But some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies
Get out my tree, grinning at me
We want 2 b free without the help of a margarity or ecstacy
Twist little sister and go 2 heaven
I needed someone with a quicker wit than mine
With you I swear, I'm a maniac, all right
Butterscotch clouds, a tangerine
4 a hundred times wouldn't be enough

Susannah Melvoin: Backing vocals on Play In the Sunshine & Starfish and Coffee; co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
"Starfish And Coffee", Lyrics co-written by Susannah
Eric Leeds: All saxophones
Atlanta Bliss: All trumpets
Sheena Easton: Co-lead vocals on "U Got the Look"
Sheila E.: Drums and percussion on "U Got the Look", drums and "Transmississippirap" on "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"
Clare Fischer: Arranger of strings for "Slow Love"
Wendy Melvoin: Guitar and backing vocals on "Slow Love"; tambourine & congas on "Strange Relationship"
Lisa Coleman: Backing vocals on "Slow Love"; sitar & wooden flute on "Strange Relationship"
Miko Weaver: Lead guitar on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Jill Jones: Co-lead vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
The Revolution: Performance of "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Gilbert Davison, Todd Hermann, Coke Johnson, Brad Marsh, Mike Soltys, Susan Rogers and "the Penguin": Party voices on "Housequake"
Greg Brooks, Wally Safford, Jerome Benton and "6000 wonderful Parisians": Backing vocals on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"
Susan Rogers, Coke Johnson, and Prince: Engineer
Prince: All other vocals and instruments

"Slow Love" lyrics co-written by Carol Davis

It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" music co-written by Dr. Fink & Eric Leeds.

U say U want simplicity, U don't like love complex

Dinner Party March 24,1987
Dinner with Prince & Miles Davis

TLM: You were part of an amazing dinner party on March 24 1987 that included Miles, Prince, Prince's Dad, Sheila E and you. Was that the first time you met Miles?

Eric Leeds: He had come by a rehearsal for the Sign 'O' The Times tour that afternoon and I was introduced to him then. I had gone home after rehearsal and got a call from one of Prince's assistants, "By the way, Prince is inviting you to have dinner with him," so I jumped in my car and went over to Prince's house. I kinda think that Prince wanted me there to open up the conversation with Miles and get things rolling. Miles was as much a performer during that dinner as he ever was on stage. You couldn't get him to shut up and it was very funny! There are some aspects of that evening that I'm not sure I want anybody else to know about, and if I do, it's going to be in my book! [note that at present, Eric has no firm plans to write a book].

But basically the most interesting aspect of the relationship between Prince and Miles was the dance that they would do around each other. What Prince really related to about Miles was his character – his legacy, his mystique and everything that Miles represented as a personality. Prince saw in Miles so much of what he thought of himself – the person that goes against the grain, that's opinionated, that doesn't allow himself to be controlled by any aspect of the industry for his own artistic vision. And that's very much what Miles saw in Prince. He saw a young version of himself but there was always something about the generational thing. It was like "The King is dead, long live the King." You had these supreme egos that had an undying respect for each other but neither wanted to give it up to each other. So with Miles, you could almost see the cartoon balloon over his head saying: "Yeah you're young and hip, but I've got all of these years of experience that you haven't had yet." While Prince was looking at Miles and saying "Yeah, you're the icon – but you're old! I'm the new version!" And it defined and characterised every aspect of their relationship and it was hilarious to sit back and watch that unfold. That was the biggest enjoyment for me – watching these two dance around each other.

TLM: Any more recollections you want to share?

Eric Leeds: At one point in the evening, Miles grabbed me by the arm and said: "Eric, let me see your carriage!" I'm looking at him and trying to be cool and I say: "My what?!!" And he says, "Your carriage! Show me how you hold your horn!" And then I realised: "Oh my God, he's using an archaic definition of the word carriage. He said "Show me how you stand when you hold your saxophone." Then he goes: "Do you do it like this?" And he mimicked the way a saxophone player holds his horn. I looked at him and laughed and then I said, "Is that the way I should hold it?" And he said "Yes," and I replied, "Well Miles, that's exactly how I hold it!"

