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We were in London..
Finishing the Parade album.
It was just me and Lisa and Susan Rogers, Prince was to arrive the next day..

We decided to put fresh tape up ( that was the lingo back then before computers) and record something. Anything.. so Lisa and I started writing the music to Mountains.
Prince heard it the next day and almost fell out of his chair..
he told me and Lisa he wanted to write lyrics so it was shortly there after on a plane ride somewhere he walked up to me and Lisa with his notepad and showed us the lyrics . We were so moved by the imagery.. the rest is history.

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luv4u said:

MOUNTAINS is, to me, one of the TOP 5 Prince Songs Of All Time.

Criminally underrated.

Love it. "Mountains" is my favorite song on Parade and one of my top ten Prince songs overall.

Sure Wendy, Sure....

soladeo1 said:

luv4u said:

MOUNTAINS is, to me, one of the TOP 5 Prince Songs Of All Time.

Criminally underrated.

The extended version indeed, tle album version is just very good not great.

It's been out there for decades that they wrote the music to Mountains and Sometimes It Snows In April. I think Power Fantastic as well. It's not so far fetched, and Prince could have refuted it at any time.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

PennyPurple said:

I'm tired of people lying on Prince. Seems like the musicians he worked with later in his life lie less than the folks from the 80's. Maybe because they were more skilled musicians. I haven't heard Blackwell, Cassie, Renato, Mike Scott, Gouche, MonoNeon, etc. lying about writing songs. Prince didn't just do the lyrics to Mountains. That is a freaking lie.

[Edited 5/8/20 17:05pm]

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A lot of fashionable hate on display here.
Do y'all think that they'd have been let go if they were NOT strong contributors?
smdh

Why the doubts? We've heard tapes where he told them exactly what to play..... but we've also heard the same tapes where they were writing their parts while he essentially played curator.

We also know he some unreleased Revolution material was supposedly more collaborative and later on he was sending themthe occasional song to throw a little something on. Plus Mountains and Waterfall sound a little similar (both have those Love Will Keep Us Together break downs too).

We also know 100% that Jungle Love and ATWIAD were demos before Prince got to them. Jungle Love is a really good example of subtle things Prince did to craft complete songs out of other people's work.

So given that, what's to doubt?

lavendardrummachine said:

Why the doubts? We've heard tapes where he told them exactly what to play..... but we've also heard the same tapes where they were writing their parts while he essentially played curator.

We also know he some unreleased Revolution material was supposedly more collaborative and later on he was sending themthe occasional song to throw a little something on. Plus Mountains and Waterfall sound a little similar (both have those Love Will Keep Us Together break downs too).

We also know 100% that Jungle Love and ATWIAD were demos before Prince got to them. Jungle Love is a really good example of subtle things Prince did to craft complete songs out of other people's work.

So given that, what's to doubt?

^This. You don't have to like Wendy or agree with the way she recounts her time in the band, but quit trying to discount her (and Lisa's) contributions.

RJOrion said:

I don't know who wrote mountains, but i do know it one of the most amazing songs ever written and performed.

The drumbeat on the albumversion, the overall big sound, Prince's high voice, Wendy and Lisa's voice together, the lyrics...its just a magical song to me.

I never get bored of this song, must have heard it a thousand times.

I like the 12" too, just which they had used to drumsound of the albumversion.

RJOrion said:

"...when John and Mattie were about to have their first child together, Me, Lisa, and Susan Rogers told the couple that they should name the boy Prince Rogers Nelson...when Prince heard this, he just fell out of Mattie's womb.." ~ Wendy Melvoin

mbdtyler said:

lavendardrummachine said:

Why the doubts? We've heard tapes where he told them exactly what to play..... but we've also heard the same tapes where they were writing their parts while he essentially played curator.

We also know he some unreleased Revolution material was supposedly more collaborative and later on he was sending themthe occasional song to throw a little something on. Plus Mountains and Waterfall sound a little similar (both have those Love Will Keep Us Together break downs too).

We also know 100% that Jungle Love and ATWIAD were demos before Prince got to them. Jungle Love is a really good example of subtle things Prince did to craft complete songs out of other people's work.

So given that, what's to doubt?

^This. You don't have to like Wendy or agree with the way she recounts her time in the band, but quit trying to discount her (and Lisa's) contributions.

Exactly. To automatically label everyone who says anything about their collaborations as "liars" is just being over-reactive. I am sure that many of the people who have said things about their own contributions are lying or at least exaggerating, but Wendy and Lisa deserve better. I think Wendy and Lisa had a profound influence on Prince's music, as their collaborations are so distinct and among his very best. This is not to minimize Prince's genius, as he created so much great work before and after them while they didn't. However, the particular masterpiece of Parade would not have happened without that collaboration.

gandorb said:

nextedition said:

I don't know who wrote mountains, but i do know it one of the most amazing songs ever written and performed.

