Joey’s Song
Joey's Song raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We host concerts featuring Rock Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy winners and Top 40 artists. On the podcast we talk with our artists, industry leaders and our key contributors to find out what makes Joey's Song so important to them.
To learn more about Joey's Song visit us at Joeyssong.org and follow us on social media @joeyssong on all the popular platforms.
Joey’s Song
The Quadcast - Prince Covers
Have you ever wondered how Prince's genius extended beyond his own performances and into the music of other iconic artists? On this episode of the Joey Song Podcast, we promise you'll gain a whole new appreciation for Prince's songwriting prowess and its impact on music history. From Cindy Lauper's vibrant rendition of "When You Were Mine" to Chaka Khan's electrifying "I Feel For You," listen as we unpack how Prince's original creations were transformed into chart-topping hits. Each cover not only highlights the artistic versatility of Prince but also showcases the incredible talents of the performers who made these songs their own.
Join us as we take a walk down memory lane into the colorful 80s music scene, spotlighting the magical synergy between Prince and the artists who brought his songs to life. The conversation continues with a humorous twist as we explore the unexpected pseudonym "Christopher" that Prince adopted when writing for the Bangles' "Manic Monday." This playful nod to anonymity didn't stop the song from skyrocketing the Bangles to national fame, blending their distinctive 60s pop sound with Prince’s signature flair. The track's infectious energy and catchy hooks were quintessential to the era, leaving an enduring imprint on pop culture and dance floors alike.
Behind every cover song lies a story of musical re-imagination and interpretation. We shine a light on the Bangles as exceptional interpreters of Prince's work, transforming his compositions with their unique flair while retaining the essence of his genius. Discover the challenges and triumphs of reimagining music from such a legendary artist, and enjoy some lighthearted anecdotes about the fascination with the creative process. As we explore these stories, we also reflect on the Joey Song Podcast's mission of supporting epilepsy research through music, including our cherished Freezing Man festival in Madison, Wisconsin. Join us for a blend of insightful discussions, humorous stories, and a celebration of the timeless legacy of Prince's songwriting.
Visit www.joeyssong.org to learn more about Joey's Song and the work we do and get details on our next set of shows. Also be sure to follow us on all popular social media platforms with our handle @joeyssong
Joey's Song is a federally registered 501(c)3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. Joey's Song is 100% volunteer with no paid staff, so we are able to convert more dollars into life saving research.
Our Joey's Song family of artists include Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, Grammy and Emmy winners and Top 40 hitmakers.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Joey Song Podcast. I'm your host, mike Gamal. For those of you that are new to Joey Song, we're a 501c3 charity that raises money to fund research into treatments and cures for epilepsy. We also direct funds to support patient services and community programs as well. Our fundraising vehicle is music.
Speaker 1:Every year, we hold a series of concerts that feature Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, grammy winners and Top 40 hit makers. These amazing artists all come to Madison, wisconsin, each January for a festival that we call Freezing man. You should know that every one of the artists that plays at our event donates their time and talent. None of our performers take a penny to join us. We have no paid staff. We are a 100% volunteer organization. The next Freezing man is scheduled to take place January 8th through the 11th 2025, with six amazing shows scheduled over four days. To find out more about Joey's Song, you can find us at our website, joysongorg, or follow us on social media, where all of our handles are at Joey's Song. Hey everybody, welcome to the Quadcast, the Q-U-A-D-cast. William and I are with you again today and we're going to run through four songs that have a connective tissue to them, aren't we, william?
Speaker 2:Yes, and thank you for that spelling lesson right out of the gate. Well, you know, as long as it's within four letters.
Speaker 1:I can usually get pretty close to it. I'm just happy I didn't pull a quad. Well, ice used the podcast, I used that one down. Yeah, you know, at my age, just having the quads work right Called a victory. That is yes, yeah. So, for those of you that have heard our quadcast before, what we do is, as I said, we take a theme, whatever it might be perhaps a writer, perhaps a topic, perhaps a musician and we weave them together, not like Donald Trump's weave that's a different weave that he does but we weave them together in a story. And today, william, what is our connective tissue?
Speaker 2:is our connective tissue. Today, our connective tissue is songs that were written by Prince and that other people performed successfully. Really and he had, and all of these had pretty big hits with you could argue, many, if not all the uh big hit was actually better than the original.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I, I, I think that means me to say it as a prince diehard but but you know, as all great writers, sometimes, um, the genius is in creating a craft, a song, a concept that maybe isn't perfect for you. And then some other I mean bob dylan there you can argue that probably about it well, that of course't perfect for you. And then some other I mean Bob Dylan there you can argue that probably about it. Well, that, of course, that depends how you feel about Dylan singing, but that's a whole different topic for a quad cast. But you could argue that some of most of the Dylan covers are better than the originals too, because the, the materials there, and then you can take and expand it too. And I think one of the things that we'll probably talk about is a lot of these songs that we're covering today came out of his pure funk period and they were embellished by some of the recording stuff in the in the 80s and 90s as well yeah, and truly.