When we were sitting down the first thing I wanted to ask him was about the acid funk band with [guitarist] Pete Cosey [1973-1975], which is the band that I absolutely loved. I was one of the few people at the time that did! And Miles looked at me and said "You liked that band? Nobody liked that band! I never met anybody who liked the band. You liked that band?" I said "Miles, there were some of us who loved that band." I also got the indication from his demeanour that that was a period of his life he didn't remember too much about and what he did remember, he didn't want to remember. I don't think a lot of people realised that a lot of what Miles said, he said for effect. That he really wanted to say dumb stuff at times just to see how you would react or it was his way of making of point. So it was a case of trying to figure whether he was saying something for effect, or was heartfelt or was a direct response to a comment.

I remember asking him "Are you into someone like [trumpeter] Lester Bowie? A part of me said "Lester Bowie comes from the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a kind of music Miles was known for disliking, so what will he say?" Miles changed his tone of voice and looked at me very seriously and said: "Why wouldn't I like Lester Bowie?" But then it would not have surprised me if I saw an interview with him in a magazine the next week where he dissed Lester Bowie! Because he was going to say what he was going to say depending on how he felt or what he felt the purpose of the question was. It was an interesting night.

Cat was a guest of Devin Devasquez @ a dinner party sometimes in late December 1986 early 1987

I met Prince... the formal introduction was at his house in Beverly Hills. I was invited by Devin DeVasquez, a Playboy Playmate who was also on Star Search (as a spokemodel). She was dating Prince at the time. Prince's father (John L. Nelson) and DeVasquez were good friends.
She invited me to Prince's house for dinner and I met him when he walked in with a DAT (digital audio tape) or a cassette tape and it was "Housequake." He wanted Fargnoli (Prince's then manager) to come upstairs and hear it. He saw me sitting at the table wearing all purple—suspenders, high-waisted pants—and I had on that chauffeur's hat that I gave him for his birthday. (He wore it singing) "Forever in My Life" in (the concert film) "Sign o' the Times." He said "Who is that sitting at the table?" I was invited there for a friendly dinner by DeVaquez and he popped up, looking cute as ever, I might say.
After dinner we all went to a club. We took different cars and we ended up at a club called Voila in Beverly Hills, a private club, downstairs in a mall. I was sitting there with Fargnoli, DeVaquez, Prince and a couple of other people. Prince said (speaking in a low, raspy voice) "Cat, when a good song comes on will you dance with me?" I said "Sure!"
The first song came on and he didn't ask to me to dance. The second song came on; he didn't ask me to ask. On the third song, "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer, he asked me to dance. I was wearing cowboy boots and a pair of Levi's jeans. He reached to hold my hands while we were dancing, but, I had leather gloves on, so, I couldn't feel anything.
He started doing dance steps and I started doing them; whatever he did, I did. I think he noticed that, so, he started doing them more and I started doing them more. I think we stayed on the dance floor for two songs. After that, the DJ played some kind of uptempo house music, which I love, being from Chicago. I remember I walked toward the DJ and there was a wall. I put my hands on the wall and started jackin' (a dance move closely associated with house music that originated in Chicago).
That's the night it all started.

.

.released 8 May 1987

The "Sign o' the Times" single cover...that was when Prince actually asked me to join his band. I had no idea what was going on.
He asked me to go by his house in Beverly Hills and pick up a dress. I flew to Minneapolis the next day and I had no idea that was the dress I was supposed to wear. But, that dress was supposed to be for Susannah Melvoin, Wendy's twin sister. It just so happened I fit the dress. I came to find out that was the dress he wanted me to wear for the cover and he didn't let me know what it was for.
Earl Jones, Jill Jones' uncle, did my hair. I put on the dress, they gave me Prince's glasses, Prince told me to play the guitar and they started shooting. That how it ended up on the cover.
By the way, that heart you see on the cover, was a thick glass mirror. It was so heavy and that's why you see my muscles. I was shaking holding that heart. I said "Prince, if you were going to make the heart black, you could just drawn a black cardboard heart and it would have been effortless."
But, he's smart and he's such a genius, he wanted it to look like him. I got it. If you're holding something heavy, I don't care if you're a baby, girl or woman, your muscles are going to show. Even my dad thought that was Prince. Prince's dad thought that was Prince. Amazing, right?

