Janet - Got 'Til It's Gone (feat. Q-Tip & Joni Mitchell)

Tonight is Velvet Rope night in mi apartamento. I've been grooving to this album all evening. Here's another of my favorite tracks from it. Everything about this track is brillant, from Janet's vocals, to the sample, to Q-Tip's rap. The remixes for this song are killer, as well as the UK maxi single. The video is on point and timeless. The single cover is brillant. Her image is great for this song. The hair, everything, damn it! There are so many Janet quotables in this track. I say "Dust" all the time. A classic Janet song from a classic album.

[JANET:]
What's... what's the next song?

[Q-TIP:]
The one about me

[JANET:]
Oh yeah?
I like this song
Uh-uh like Joni says...

[JONI]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's--
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's--
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's--
You don't know what you've got 'til it's--

[JANET:]
Gone

Have a feelin
Now believin
That you were the one
I was meant to be with
Oh how I'm wishin
Thinkin dreamin
Bout you
And the love
How'd I ever let you get away?

Got 'til it's gone

[JONI:]
Don't- don't- don't it always--,
Don't- don't- don't it always--

[JANET:]
Got 'til it's gone

[JONI:]
Don't- don't- don't it always--

[Q-TIP:]
Yeah, yeah, yeah...

[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[Q-TIP:]
Joni Mitchell never lies
[JONI:]
You don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone

If I could turn back
The hands of time I'd make you
Fall in love
In love with me again

So would you give me
Another chance to love
To love you
In the right way no games

Got 'til it's gone
[JONI:]
Don't- don't- don't it always--, Don't- don't- don't it always--
[Q-TIP:]
Here we go again...
[JANET:]
Got 'til it's gone
[JONI:]
Don't- don't- don't it always--, Don't- don't- don't it always--
[Q-TIP:]
Joni Mitchell never lies

[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[Q-TIP:]
1,2... 1,2...
[JANET:]
Gone
[Q-TIP:]
Yo lemme just f*ck wit it for a minute
[JONI:]
You don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone

[Q-TIP:]
Now you're realizin when the nights go long right?
Campaign for me stay when you know that I'm gone right?
You act all wild when I tell you to settle
I was workin round the clock but your girls wanna meddle
Talkin bout, "I heard he swims with this chick on the beach."
That was out with the tide but my love you impeached
Now you lookin at the walls head in hand cold Jonezin
Ringin my house, hangin up, and then posin
Now why you wanna go and do that love huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that and do that, huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that love huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that and do that huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that love huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that and do that huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that love huh?
Now why you wanna go and do that and do that and do that?

[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[Q-TIP:]
Joni Mitchell never lies
[JONI:]
You don't know what you've got 'til it's
[JANET:]
Gone
[JONI:]
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
[Q-TIP:]
Dust
[This message was edited Tue Aug 17 20:06:56 2004 by JANFAN4L]

NOTE: THIS COMMENT WAS MADE WHEN THE THREAD WAS ABOUT "SPECIAL" :LOL:


hate it. might possibly be one of the worst moments of her musical career up to that point. it's fairly nice, but her vocals on it are the epitome of "weak, whispery janet" and having one jackson (mj) singing big sappy ballads like this about saving the children and feeling sorry for themselves is enough.


God's Stepchild would have been a much better substitution. it's equally self-pitying, but much less cloying.
[This message was edited Wed Aug 18 13:09:51 2004 by Tessa]

LOve it. Hated it when it was released as a single. Poor choice.

But in the context of the album... PERFECT. Really helped open me up to Joni.

madartista said:

I take it you're in the league of folks who wanted "Velvet Rope" as the first single?

GTIG really sets the mood for the album. "The Velvet Rope" would've also been a great opening track, but GTIG was cool because it was left field for her. Everyone was expecting her to drop the big dance video with a Broadway style dance number. She flipped the script and was brillant. I loved the promotional campaign behind this album: a bunch of people on a red carpet running towards a velvet rope against a black background. I wish I had that on tape. I would pay for that.

OH GOD, I WISH I COULD RELIVE THE VELVET ROPE ERA AGAIN.
[This message was edited Tue Aug 17 20:17:05 2004 by JANFAN4L]

JANFAN4L said:

The Remix ws much better by Jay Dee from slum village who really made the original beat but didn't get credit for it. I liked this song. THe Music was more Badu than Jackson

Nostalgia just hit me, folks. Bare with me:

I remember it like it were yesterday. It was October 7, 1997 early evening. I just got out of school. It was really windy that day. I went to The Wherehouse in Westchester and bought "The Velvet Rope" (The Velvet Rope is the first album I ever bought on its release date). I got a free Janet poster with my purchase. I got home and I hung the poster on my wall and put the CD in my player. My life has never been the same since.

