Prince is your DJ
Dig, if you will, a party — with Prince as the DJ. This playlist was compiled by Prince himself — and seeing as I had most of the songs on it already, I put it together in one mix.
The background to this playlist is the TV sitcom New Girl. According to Steve Welch, an editor on the show, “[w]hen Prince was on New Girl the storyline was that our characters got to attend a party at his house. To that end, he sent us a playlist of songs he would actually play at his parties.”
It would have been a great party; Prince was channeling the 1970s, the period of his formative influences — and in some tracks one can hear the influences on his music. There’s some serious funkin’ going on, but that sequence of slow jams — ooh, babymaking music!
One must assume that Prince was adept at turning records over at one hell of a speed: the two Spinners songs on his list are from the same album, but are on different sides. Unless Prince was working from MP3s, the side-flipping would have required some dexterity.
The playlist exists also somewhere on Spotify, a service I’ve never used.
Because Prince’s party goes on longer than a standard 80 minutes — he’s giving us 97 minutes of joy — the mix won’t fit on as standard CD-R (and therefore no home-grooved covers). PW in comments.
If you didn’t come to party, don’t bother knockin’ on my door.
1. The Staple Singers – City In The Sky (1974)
2. Allen Toussaint – Country John (1975)
3. Ohio Players – Fire (1974)
4. Shuggie Otis – Happy House (1974)
5. Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground (1973)
6. Chaka Khan – I Was Made To Love Him (1978)
7. The Isley Brothers – Listen To The Music (1973)
8. Eugene McDaniels – The Lord Is Back (1971)
9. Sister Sledge – Lost In Music (1979)
10. Bootsy Collins – The Pinocchio Theory (1977)
11. Bootsy Collins – Rubber Duckie (1977)
12. Parliament – Rumpofsteelskin (1978)
13. Ohio Players – Skin Tight (1974)
14. The Soul Children – We’re Gettin’ Too Close (1974)
15. Curtis Mayfield – Wild And Free (1970)
16. Earth, Wind & Fire – After The Love Has Gone (1979)
17. Allen Toussaint – Back In Baby’s Arms (1975)
18. The Isley Brothers – Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight (1973)
19. The Soul Children – Don’t Take My Sunshine (1972)
20. The Spinners – How Could I Let You Get Away (1973)
21. The Spinners – I’ll Be Around (1973)
22. The Jacksons – Push Me Away (1978)
23. Shirley Brown – Stay With Me Baby (1974)
24. Aretha Franklin – The Thrill Is Gone (From Yesterday’s Kiss) (1970)
PW = amdwhah
My traveling companion took me to Paisley Park for a fan club tour & we got to see the rehearsal stage & recording studio among many other treats (Larry Graham’s personal cubbyhole) but the basketball court must’ve been off limits. There was a steady stream of seventies funk on the soundstage PA and I’ll post my list from a 2004 vintage iPod when I fire it up. Thanks for this effort, I’ll share it with friends this weekend, most of us are too numbed by this endless series of memorials to do much more than comfort each other, for me it started with Toussaint and just will not let up. Haggard was to play our college town in May, and we’ll have a family moving party Sunday as one of our 18 year olds moves from the dorm to her first off campus house. This will be the playlist, thanks again
Thank you. This is a nice treat.
As you said also in Spotify: Prince’s New Girl.
https://open.spotify.com/user/anildash/playlist/63vIFAjuo2hSYGE1ixdBcw
Thanks to Anil Dash.
Really cool playlist! I remember “Lost in Music” being a favorite in the clubs. Those who liked Prince should check out more of Shuggie Otis’s music. His influence is all over Prince’s music. Tremendous loss! RIP beautiful one.
Thanks!
Here’s a Paisley Park playlist from summer ’04. As we patiently waited for Showtime! the PA treated us to what we could only assume were Prince-approved classics, since everything else was tailored to one man’s preferences. Somewhere in a box there’s a pocket notebook with a longer list, but this is the playlist I made as soon as we got home:
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers – Bustin’ Loose
Kool & the Gang – Jungle Boogie, Hollywood Swingin’ & Funky Stuff
De La Soul – Me, Myself & I with Funkadelic’s (Not Just) Knee Deep (P musta been fond of Philippe Wynne & Chaka)
Rufus – You Got the Love, Sweet Thing & Tell Me Somethin’ Good
and I recall lots of Ohio Players, JB’s and Sly. For some reason I put Swamp Dogg’s Total Destruction & Synthetic World on there, but it’s doubtful they played him, maybe it was for my friend. Dance On, Y’All!
I can believe Total Destruction of Your Mind as a Major influence on P. Thanks so much for this.
Nice! Thanks……..
@AKV
do you have the full playlist? Thank you!
This is the full playlist.