SHEILA: I was performing with my band, opening for Lionel Richie at the time. I told Prince, management and everyone else that I was tired of being a solo artist. I wanted to take a break. I just wanted to play as a musician and not have the responsibility of being a solo artist, because I had hit a wall. I was done for a minute. I just wanted to stop for a while, go play some other music and just play drums and percussion. So he said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'm gonna disband my band, so you wanna come play with me?" And I was like, "Oh, cool."
So when I disbanded my band, I'd brought with me Boni Boyer, Miko Weaver and Levi Seacer. And the other half of that band ended up starting their own band: Tony Toni Toné. The process for Prince was really just putting together music, and the idea of a line-up of songs for the show.
But since I recorded with him most of the time, I knew where all the tracks were. Back in that time, you know, we recorded on tape!

Did anyone ever really think that Cat was Prince when they saw those images originally? I mean REALLY think it was Prince?

I never thought it was Prince for a second. It just didn't look like him, even with the face covered.

It looks like a woman.

Just sayin'...

Rimshottbob said:

Did anyone ever really think that Cat was Prince when they saw those images originally? I mean REALLY think it was Prince?

I never thought it was Prince for a second. It just didn't look like him, even with the face covered.

It looks like a woman.

Just sayin'...

yeah,I never thought it was Prince.It's funny to me that so many people assumed otherwise

OldFriends4Sale said:

SHEILA: I was performing with my band, opening for Lionel Richie at the time. I told Prince, management and everyone else that I was tired of being a solo artist. I wanted to take a break. I just wanted to play as a musician and not have the responsibility of being a solo artist, because I had hit a wall. I was done for a minute. I just wanted to stop for a while, go play some other music and just play drums and percussion. So he said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'm gonna disband my band, so you wanna come play with me?" And I was like, "Oh, cool."
So when I disbanded my band, I'd brought with me Boni Boyer, Miko Weaver and Levi Seacer. And the other half of that band ended up starting their own band: Tony Toni Toné. The process for Prince was really just putting together music, and the idea of a line-up of songs for the show.
But since I recorded with him most of the time, I knew where all the tracks were. Back in that time, you know, we recorded on tape!

"tired of being a solo artist" Wow,she had only done it for a couple of years.

It's just a shame that she put her solo career on hold,right when she releases her strongest album.As a result,the 'Sheila E' album didn't get the proper promotion and attention it deserved.

OldFriends4Sale said:

What a beautiful shot

slyjackson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

What a beautiful shot

I can see how for artists like Prince the stage and studios are real life for them.

3.21.1987

@ FIRST AVENUE -SOTT Open Rehearsal

1. Housequake

2. Girls & Boys

3. Slow Love

4. Hot Thang

5. Now's the Time

6. Strange Relationship

7. Forever In My Life

8. Kiss

9. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

SHEILA: I was performing with my band, opening for Lionel Richie at the time. I told Prince, management and everyone else that I was tired of being a solo artist. I wanted to take a break. I just wanted to play as a musician and not have the responsibility of being a solo artist, because I had hit a wall. I was done for a minute. I just wanted to stop for a while, go play some other music and just play drums and percussion. So he said, "Oh, okay. Well, I'm gonna disband my band, so you wanna come play with me?" And I was like, "Oh, cool."
So when I disbanded my band, I'd brought with me Boni Boyer, Miko Weaver and Levi Seacer. And the other half of that band ended up starting their own band: Tony Toni Toné. The process for Prince was really just putting together music, and the idea of a line-up of songs for the show.
But since I recorded with him most of the time, I knew where all the tracks were. Back in that time, you know, we recorded on tape!

"tired of being a solo artist" Wow,she had only done it for a couple of years.

It's just a shame that she put her solo career on hold,right when she releases her strongest album.As a result,the 'Sheila E' album didn't get the proper promotion and attention it deserved.