The drumbeat on the albumversion, the overall big sound, Prince's high voice, Wendy and Lisa's voice together, the lyrics...its just a magical song to me.

I never get bored of this song, must have heard it a thousand times.

I like the 12" too, just which they had used to drumsound of the albumversion.

Wendy and Lisa may well have come up with melody and chord structures but would they have put the drums on it? Did they do the 'big sound'. The flame may well have been sparked by Wendy & Lisa but the song wouldn't have been what we know today without Prince.

And while we're on the subject of Mountains, I did the bass line for it.

TheEnglishGent said:

nextedition said:

I don't know who wrote mountains, but i do know it one of the most amazing songs ever written and performed.

The drumbeat on the albumversion, the overall big sound, Prince's high voice, Wendy and Lisa's voice together, the lyrics...its just a magical song to me.

I never get bored of this song, must have heard it a thousand times.

I like the 12" too, just which they had used to drumsound of the albumversion.

Wendy and Lisa may well have come up with melody and chord structures but would they have put the drums on it? Did they do the 'big sound'. The flame may well have been sparked by Wendy & Lisa but the song wouldn't have been what we know today without Prince.

And while we're on the subject of Mountains, I did the bass line for it.

Apparantly they did. W&L posted on the same page that they programmed the beat...

I think it's true. I mean, she also included a non-musician in the story: Susan Rogers. All Susan needs to do is say "actually no that didn't happen". It also doesn't sound like anything Prince had ever done before that. So yeah, we need to stop with a lot of this negativity about people talking post Prince's death.

It's a great song.

Y'all forget that Prince credited their contributions during the P&M concerts, especially "that's the entire song" on "Raspberry Beret".

"At one point, he gave recognition to Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Ya know… “Wendy?” “Yes, Lisa.” “Is the water warm enough?” “Yes, Lisa.” “Shall we begin?” “Yes, Lisa.” He told a funny story about first meeting Lisa and thinking how she wasn’t going to work out… until he heard her playing something… He told us how the beginnings of Raspberry Beret came about, giving her credit for her part in it."

https://medium.com/@Maia_...d67e02277b

rlittler81 said:

Apparantly they did. W&L posted on the same page that they programmed the beat...

Prince also had beats and sounds he'd go back to. It's been correctly identified as Dance Electric, but I think it's close to some other songs too.

It also sounds like something he'd use in practice like a metronome, letting it go for 20 minutes, just slowed down. It's so minimal it's barely a beat, and Mountains even starts like that, as if the beat could have been playing forever and the piano riff comes in as if they composed it that way. But if they did really create the pattern, they were just emulating what Prince would use, and using his standard sounds and effects.

"Programming the beat" makes people think they were punching in the hits from scratch, but in that era it could also just mean hitting the swing button, slowing it down, and muting something.

[Edited 5/9/20 10:43am]

RJOrion said:

I think we have to also realize is WHAT does Wendy have to gain by saying anything false at this point?? I sincerely doubt at this point that people around PRINCE were just standing there waiting for Prince to throw things their way. I mean even down to Paul Peterson recently he was talking about those days with the Family and the Time and being around and everyone was doing stuff no one was like that is mine thats yours, he said one day you would play something new and then the next PRINCE had it down and recorded thats just how he absorbed what people were throwing out there at times. ALSO on the Mountains talk as i said what does she have to gain? I mean the song is loved by Prince loyals, but lets be real, it was far from a big hit, well known mainstream wide like previous songs Kiss and Raspberry and the Purple Rain stuff. I mean we tend to think that this means so much to more when it doesnt.

As long as Wendy and Lisa are getting royalty cheques, our collective opinions really dont count. The song is great. One of Prince and the Revolution's best

Milty2 said:

As long as Wendy and Lisa are getting royalty cheques, our collective opinions really dont count. The song is great. One of Prince and the Revolution's best

He gave them songwriting credit, but that apparently is not enough. They have to make it clear (after he died and cannot set the record straight) about exactly how much they contributed to the song and how little he contributed, which makes it suspect. No one doubts that many of his bandmembers contributed to his work. In most cases, Prince always gave more credit than was due. The issue is when people try to marginalize his contribution by embellishing and exagerating about their input. I see a lot of that the last 4 years and it is disappointing, but maybe that is why Prince didn't roll with anyone from the 80's in the last several years of his life.

nextedition said:

I don't know who wrote mountains, but i do know it one of the most amazing songs ever written and performed.

The drumbeat on the albumversion, the overall big sound, Prince's high voice, Wendy and Lisa's voice together, the lyrics...its just a magical song to me.

I never get bored of this song, must have heard it a thousand times.

I like the 12" too, just which they had used to drumsound of the albumversion.

Are the drumsounds that different? I guess its a heavier sound on the album. I need ot compare. I do beleive that Prince probably heard their tracvk and then adopted it as his next song project. He did that with a few songs.