i revisited the Gold Experience last night, and am amazed how great a song Dolphin is. It's proably the best single never released. Why didn't he release this as a single?
Does anyone else besides me think it would have been successful, a hit maybe?

Taurus said:

It was mooted as being a single at the time. 2 be honest it doesn't really move me as a tune. I think Endorphinmachine shoulda been a single though!

I liked Dolphin - there's a video for it, but no proper single as far as I know. The handling of promotion for Prince's albums around this time weren't exactly a well oiled machine, so who knows the whys, whats and wherefores of it all...

The Dolphin single was yet another casualty of the fall out
between Prince and WB. Shame really, there were a lot of
potential hit singles on the Gold Experience. Other tracks
that were also being considered for single release were
'319', 'Endorphinmachine' and 'P Control'.

Anxiety said:

i love this track. the video is so intense, if u have a look u would swear michael b was actually playing live !!!. he doesnt miss a beat not bad 4 a guy miming.

Damn I love that video! It's all one shot from what I remember, with additional band members appearing during the song - very simple, clever stuff.

bryanpage said:

yeah ur bang on mate !!!

it was never a fave of mine on teh Gold album...untila few weeks ago.

i am hooked on this song,can relate 2 it,& while it screams "top40 rock radio"...that solo tears your out!

Is that the Sex Change song?

BorisFishpaw said:

All would've made great choices. Detroit stations actually started playing 'Endorphinmachine' when TGE was released. It seemed like a really smart lead-off. Dolphin would've been great as well. I could see that one being picked up by alternative and college radio.

Dolphin is IMHO his best song of the 90's
That guitar solo gives me chills EVERYtime. The video is cool too!

You can see why Warners might not want to release Dolphin - "He wants to release what? But it's about Prince wanting to be reincarnated as a dolphin? The press will have a field day with that one! 'Bonkers Prince says he wants to be a fish!'"

There is a version of this from the Paisley Park last year where he plays the song with a slower beat and it suits the vibe of it much more. I always thought Dolphin suffered from the Gold albums general over production and nasty synths. Most of the tracks on Gold would have been better suited to a more organic sound, as there are some truly classiic Prince tunes on there.

Dolphin is definitely one of the best things on Gold, I wish he's start playing this live, I think it works really well as a live number.

The gold album was messed up for singles. Who the hell thought it would be better to release I Hate U, when Gold, Dolphin and Endorphine Machine were all more radio friendly, and quite frankly, better songs.

marty, i agree with you

The soundcheck version of 'Dolphin' during the USA leg of the ONA tour was truly something to cherish.

Most of the lyrics were absent and 'Dolphin' was almost an instrumental in Prince's hands, but the extended guitar soloing was one of his best performances from last year. Goose-bumps all around.

.

Yes, the version he did while on the ONA tour was awesome.

Slowed down some and just had a mood for the song.

It sure is a great song and a good video.

Would of made a big impact if it was released as a single.
Im sure there would have been some good mixes for it.

Would love to hear an acoustic version of it

Taurus said:

Funny, I'm doing the same thing; revisiting The Gold Experience. It is a great album. Dolphin is such a great song, I love the underlining meaning behind it. How he's asking WB if they would accept him back if he came back as a Daulphin(which is Prince in French)!!! Too cool, it can also be interpreted as a hearbreak song too. My Ex was really into dolphins so I usually reflect on our falling out and thinking would we still be together if I was a Dolphin (something I never wanted to be, but something she wanted).

Anxiety said:

I hear that the Dolphin video is on the Love4oneanother VH1 broadcast. I think Brave will release it soon!!

Nice song, but the band pretending to play invisible instruments ruins the video for mois.