I noticed that she was doing more stuff outside of the Prince camp with her family/Latin jams, Lionel Ritchie and some other artists. And maybe she longed for what she had before. Which is weird. When did her financial crisis hit, where her balloon payment came in (and Prince had to bail her out?) That could make her wish for a simpler time. And I think Susannah leaving at the end of December might have prompted things too. Even though he kept seeing Susannah. Sheila said one of the things that kept her back from Prince in the 1984-85 period was all the ladies that were right there. And in 1987 Jill Jones wasn't around either. If Jill opened for Prince like he wanted I wonder what that would have been like.

released 2.18.1987

In France

a skinny man died from a big disease with a little

By chance

his girlfriend came across a needle

and soon she did the same

At home there are 17yr old boys

and their idea of fun

Is being in a gang called the disciples

High on crack and toting a machine gun

Times

Times

Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church and killed everyone inside
You turn on the telly and every other story is tellin' you somebody died
A sister killed her baby 'cause she couldn't afford to feed it
And yet we're sending people to the moon
In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time
Now he's doing horse, it's June, unh

Times
Times

It's silly, no?
When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly
But some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies
Oh why?

Time
Time

Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly
Neighbors just shine it on
But if a night falls and a bomb falls
Will anybody see the dawn?

Time, mm
Times

Is it silly, no?
When a rocket blows and, and everybody still wants to fly
Some say man ain't happy truly until a man truly dies
Oh why, oh why?
Sign o' the times, unh

Time
Time

Sign o' the times mess with your mind
Hurry before it's too late
Let's fall in love, get married, have a baby
We'll call him Nate
If it's a boy

Time
Times

OldFriends4Sale said:

slyjackson said:

What a beautiful shot

I can see how for artists like Prince the stage and studios are real life for them.

Yes, certainly becomes their everything.

This music video was produced by Jae Flora, of Flora Films. Supervised at Warner Bros Records by Susan Silverman. This duo picked the director, Bill Konersman, based on his graphic design background. The text animation is considered one of the earliest instances of a lyrics video.

PRINCE IN EUROPE: A PREVIEW OF HIS NEW SHOW

BY KURT LODER

IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING, May 15th, at Quasimodo, a small, black-walled Berlin jazz cellar, but the beer is still flowing, and fresh hash smoke curls languidly through the hot, stuffy air. Some 300 people are packed into the place, most of them lucky holdovers from a set much earlier in the evening by the expatriate American singer Joy Ryder. Now they are crushed around the club's tiny stage, staring in popeyed wonder at the totally unexpected mystery gig currently under way.

There are three men in long, hooded robes on stage -- one playing sax, another bass, the third wringing wondrous sounds out of a Fairlight synthesizer. There is an amazing woman playing drums -- it's Sheila E. And at center stage, wearing a rhinestone-spangled black leather jacket and at least three different kinds of dangling earrings, his heroically coiffed hair gathered into a small ponytail at the back, stands a little guy with a peach-colored guitar. Yes, it's Prince.

"Wanna go home?" he asks, peering out at the crowd with a coy smile.

"Nooo!"

"Me neither," he says, then glances at the band. "I think we oughta play the blues in G." A flurry of T-Bone Walker-style guitar lines suddenly fills the room, modulating quickly into a series of unmistakable Hendrixisms. The song is Jimi's "Red House," sort of. "There's a beach house over yonder," Prince sings, in a playful approximation of the original lyrics. "That's where my sugar stays...." He shouts out another verse or two and then takes off into a wild, glass-rattling guitar solo that makes jaws drop around the room and jacks up the temperature maybe another ten degrees.

It has been a long and amazing night, and there's still no end in sight. Many hours before, Prince and his new ten-member group, fresh from warm-up gigs in Sweden (they'll reach the U.S. sometime in August) -- played the fifth show of their 1987 European tour at West Berlin's Deutschlandhalle to a riotous response. It was Prince's first appearance in the divided city, and local scribes were already clapping together reviews centered on such words as genius and fantastic and marveling at the show's tech data: the thirteen trucks required to carry the elaborate stage set, the 240,000 watts of lighting, the 110,000 watts of amplification, the fourteen wardrobe trunks, two for Prince alone. In short, the first of Prince's two sold-out concerts in Germany's hippest city was an unqualified success -- at least for the approximately 12,000 people who danced and cheered their way through it.