Speaker 2:Part of the genius that you mentioned, I believe, is him being able to select who would be an artist that would take this thing and bring it five levels above you know, what his intentions were. So obviously we'll be getting into that as we get going here.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, that being the case, as we do when it's appropriate on the quad cast, we go in chronological order, and so we are going to do that today and, william, you have the first one.
Speaker 2:I do and it is definitely one of my favorites. The song is when you Were Mine and it was by cindy lauper. Yep, um, when you were mine was originally recorded by prince in 1980 off the dirty mind album, which was his third. And, um, I honestly believe it was the dirty mind album that really started getting him a lot of radio play and really started at least in in the minneapolis area started the popularity rise. Obviously he had already put out um his first, one of his first albums. Um, we talked about one of his uh songs from the first album. Actually I think we will be talking about that as well. But anyway, when you Were Mine really helped catapult Prince's name out into the popular soul and funk charts. All of that stuff.
Speaker 1:Again started getting. Why do you think it wasn't until his third album that it really took off? Do you have any theories on that?
Speaker 2:um, you know, I think it was just more. That whole album dirty mind was just very energetic, very uh, much of uh. I don't know if I would say dance, no, no, but just more energy to it or whatever.
Speaker 2:It'd be something you would hear maybe more like in a club or something, whereas I feel like the first two albums were kind of softer. Yeah, um, you know, it's like his whole career tells a story and this is obviously at the beginning of it. But yeah, yeah, fair enough. I would also say it was a great precursor to the next album, which was 1999, which really shot them into fame. But yeah, when you were mine, when it first came out on Dirty Mind, it wasn't a single, no, but it just got a lot of radio play and I think it's one of those songs that I think became a little bit cultish and more popular as as time went on. Yeah, kind of the kind of the deep track thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh for if you were an aficionado you knew that song, whereas the the casual listener might not have. And it was covered by a handful of folks. We're going to talk about Cindy's cover, but I know Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels did a cover of it, which that's a pretty wide expanse from prince to cindy and mitch rider. So and all in each of those versions was great in its own way, which again is the kind of the kernel of the genius in there. When you can do it in kind of that detroit rock style of mitch rider, you can do it in the very 80s cindy lauper, cindy version, and then obviously the the funky jam style of prince well, and I'll throw a fourth one in there, the chris cornell version, and that's in the um seattle grunge, right, you know.
Speaker 2:And yeah, another, just absolutely. It's literally like we'll have actually all four of those songs will be on our podcast Spotify playlist and it's, it's amazing, it's the same song. It literally sounds like four different songs.
Speaker 1:So let's talk. Let's talk about, let's talk about Cindy's version.
Speaker 2:Yes, what? When you, when you hear it, it it has a very 80s feel to it, wouldn't you say, yeah, the whole that whole album, um, she's so unusual, uh, had which had when you were mine. Obviously the big songs that got the most, um, acclaim, I believe, were girls just want to have fun and she bop, yep, but, um, yeah, it was just, I mean, it's it. To me it just screams, takes you right back to 1980, whatever it was, three, four, yep, um, I don't know too many more songs than that album really are.
Speaker 1:Typify know of too many more songs than that album really are. Typify the 80s, um, as much in both, both musicality and fashion, too. Right, I mean, cindy spawned a whole. Yes, you know visual art as well, and I also think you can argue that she also taught people not to take themselves so seriously as well. Right, thinking of I don't know we're talking about when you were mine, but think about the other videos. Think about girls just want to have fun with all the wrestlers in it, and right, um, she bop, which, uh, we'll try to make this a family version, but that, you know, that's about a very um, I don't know how you would describe that topic tell us, mike, what's that about?
Speaker 1:yeah, so it's in the same category of turning japanese and if that you don't know um, or blister in the sun by violent femmes, and I'll leave it at that but, she brought a very much, even though she had some very serious songs and when you were, mine is a serious song, um, she brings a lightness to it that really comes through, I think yeah, I agree, and just the like everything she was doing, um, especially at that time, but throughout her whole career.
Speaker 2:It's just so. Her musics are just so catchy and so upbeat and just something that you and engaging. Yeah, yeah, that you just keep on when it's on the radio, you know, turn it up.
