview, admitting that the song was written about her. She was living with Prince in 1981; they had an argument when he suggested she finds her own place; she left and drove around for a few hours; when she returned, Prince had written and recorded this song for her, with the lyric "I guess I have a strange way of saying I love you". In 2017, she repeated the story for Vulture.com, but said she had been out at the only bar in Chanhassen following their conversation, and Prince's technician Don Batts came in to say that Prince wanted to talk to her, and felt bad.

If u listened to the podcast she gave she also stated it WAS NOT about her at all it was about numerous women Prince dated...it just so happened it was the first name that popped into his head....he turned to her and said "no its not about you" Here is the link when she gave the podcast: https://podsodcast.com/20.../19/pte12/ [Edited 1/16/19 8:32am]

You mean the song "Lisa", not "Strange Way..." . Yes, but I"m still not convinced that Prnice did not develop a bit of crush on her in the beginning. Attractive, smart, funny, and talented - fully understandable if he did at least initially have stronger feelings for Lisa before he knew about her sexuality, and her relationship with Wendy. He speaks to it a bit in the lyrics for "Strange Way.." - "sometimes I want you baby, I want you sexually, but I don't want our friendship relation to suffer, can't you see..."

*

I can see him "crushing" on her in the very early days

And who knows, maybe the feeling was mutual. Or maybe it's nothing but goofing around in this recent clip.

In any case, a really fun story about P spray painting that Dirty Mind song list.

https://www.facebook.com/KBLX1029/videos/525707677842682/?t=2

[Edited 1/16/19 17:29pm]

rednblue said:

iZsaZsa said:

It’s about him taking another guys gal, so I’d much rather have Head.

Didn't he take another guys soon to be wed gal in Head?

OldFriends4Sale said:

iZsaZsa said:

It’s about him taking another guys gal, so I’d much rather have Head.

Didn't he take another guys soon to be wed gal in Head?

And I was thinking he didn't want to repeat himself so soon and chose the one of the two songs he liked best. And I agree.