Thank you, Janet.



.
[This message was edited Tue Aug 17 20:25:47 2004 by JANFAN4L]

Soulchild82 said:

Oh, yes, Ummah Jay Dee's Revenge Mix of Got 'Til It's Gone was BANGIN'. It's on the Together Again domestic CD-5 single. I own it and I love it. That and "Together Again (DJ Premier Just Tha Bass)" are life.

"Dust" edit.
[This message was edited Tue Aug 17 21:59:33 2004 by JANFAN4L]

Supernova said:

sosgemini said:

THANK YOU!

This is one of my all time fave Janet tracks

This song blew me away, the video is my fav janet video (followed by deeper remix of together again video) the song still sounds fresh today as does the album.

boy i was like.....ok i guess when it FIRST came out..but after i got the album..it grew on me..now its one track i CANNOT skip on The Velvet Rope...

"chichichichichi do' no' wha' 'chu ga til it gon'"

Soulchild82 said:

That has always pissed me off about that song. The original never sounded like a Jam/Lewis production, yet they get all the glory for it. The groove has Dilla written all over it.

Something to add to this:

GTIG was written/recorded around the time that "Sometimes" by the Brand New Heavies was released. Some might say that this song (as well as the Ummah Remix of it) served as base for GTIG (the Ummah Remix featured Qtip). It was stated that both jan and rene were fans of this song and remix.

Give it a listen. Real Audio clips can be found below.
http://www.amazon.ca/exec...000006KPL/

Let me also add that this also probably was the influence to commission The Ummah as a remixer for GTIG: Ummah's Uptown Saturday Night Mix (avec D'Angelo on keys) and Ummah Jay Dee's Revenge Mix.

Some Janet history for ya.
(Thanks djgodeep of the Janet Xone for this info)

great track

hated the song at first but now i love it. it's is so unreal. love it love it love it.

That's the best song off of The Velvet Rope. It's A Jam..

The most authentically hip-hop Janet track since... . Nasty

love it, because of the excellent way to use a Joni sample. i started listening to Joni Mitchell because of this song like Madartista.

what i don't like is the stolen melody of Des'ree however.

Bought it when I was 7. Loved it, played it to death and drove my parents crazy. My Dad knew Janet's tour manager and got my CD autographed.

Opened the door for my Joni Mitchell obsession five years later.

dawntreader said:

Yeah, Des'ree sued Janet over that and won. She gets royalties from it now.

Velvet Rope was her second best album IMO (next to Rhythm Nation). Ahh the memories...senior year in high school.

Since we're talking about "Got 'Til It's Gone" in this thread. It's only timely for me to share this article.

Remember the great DRUM Magazine covers in the video? Well, they became a fashion trend shortly after Jan's video.



Bridging two worlds
http://www.suntimes.co.za...life02.asp

Fashion

Trailblazing fashion house Stoned Cherrie encapsulates the African aesthetic in a modern context, writes CRAIG JACOBS

Rewind to 1997 and the video for superstar Janet Jackson's single Got 'Til It's Gone.

Township dandies with half-cocked trilby hats are leaning against a wall, a bottle shatters against a Net Blankes sign and Alek Wek is reclining on a chair reading Drum magazine - the trailblazing publication which reflected black urban culture in 1960s South Africa.


Fast-forward to September 2001, SA Fashion Week, and a model struts down the catwalk, an image from Drum magazine emblazoned on her skirt.


It was one of those moments which the fashion firmament loves : dipping into the past for references to recapture a mood which finds resonance in a new world while simultaneously reflecting how far it has moved ahead.


Take the current obsession with folk chic, for example, which revisits a time when the hippy trail, anti-war protests and free love allowed teenagers to slip on kaftans and harem pants (an eerie mirror to the present paranoid anti-globalisation mood ).


When Nkhensani Manganyi formed Stoned Cherrie almost two years ago, the intention was to provide a wardrobe which would encapsulate an African aesthetic in a modern context.


Pooling a design co-operative made up of Thabani Mavundla, Sonja Nieuwoudt and Palesa Mokubung, and supported by Manganyi's sister Tintswalo, the Rosebank store opened at the end of 2000.


At that time, South African fashion fell into two distinct camps. On one side was the heavily trend-influenced school whose designs mimicked the ebbs and flows in Europe and America, with Vogue and Fashion TV forming the obvious reference points.


