Prince’s artistic process was a mystery. See how he got to “sign the time”.



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“There is a lot I can say about 1987. Pros and cons, mostly pro. But I’m not giving a speech, so I’ll do what I do best. [playing “Sign o’ the Times”] “If you all wanna dance, that’s cool.” Sing: “In France, a thin man died of a big disease with a small name. By chance, his girlfriend fell on a needle and soon she did the same. “How’s it going, man? “Pretty good.” “Let me turn on my light.” “Here.” “OK, here we go.” “Tell me how you met Prince. “The phone rings, it’s his secretary. She’s like, ‘Wait.’ And I say to myself: “Wait for who?” Next thing I hear, “Uh, Levi, do you want to be in my group?” And I’m like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ “” Hello. “Hi, wait a second. Let me turn you on. I think it was his 24th birthday. And I hear click, click, click, click, click. Jump over the couch, sit down right next to me and whisper in my ear, “Did you dream about me last night? I mean, he was incredibly charming, smelled beautiful. It was just everything, everything was like, OK, I think you’re hanging on to me. “Who were you for Prince?” “Oh, well, I know if he answered that question he’d say something funny.” “How are you feeling tonight?” “I feel with my hands, Martha.” “But I’m not that spiritual. So I was hired as an audio technician in 1983. Prince was looking for a technician, he was coming out of the 1999 tour. [playing “1999”] “I was with him almost every day for four years because if he was awake he wanted to have a musical instrument in his hands. And if he had an instrument in his hands, he wanted to record. “At that time, while writing ‘Sign o’ the Times’, there were a lot of comments coming in to her. There was an earthquake in Los Angeles. Announcer: “My God, a live earthquake here.” “He didn’t like that stuff, you know. He liked to be in control. It was definitely out of control. “Also on the cover of the LA Times was the AIDS epidemic. We talked about it, you know, in France, they were trying to find a vaccine, and it hit him so hard. Sing: “In France, a thin man died of a big disease with a small name. By chance, his girlfriend fell on a needle and soon she did the same. “There was gang violence in Los Angeles” “Another guy got hit over there too. Sing: “At home there are 17 year old boys and their idea of ​​having fun is being in a gang called the Disciples, with crack and with a machine gun. “The Challenger had exploded.” “We will never forget you.” Sing, “That’s silly, isn’t it? When a rocket explodes and everyone still wants to fly. “It was all coming to him, and he felt it was apocalyptic. “If you look at the pop charts from those years that didn’t sound like ‘Sign o’ the Times, ‘right? “It doesn’t sound like a new wave. Singing, ‘You got me spinning right, baby, right.” “It obviously doesn’t sound like hip-hop. [record scratching] “It doesn’t sound like pop. Sing: “Tell my heart.” “Right? It’s not something you can dance to. Singing,” Oh, I want to dance with someone. “” To me, it’s kind of like that Prince who doesn’t have to do his proof with the Rolling Stone rock radio. Yes, I can do a Neal Schon Journey guitar solo, and flip it all over and it becomes “Purple Rain.” Sing: “Purple rain, purple rain.” “Take rock again for black people. And now I’m going to show you that I can switch to certain types of digital music as well. “So when Prince brings the song to the studio, how does she put it together? Does he say something to you?” Favorite way of working was to say nothing at all. I would have set everything up so that he could work in silence. Prince didn’t talk much. He wasn’t a particularly social human being. ” years have you made these demos, then have you received any offers? “” The world came to him, then he expressed what he wanted. s had lived through music. He’s sitting there, I’m at the console, and he’s next to me at the Fairlight. “The Fairlight Computer musical instrument. That’s $ 46,000 worth of electronic magic. “” It’s more than a synthesizer and a sampler. It was a very expensive digital motor with built-in sounds. On the song “Sign o” the Times “he played all the instruments on it. You can hear this bassline being played with his fingers. It is a keyboard instrument. While seated at the Fairlight, he switches from one instrument to the other. He had the gift of a watchmaker to understand how music worked and how to make it work with as few parts as possible. [music playing] “The other reason you have to remember with Prince is that every time you listen to a song, it tells a story. Even if he wasn’t singing, you might just listen to the music and feel like this song is about what he’s talking about. “Prince’s sessions were notoriously long. Often it would be 24 hours. He would take a break, maybe shoot some basketball. But he also had a sweet tooth, so every once in a while he would ask us to send a runner to get a big lemon cake. After we recorded the Fairlight on an analog tape, we made it into a tape. He would take her in the car, then he would write the melody and the lyrics. And then come back and end the song. “Prince has always done his song alone. We set up his vocal microphone and then left the room. He didn’t want an engineer between him and this audience. He just wanted to sing to his listeners. Sing, “That’s silly, isn’t it? When a rocket explodes. “You’d be on the other side of that door. Singing, ‘And everyone still wants to fly.’ “And you would hear those souls preacher cries, and you would know, oh it’s gonna be one of those that just brings me to my knees. Sing, ‘Oh why, times.” “When the voice finished saying this that she had to say, that’s when the guitar was able to take over for the voice. [guitar playing] “And say the same thing the voice said, but with short melodic phrases.” [guitar playing] “Every day that we recorded I had a feeling of, oh that’s gonna be awesome. Wait till the people hear it. Sing: “Sign the time”. “When he comes back with ‘Sign o’ the Times’, how does he present it to you? “In the car.” Guys, do you want to get in the car and hear what we did? So we all pile up in the back of the car and he turns it on. “He just put on a tape. ? ” “Pops on the tape. We were like, ‘Whoo, yeah.’ You know that’s how we’ve always been, like, that’s awesome. He’s always been really cool. Singing, ‘It’s silly, right? When a rocket goes off and everyone still wants to fly. “His fans, you know, they like to dance and stuff, but they still want to be smart. Like we can have fun, but can we talk about something that actually means something? Instead of your eyeliner, do you have a fat ass? “The sign of the times is disturbing your mind, hurry before it’s too late.” “What m ‘Really interesting is that, you know, he spends roughly four minutes, or whatever, cataloging the ills of the world, and then his solution is … Singing, “Let’s fall in love, get married, have a baby . We’ll call him Nate. … “Let’s get married and have a baby.” “Well, well at the end of the day, when you’ve got nothing else, you have – the most important thing is love. He always wanted to know who he loved and who loved him.” That he could then be the guy he felt he needed to be. “It’s very hard to hear the song ‘Sign o’ the Times’ and not think about health crises, political crises. we’re going through right now. Like, what do you think Prince would have done with 2020? “I don’t think Prince was concerned about world events for their own good. I don’t think he would have been the kind of man. writing a letter to the editor of his local newspaper. He didn’t want to see stupid people messing it up for everyone. “There’s a melancholy that goes with 2020. You know, that’s the feeling for 2020. But it also challenges us to think about how long we are on the battlefield and how the music itself can bake us. end knowledge. position themselves to think about the future. We are the future of song. It is therefore our responsibility to continue to grow from what Prince has given us. “Why are you giving interviews and refusing to speak?” Why? And don’t tell me you lost your voice because I heard you sing five minutes ago – “” He has to sing tonight. “But couldn’t you, like, sing your answers? I mean, I just don’t understand why you don’t speak. Because it’s like that? And it’s like that?” Yes. “

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