The Prince camp, however, was less than totally pleased. There were some minor missed cues, and the rhythms of the tour hadn't yet settled into a satisfying groove. It had also been a disconcerting day: several members of the band had spent the morning visiting East Berlin and were still weirded out by the ugly hassling they got from the Volkspolizei gorillas on the eastern side of the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing. (Backing singer Cat Glover, who had rather rashly made the trip wearing a hot-pink suit and a white navy officer's hat, had been detained at length over a visa foul-up.) There was a certain fatigue factor at work as well. Three of the musicians -- bassist Levi Seacer, saxaphonist Eric Leeds, and keyboard phenom Matt Fink -- do double duty in Madhouse, the jazz-instrumental quartet that opens each show, and might have been subconsciously husbanding their energies in anticipation of this postconcert surprise gig that Prince had laid on. So, while the first concert at the Deutschlandhalle had been extraordinarily good by any normal standard, it hadn't been great -- which is Prince's standard.

But this surprise set at Quasimodo has been wonderfully invigorating. Madhouse opened up, blowing straight, muscular jazz and feeling more at home here than in front of the rock-funk crowds drawn to Prince concerts. Then Prince popped onstage, commandeered a synth and led the group into a steaming rendition of "Strange Relationship," from the Sign o' the Times album. That evolved into an extended jam ("Just keep on top of it!" Prince shouted), followed by the Hendrix workout. Next came a red-hot version of "Bodyheat," the James Brown dance classic, followed by a delicate and beautifully sung "Just My Imagination," the old Temptations hit, with more band members crowding onstage to join in. "Housequake," another song from the Sign LP, with Sheila E. whomping out a monster beat, loosened the roof on the place, and the closer, "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night," with Prince briefly taking over on drums, blew the sucker completely off. The crowd was a puddle of glee, most patrons unable to believe what they'd just seen (and free of charge). Then, quicker than you could say, "Elvis has left the building," Prince was gone.

This hour-long off-the-cuff jam -- a rare up-close demonstration of Prince's sensational powers as an instrumentalist, an improviser and (lest we forget) a singer -- was apparently just the tonic the whole troupe needed. By the following night, considerably refreshed and still buzzing from the Quasimodo gig, Prince and his band were primed to kill -- and proceeded, unforgettably, to do so.

The Friday-night crowd, another sellout, was already on its feet and screaming as an ocean of smoke poured out onto the stage. From somewhere within this impenetrable fog there erupted an abstract barrage of Hendrixian guitar sirens. A purple spotlight cut through the haze, revealing Prince in a long black leather coat and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, playing his peach-toned axe. As the electro-thump drumbeat that animates the title track of Sign o' the Times boomed through the hall, he began singing, and a back-light spot flashed on, silhouetting Cat Glover -- clad in the black bra and bikini briefs she would wear through most of the show -- gyrating wildly on an elevated platform at stage right. As the number built to a crescendo, the rest of the group came trooping down a long, winding ramp at stage left, each pummeling a drum with marching-band precision. Joining Prince, they spread out n the stage, beating out a resounding tattoo. It was an exhilarating entrance.

Then the lights went out, and the extraordinary stage set sizzled to life. An elaborate cityscape built on two levels, it echoes the cover of Sign o' the Times: a towering, impressionistic metropolis festooned with flashing neon signs -- UPTOWN, FUNK CORNER, BAR & GRILL, GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. With all the lights popping on and off, the effect was that of a giant pinball machine. The band launched into the rollicking "Play in the Sunshine." On the stage level were Prince, bassist Seacer, rhythm guitarist Miko Weaver and backup vocalists Glover (whose picture on the sleeve of the "Sign" single has been widely mistaken to be Prince in drag), Greg Brooks and Wally Safford (two former Prince bodyguards). Elevated above them, and all but buried within her drum set, was Sheila E. And on the second tier, high above the stage, stood the two horn players, sax man Leeds and trumpeter Matt "Atlanta Bliss" Blistan, and keyboardists Fink and Boni Boyer.

Over the next ninety minutes, Prince and his extraordinary group ran, jumped, crawled and danced their way tirelessly through nineteen songs, ten of them from Sign o' the Times. Some numbers (the almost balladic version of "Little Red Corvette," for instance) were essentially abbreviated acknowledgments of past hits, but Prince did pull out the stops for certain oldies -- in particular a thunder-and-lightning performance of "Purple Rain" turned the house into a swaying sea of upraised arms. Equally memorable was the furious run-through of "1999" that closed the main part of the show, and the ultrafunk attack on "Kiss" that ended the first encore.