Speaker 1:Now I know as we go, we're going to go through a few of the other songs as well, and it's always interesting when. So Prince had obviously a very androgynous image and wrote that way. But it's really interesting that his songs can be covered by women, not have to change the gender, not have to change the position, yet they're still very interesting, right, cindy's? Cindy's version of this, you know, captures a female perspective on that same thing of not appreciating somebody. You know, when you were with them. We don't really know, is you never doing any of prince song? Is? Are they apart? Because he cheated, he cheated, she cheated, got to and none of that matters with with her version of of it as well. And that's again the the genius of prince um, one other fun fact about the song.
Speaker 2:Uh, I had the fortune of seeing Prince in concert. Probably I've tried to do a head count, but probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 times.
Speaker 1:Amazing Plus or minus. I never got to see a blind, so you're 50 ahead of me.
Speaker 2:And I would say, at best I heard that song in concert three of the 50 times. Yeah, um. However, I did hear it. At the last time I had the opportunity to see him, which was at rosemount uh theater, at rosemount horizon, whatever yep that plays his ball. That was the the last time I saw him in concert and he did. That was his like second to last song that he played. I was yeah, that's yeah, of course, not annoying.
Speaker 1:Maybe last time I'd see him but yeah, yeah, good stuff, that's a it's, it's such, um, I'll keep going back to it. I, I, you know there's the old joke that prince is the one guy in makeup and high heels that could steal your girlfriend from you, right, and but that's all part of like I said, that the whole androgyny and both how he carried himself and how he wrote, allowed people to do that interpretation and it just, you know, cindy's version is very synth heavy, right, it's got that. I'm sure there it's layered in drum machines. I'm not expert enough to know it, but it works. It works in Prince's slow version. Again, I'm going to probably end up saying that 400 times during the course of this podcast, but it just shows the genius of his songwriting and the depth thereof.
Speaker 2:Yep, do you have one other fun fact? All right, I'm just full of them today, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yes, you are.
Speaker 2:I was dating a girl in 1984-ish.
Speaker 1:That is a fun fact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was Congratulations. Yeah, finally over. Yeah, anyway, she worked at a dry cleaner. It's the dry cleaner that Prince went to and he'd bring in his white you know white puffy shirts. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, and there was always like a dozen of them or whatever. She stole like two or three of them for me, seriously, yeah. Now the interesting thing is they were really really, really small. As was I at the time, and they were women's shirts. They buttoned backwards, yeah, so yeah, well, I.
Speaker 1:If you've ever been to the rock and roll hall of fame, well, first of all, all those big pop stars are, all right, smaller of stature, jaggers, tiny, but you see the there's. The last time I was at the rock and roll hall of fame they had had a whole display on Super Bowl halftimes. Okay, nice. And they had Prince's, whatever he wore at that rain-soaked Super Bowl and he was a little dude.
Speaker 2:Oh, you mean the one he was the GOAT at, and it was the greatest halftime.
Speaker 1:I don't know if the exhibit said all of that, but yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's not even close and anyone can. If you want to get on the debate stage and debate that I'll go all day long on that one.
Speaker 1:Well, who else can summon up the rain?
Speaker 2:And then what I loved was, you know, he and his dancers were all in high heels. They described it as like an ice rink out there, and they went and asked him right before he went on, cause it really started coming down, if you want to cancel it? Or not perform cause it was super dangerous, and he's like the only thing I want is if he could turn the rain up harder make it rain more. I'm like oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Amazing the man. The man knew how to make an entrance and an exit and knew how to do everything in between just right as well. Truly amazing. Anything else you want to talk about with when you Were Mine? I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I want to play it though right now, but I know, oh, we can play a little bit.
Speaker 1:We'll play a snippet so we don't get in trouble with the internet gods.
Speaker 2:And then a reminder if you want to hear the whole song of any of the versions we discussed, go to our Quadcast Spotify.
Speaker 1:Yep, and you will hear it on there. So a little bit of Prince when you were mine, or no, cindy, when you were mine, and then we'll come back on the other side, all right, I?
Speaker 2:love you more than I did when you were mine. All right, that was awesome when you Were Mine. Cindy Lauper, that song Could listen to that all day long. Yep. But we have other songs to listen to and to break down. I'm super excited about this next one. You might remember it as it starts a little bit like Shaka-kan shaka shaka, shaka, shaka. Con mike's doing the dance for all those guys don't see us on the video.
Speaker 1:We're gonna make this a video podcast. You're very fortunate you're not seeing it too. I might add my rapping and your dancing yeah man, that's a lot of whiteness for the live show yeah, yikes, yikes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no. So this next song is, I Feel For you, one of, probably the one song that really got everybody's attention about Prince himself and was really taken 10 more levels beyond the song itself when it was turned over and recreated by Shaka Khan. Mike, what do you got to say about Shaka?