On the other side was the almost naive ethnobongo palette of designers who shunned Western trends for traditional styles, handiwork and fabric .


Stoned Cherrie fashioned a bridge between these two camps, proving that fashion can fit into a global realpolitik while wearing its local conscience on its sleeve.


In the tin-shack changerooms of its store, women ranging from teenagers to kwaito stars, corporate heavyweights to politicos (Barbara Masekela is a devotee) tried on their long A-line skirts fashioned from hardy Xhosa cloth or blouses cut from Seshweshwe wedding material.


Unsurprisingly, other designers followed their lead.


Ethnic-inspired stores have sprung up and now even the trendy Young Designers Emporium features a range by one designer which fits into the Stoned Cherrie style.


"You can always see the rip-offs," says Manganyi. "Like there is a skirt with tucks going down, that was one of the first things we did. We have seen it everywhere, in different colours. But the tucks are too far apart, something is not quite right about the A-line, and the skirt length is too short."


Manganyi finds the imitations flattering.


"When people start copying you, you know you're doing something right," she says. "The thing is just to stay ahead, be unique and keep re-inventing."


The introduction of the Drum covers is a good example of this re-invention .


"When we started we talked about celebrating our past and questioned who we have become. So we looked at the 1950s which was a very interesting era, an explosive era.


"For me, what is happening right now is quite reminiscent of what was happening then, the first time you were getting supermodels and stars and covergirls. It was the era of self-expression and identity.


"With our clothes, we always wanted it to have some kind of conscience. So it's not just vacuous clothing, fads that pass. It is a brand that has some kind of philosophy and foundation and conscience.


"So the whole thing about the Drum cover was that. We wanted to try and find a way that would make history part of popular culture, so those individuals who buy those clothes become ambassadors."


They approached the Bailey Archive, which has filed away all images of the magazine, and were given the rights to reproduce the magazine's covers.


As the first Drum-inspired garments hit the shelves late last year, Manganyi admits she was anxious about the reaction to the covers' social commentaries.


"We saw [the introduction of the range] more of a test phase to see if people would actually wear a photograph of a black man doing this," she says, clenching her fists to mimic the image they have reproduced on T-shirts of boxer Homicide Hank from one Drum cover.


But the reception has been positive.


So far, a handful of Drum covers have landed on garments designed by Mavundla, while plans are afoot to take the initiative further, with a new range also featuring tags which will explain details about the magazine cover on each garment.


And now the Stoned Cherrie wearer has been spotted at the chicest functions, proudly showing off a T-shirt featuring a headline like "Do Blacks Hate Whites?" .


It is not new that the magazine founded by Jim Bailey has been used as a social record of our most recent past.


Documentaries, like 1988's "Have You Seen Drum Recently?" by former Drum photographer Jurgen Schadeberg have reflected the way the magazine captured the kaleidoscope of black urban life in the 1960s .


What the Stoned Cherrie label does is bring that history alive again at a juncture when we are caught between shrugging off the disturbing memories of our recent past while reinventing ourselves in a new dispensation.


"Obviously we are celebrating the stoned cherries of the past, the Dolly Radebes and Miriam Makebas who appeared on the covers of magazines like Drum," explains Manganyi.


"But Stoned Cherrie is actually about freedom, celebrating women who are free to be themselves."

It's an alright song. Clearly, the sample makes the song good, because I can't understand a word Janet's saying.

RipHer2Shreds said:

No one has been able to understand what Janet's been saying since Control. As much as I love her and her music, I think she needs a crash course in annunciation.

Control is my favorite album of hers, but I can understand what she says on there. There's not a lyric sheet in there, so I know I didn't get help figuring out what she was saying (I have a hard time understanding lyrics otherwise, in general). Her vocals on Rhythm Nation, though I love it nearly as much as Control, are difficult to understand. She's got a thin voice, but you're right - it's her annunciation. I definitely needed the lyrics in that one to get what she was sayin'.

okaypimpn said:

I have no trouble....do I get an award or something? There are some artists where I have to work hard to understand the lyrics (I only bother if they're worth the effort), but she isn't one of them.

Anyway, love the song. I was also pleased with it as a first single, but I knew it would bomb at radio.

excellent track

Supernova said:

CO-SIGN.

Unusual era for Janet and me. I was in a weird place, as was Janet. This album came along after I'd had my heart broken and started a new relationship so this song has some meaning for me.
[This message was edited Wed Aug 18 22:29:32 2004 by namepeace]

Oh yeah..

I like this one!


One of the best tracks on The Velvet Rope, together with What About.