But in general it was the new material that was most powerfully presented. "Housequake" lived right up to its title and then some. The razor-riffed "Hot Thing" and the irresistibly exuberant "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" came across as instant and undeniable hits. On a steamier note, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" provided a perfect erotic set piece: as the song slithered to a close, Prince and the barely clad Glover, embracing before a giant, pink plastic heart, slowly went tilting back upon it into an unambiguous missionary positions as two neon signs high above the stage alternately flashed the words SEX and LOVE.

Throughout all of this, the band was spectacular. Prince has been listening to a lot of Duke Ellington and preelectric Miles Davis lately, and the show, while louder and maybe even funkier than ever, was also mightily enriched with jazz flourishes. The result, quite often, was an almost orchestral rock-jazz synthesis that was both harmonically exciting and (thanks to Sheila E. -- surely the world's hottest drummer in high-heeled pumps) relentlessly funky.

And the best came last. Prince started "The Cross" alone and shirtless, strumming the simple opening chords on his guitar as lighting effects flickered behind the darkened cityscape above him. Then the song started to build -- drums wading in, then fully cranked guitars, then the full band -- until the number attained an enormous, hall-shaking roar, with Prince soloing off into the stratosphere as a shower of mulitcolored silk flowers rained onto the stage. From there, the band jumped straight into "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night," which had the whole crowd chanting and stomping along with such abandon that certain far sections of the balcony seemed in danger off crashing to the main floor. Prince was out the stage door, into the limo and halfway back to his hotel before the cheering stopped.

(RS 503)

OldFriends4Sale said:

Why are there so few live shots of this era compared to Lovesexy?

rap said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Why are there so few live shots of this era compared to Lovesexy?

Because the SOTT era literally was over in like 5-6 months

The first official show(Open rehearsal was March 27th 1987) the tour started in April, it was done
by July 1987 I believe. The show that 'scared' Prince out of touring more:

Prince and I were on wireless microphones. There was rain, lightning and thunder. A bolt of thunder struck one of the signs over Boni Boyer's keyboard and it fell. That's when we said "That's it" and Prince decided to put "Sign o' the Times" on film.

I believe they were back in the States by July and working on the SOTT film mid July.

Sign o' the Times premiered in Detroit on October 29, 1987, and was released nationwide in 234 key locations on November 20

Before the release he was already moved on to the Black album
In 87 he started putting out recordings for a lot of non-Paisley Park artists and working on the script for what became Graffiti Bridge

Rimshottbob said:

Did anyone ever really think that Cat was Prince when they saw those images originally? I mean REALLY think it was Prince?

I never thought it was Prince for a second. It just didn't look like him, even with the face covered.

It looks like a woman.

Just sayin'...

Never.

100% woman.

OldFriends4Sale said:

rap said:

Why are there so few live shots of this era compared to Lovesexy?

Because the SOTT era literally was over in like 5-6 months

The first official show(Open rehearsal was March 27th 1987) the tour started in April, it was done
by July 1987 I believe. The show that 'scared' Prince out of touring more:

Prince and I were on wireless microphones. There was rain, lightning and thunder. A bolt of thunder struck one of the signs over Boni Boyer's keyboard and it fell. That's when we said "That's it" and Prince decided to put "Sign o' the Times" on film.

I believe they were back in the States by July and working on the SOTT film mid July.

Sign o' the Times premiered in Detroit on October 29, 1987, and was released nationwide in 234 key locations on November 20

Before the release he was already moved on to the Black album
In 87 he started putting out recordings for a lot of non-Paisley Park artists and working on the script for what became Graffiti Bridge

I wonder if that's that's why I love the album so much.

It should have been a 18 month project but really it was over in 6.

muleFunk said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Because the SOTT era literally was over in like 5-6 months

The first official show(Open rehearsal was March 27th 1987) the tour started in April, it was done
by July 1987 I believe. The show that 'scared' Prince out of touring more:

Prince and I were on wireless microphones. There was rain, lightning and thunder. A bolt of thunder struck one of the signs over Boni Boyer's keyboard and it fell. That's when we said "That's it" and Prince decided to put "Sign o' the Times" on film.

I believe they were back in the States by July and working on the SOTT film mid July.

