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Thread started 12/06/23 1:25am

consistently

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Arms of Orion squeaking noise

There's a noise in The Arms of Orion at about 2.06 that sounds like it could be a door squeaking or it could be Prince making one of his strange mewing noises like he does on God.

Any ideas?

Incidentally, this is one of those songs I always forget how much I like! Unapologetically uncomplicated and really quite lovely.

thank u 4 a funky time
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Reply #1 posted 12/06/23 2:43am

funkbabyandthe
babysitters

underrated song.

could have given it to bette midler or someone like that.

i love it though

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Reply #2 posted 12/06/23 3:04am

leecaldon

I think it's my favourite part of the song!

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Reply #3 posted 12/06/23 5:52am

bigtallwall

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consistently said:

There's a noise in The Arms of Orion at about 2.06 that sounds like it could be a door squeaking or it could be Prince making one of his strange mewing noises like he does on God.

Any ideas?

Incidentally, this is one of those songs I always forget how much I like! Unapologetically uncomplicated and really quite lovely.

I always thought that was Prince's vocal mewing.

“To create something from nothing is one of the greatest feelings, and I would – I don’t know, I wish it upon everybody. It’s heaven.” – Prince
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Reply #4 posted 12/06/23 7:06am

GiggityGoo

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I don't get why fans crap all over this song. It's beautiful. Save your hate for something that deserves it, like "Thieves In The Temple", or all of "The Rainbow Children".

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Reply #5 posted 12/06/23 7:22am

TrivialPursuit

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bigtallwall said:

I always thought that was Prince's vocal mewing.


That's exactly what it is.

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #6 posted 12/06/23 7:35am

TrivialPursuit

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It's one of my favorite songs, and I don't know why people shit on it. The bridge is sublime. Prince's vocal gymnastics with Sheena's vocal icing is just wonderful.

There's a nice EP of collabs with them.

U Got The Look

Sugar Walls

The Arms of Orion

Jaguar (Sheena's unreleased vocal)

Eternity

La La La, He He Hee

Love '89 (co-written by Easton; use Prince's original guide vocal)

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #7 posted 12/06/23 7:53am

nayroo2002

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...add "101" and then it's an album!

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"
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Reply #8 posted 12/06/23 7:56am

NoSwan

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GiggityGoo said:

I don't get why fans crap all over this song. It's beautiful. Save your hate for something that deserves it, like "Thieves In The Temple", or all of "The Rainbow Children".




WTF, nooo! biggrin

Both TRC (the whole album) and Thieves In The Temple (the song) are masterpieces to me!
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Reply #9 posted 12/06/23 10:51am

Tora

nayroo2002 said:

...add "101" and then it's an album!




May as well add "Cool Love" too. :-)

As for the "mewing" sound, it's gotta be him and not a door.
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Reply #10 posted 12/06/23 11:37am

IanRG

bigtallwall said:

consistently said:

There's a noise in The Arms of Orion at about 2.06 that sounds like it could be a door squeaking or it could be Prince making one of his strange mewing noises like he does on God.

Any ideas?

Incidentally, this is one of those songs I always forget how much I like! Unapologetically uncomplicated and really quite lovely.

I always thought that was Prince's vocal mewing.


I think it is a distorted voice effect like the one at the beginning

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Reply #11 posted 12/06/23 1:14pm

RODSERLING

Doesn't sound like a voice at all, even distorted. And what would be the point ?

Never really liked the song, its much of a clunker to me
But I heard it played on the piano, the melody is deliciously romantic, and very under-rated, that's for sure.

It s like Gemini had 3 sides fighting in him : the good Batman, the bad Joker, and the romantic Bruce Wayne.
Very bad choice of a 3rd single for Batman though. Maybe they thought it could have had some commercial appeal because of Sheena Easton, but that was far-fetched IMHO.

A very famous french singer, Alain Souchon, plagiarized the song.
[Edited 12/6/23 13:16pm]
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Reply #12 posted 12/06/23 2:12pm

billymeade

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keyboard noise

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Reply #13 posted 12/06/23 2:37pm

nayroo2002

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It's a space whale that Prince used to cross the stars 4 U

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"
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Reply #14 posted 12/06/23 3:34pm

FrankieCoco1

I hated this song for years and so didn’t listen to it for a long time. Then last year listened to a version of it that Sheena did live and absolutely loved it, and can’t believe I’d been so hard on it. Really appreciate it now and wish there was a video of it and/or there is footage of Prince with Sheena doing it live.

Anyway, the sound at about 2:06 sounds like air being released from a balloon, but as someone else said, probably just a synth sound. But why?

N.B. On the video version of Partyman, near the beginning there is a door opening sound, when a door opens in the video.
There may or may not be something coming!
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Reply #15 posted 12/07/23 1:47am

IanRG

RODSERLING said:

Doesn't sound like a voice at all, even distorted. And what would be the point ?


What would be the point?