Sign o' the Times premiered in Detroit on October 29, 1987, and was released nationwide in 234 key locations on November 20

Before the release he was already moved on to the Black album
In 87 he started putting out recordings for a lot of non-Paisley Park artists and working on the script for what became Graffiti Bridge

I wonder if that's that's why I love the album so much.

It should have been a 18 month project but really it was over in 6.

I think those period were I needed more I love more ATWIAD the FAMILY SOTT/MADHOUSE BATMAN(with the SNL band) RAINBOW CHILDREN

muleFunk said:

Rimshottbob said:

Did anyone ever really think that Cat was Prince when they saw those images originally? I mean REALLY think it was Prince?

I never thought it was Prince for a second. It just didn't look like him, even with the face covered.

It looks like a woman.

Just sayin'...

Never.

100% woman.

-

I was 22 in 1987, and yes I thought it was Prince,

from the moment I bought that 12" record.

-

By the way, I'm one of those lucky bastards that got that cut-out promo stand (foot 6)

from a local record shop, that particlar one with Cat carying the black heart.

It's still up in my bedroom for nearly 33 years now.

(I was patiently waiting to brag about this for once. lol)

I have a hate and love relationship with that cardboard stand. Wish it wàs Prince.

-

Always loved this album cover

I am a dog outside your door
I have been there since a quarter to four
You are a cat licking intense
I bite your leg in self-defense

Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

Get out my tree, grinning at me
Licking your tail like it's cream
Stroking your whiskers, causing a scene
That's not the way to be to me (that's not the way)

Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

And the doggy say to the kitty
La, la, la, he, he, hee
I want you, you want me
Oh, how sexy it will be
If we ever get together in my tree

Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

Hey little pussy you sure look sweet
Knocking me off of my four feet (knocking me off of my four feet, my four feet)
Sure do wish dogs could climb (I wish, I wish)
Then we could have a funky good time

Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Say it again! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

Why you wink at me? (Why you wink at me?)
I don't really to see (I don't want to see)
Nasty little cat left up in a tree (up)
Is it really worth a one night of fun?
You've got nine lives, I only got one, ooh!

Say it! (ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)

And the doggy say to the kitty
La, la, la, he, he, hee
I want you, you want me
Oh, how sexy it will be
If we ever get together in my tree

I'm picking up your scent

Prince wrote this song with Sheena Easton, a Scottish singer he was collaborating with at the time (Prince wrote her 1985 hit "Sugar Walls"). According to Easton, the song was very innocent when she started writing it - the song was about a cat that climbs a tree and teases a dog. She says Prince would often inspect her notebooks and offer advice; when he came across "La, La, La, He, He, Hee," he thought it was an interesting idea. As a challenge, he put the song together, turning the dog and cat into metaphors for a human liaison.

The result was a song that has the typical musical complexity of late '80s Prince, but with lyrics that sound like a dirty nursery rhyme. Not suitable for the masses, it was released on the B-side of the "Sign O' the Times" single and later included on The Hits / The B-Sides compilation.

"That was something I was writing, just a stupid little thing. See, I have six cats. It was about a cat up in a tree teasing a dog. I was actually being sarcastic. He said, 'Ya, that could be a song,' and I was like 'Oh ya, like what do you want me to sing? La La La, He He He – I love you, you love me? That's how talented I am?' He said, 'Actually, that'd be kind of cute! Go ahead and write it.' I don't really write any more as I'm out of the game now, but back then, that was my thing. Then, all my songs were little stories. I liked storytelling songs. He used to think they were amusing. I don't think other people did but he used to think they were." Sheena Easton

I'm with Vannormal....After having "Christopher Tracy's" image in my head all throughout 1986, I was wondering what P's next look/move would be. I had no idea who Cat was...When I saw the huge promo poster in the store (body holding the heart), I thought; "He has really lost his mind if this is his new look". ....Then a few days later I saw the photo of Cat with the Cloud. I thought that was a mysterious and comical "gotcha!" by him.

Rimshottbob said:

Did anyone ever really think that Cat was Prince when they saw those images originally? I mean REALLY think it was Prince?

I never thought it was Prince for a second. It just didn't look like him, even with the face covered.

It looks like a woman.

Just sayin'...

For a quick minute I did.
It was night when I bought it, it the car, trying to look at it, by the time we got inside and to the record player, we concluded it wasn't Prince