What is the point of this question?

The sound is clearly there. It is either there deliberately or accidentally. If is deliberate then you don't know what it is, so it could be a distorted voice or instrument. If it is an accident, it is not going to be a voice.

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Reply #16 posted 12/07/23 1:51am

olb99

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I've always thought it was some kind of sound effect. It doesn't sound like vocals to me, even processed. Definitely deliberate.

I like "Arms of Orion". It's definitely not funky, but I like it.

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Reply #17 posted 12/07/23 2:41am

olb99

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Door noises. Prince liked that apparently. cf "Joint 2 Joint" as well.

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Reply #18 posted 12/08/23 4:11am

EnglishGent2

Every hater who said, if Prince recorded a fart you'd probably love it. Well, here is your recorded fart.

The orger formerly known as https://prince.org/profil...nglishGent
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Reply #19 posted 12/08/23 1:03pm

IanRG

EnglishGent2 said:

Every hater who said, if Prince recorded a fart you'd probably love it. Well, here is your recorded fart.


And it is fantastic!

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Reply #20 posted 12/08/23 2:23pm

nayroo2002

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IanRG said:

EnglishGent2 said:

Every hater who said, if Prince recorded a fart you'd probably love it. Well, here is your recorded fart.


And it is fantastic!

It's Anna Fantastic!

"Whatever skin we're in
we all need 2 b friends"
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Reply #21 posted 12/08/23 6:15pm

WhisperingDand
elions

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His ballads were always unfairly maligned by the hardcore Purple Funk and/or Rawk crowd.

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Reply #22 posted 12/09/23 4:14am

olb99

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IanRG said:

EnglishGent2 said:

Every hater who said, if Prince recorded a fart you'd probably love it. Well, here is your recorded fart.


And it is fantastic!


It smells like roses. lol

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Reply #23 posted 12/09/23 6:08am

FrankieCoco1

https://wehotimes.com/mik...na-easton/

Sheena Easton talks about writing and recording The Arms Of Orion with Prince in this article. Nice insight.

“Prince took this crumb of a melody idea and he had the melody done in 10 minutes. He was like, ‘go have some lunch’…maybe two hours later, he had the basics of the track down and then we recorded it.”

“I was in the vocal booth and he was sitting behind the desk. We had a mic up and we sang it together. We actually sang, looking at each other’s breathing and we kind of rift off of each other. You know, when we overlapped with each other, none of that was rehearsed. We just kind of sang and felt it out.”

Prince Vault states that the “tape of the song in the vault dates this song as 25 January 1989. It was recorded at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota”.

Edit: So The Arms of Orion seems to have been recorded just 4 days after Prince is said to have visited the Batman set on 21 January 1989 (see https://en.apoplife.nl/ge...e-is-over/ - not sure of the original source though for this exact date - plus see him on the set in this link https://youtu.be/si1rdghC...EbX2aua0tn ), which stoked his interest from perhaps doing 2 songs for it, snowballing into the Batman album.
[Edited 12/10/23 2:04am]
There may or may not be something coming!
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Reply #24 posted 12/09/23 10:15am

TrivialPursuit

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It's the same squawking he does in "God."

Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking.
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Reply #25 posted 12/10/23 2:30am

FrankieCoco1

Thinking of odd sounds/sound effects in Prince songs, has anyone ever done a list or have some favourites - perhaps needs a separate thread?).
There may or may not be something coming!
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Reply #26 posted 12/10/23 5:20am

olb99

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FrankieCoco1 said:

Thinking of odd sounds/sound effects in Prince songs, has anyone ever done a list or have some favourites - perhaps needs a separate thread?).


I like the "ghost scream" at the very beginning of "A Place In Heaven" (Lisa's version). I thought it was a glitch on the bootlegs, but it's on the official version as well.

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Reply #27 posted 12/17/23 3:26am

NouveauDance

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Am I really the first person in this thread to point out the obvious - that it's a sample of a dolphin or whale sounds.

.

They're singing about 'searching in the sea of tranquility and 'drowning without you' - so I guess a sea animal sound is meant to give a sense of being underwater (even if it's a waterless feature on the moon!)

.

.

[Edited 12/17/23 11:16am]

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Reply #28 posted 12/17/23 10:47am

laytonian

I think it's one of the sounds he puts in to cover up something else (like he'd put an explosive sound in for the same purpose on a funkier song). To me, it sounds like a combo his vocal squeal and an instrument.

Welcome to "the org", laytonian… come bathe with me.
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Reply #29 posted 12/17/23 1:35pm

erik319

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They played this on Top of the Pops 2 a couple of weeks ago... And in the same episode was Don't Know Much by Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville & I was surprised by how similar the vibe was. I think it was just the style of pop duets at the time.

Honestly, I've always liked the song, but can't stand the instrumental ending. It's awful. It's one of the rare occurrences where I prefer the single edit.
blah blah blah
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