Speaker 1:Khan. So back at this was 84. And at the time I was working in a nightclub and we, besides having bands, would have dance night and, as you may guess, this was absolutely a staple this record and the 12 inch dance remix and all the other stuff that they used to do back in the day, and it truly was groundbreaking in a million different ways, and I think part of it was at least for in the madison, wisconsin area I was doing it. It was because it was chaka khan. Right, rufus was from chicago. You may not have known their whole catalog, but if, if you can not tap your toe and get up during tell me something, me Something Good, there's something wrong with you, something wrong with your toe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly right. So there was a predisposition towards her stuff anyway. But then in the mainstream, to have the rap which here's your quiz, william. Do you know who's doing that rap? The Chaka Khan, chaka Khan, chaka Khan, chaka Khan.
Speaker 2:I did and I don't.
Speaker 1:Grandmaster Melly Mel, the Furious Five. The Furious Five. So now you wouldn't call the rap integral to the song, but it was part of the appeal. I heard one time Neil Gerardo, pat Benatar's husband and co-producer, said great songs you recognize within the first three or four seconds, which, if I ever become a major recording artist, I'm going to keep it in mind. I'll let. Yeah, but it was a mixture of both organic music and the synthetic music of 84. The organic music there's that kind of that subtle harmonica part to it. Do you remember who plays the harmonica on that song? I don't, it's a little Stevie Wonder. Oh, yes, putting the harmonica on it as well.
Speaker 1:So not only do you have the songwriting of Prince, not only do you have the powerful vocals of Chaka Khan. Do you have the songwriting of Prince? Not only do you have the powerful vocals of Chaka Khan, but you have all these elements of Stevie Wonder, grandmaster Melly Mel, all of these amazing folks putting it together and really creating like a stew, if you will. Right, that really wasn't on the radio in those times, right? You got to remember the same time we've got Van Halen and you've got lots of other stuff on, and then this kind of bolt from the blue comes out in a way that's just amazing and that's why she was nominated for a Grammy in 85 for Best Female Performance.
Speaker 1:But it was a dance floor hit. And then you layer on top of it because you have to remember the times right, we were seeing music as much as we were listening to it, and there was a video simple, nothing fancy showing her dancing around, but in kind of that urban setting. That just kind of made it work. And so I got to tell you, like I said, as being somebody that was working in the dance clubs at the time, that was absolutely a staple, at least in middle America yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that song was, uh, the first one that prince actually um, that got him on the dick clark show american bandstand, yeah, yeah yeah, he had just famously I've never interviewed before super shy interview right after that where he could barely get two words out yeah, yeah, yeah which is so funny to see you know now, after his career once once you know who it is right.
Speaker 2:But yeah that that actually catapulted him into the spotlight and, like I said, uh, earlier, just I think chaka khan's version took that 10 levels further and I think also helped his career quite a bit.
Speaker 1:I would think so, because I mean, if there was ever a song that was written for the dance floor, at least in the eighties, that was it, you know, because of all the elements to it.
Speaker 1:And it doesn't hurt to have that voice singing your words If're a songwriter, right, right, I mean she, she can sing with the best of them and is one of the best of them. And it was, uh, it was one of those moments in time and and kind of, as you just referred to, if you could go back now with history and look back, if you, if we knew what was to come from prince out of all of that stuff, right, With 1999 coming, and then obviously Purple Rain and world dominance, it really was the sampler, right, it was the appetizer, I think, for the mass market, for him. And then you couldn't turn around without seeing Little Red Corvette in 1999 and all of that other stuff. It really really is amazing when you think about it. But, like I said, having her, um, it just it was. It's a perfect combination and that's where you get that lightning in a bottle kind of thing right, yeah.
Speaker 2:So great song, great um. Great remake of the song and, yeah, brings you right back to that years, those early 80s years.
Speaker 1:I mean you can just go right back, right, right right, the dance club, the discotheque, whatever. If I hadn't thought about it, I could figure out this.
Speaker 2:You were dancing in back in the day.
Speaker 1:I didn't really dance If I really took the time to think about it.
Speaker 2:Dj spinning the tunes versus dancing to the tunes, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, if I really took the time to think about it, I could probably remember the songs that were often played. Going in and out of that song too right, you tended to do the same thing. So really, really great, really, really great. I don't think I have anything else to say on it other than it was I know I mentioned it before, but it's that combination of both the organic instrumentation plus the obvious electronics that I can't think of any other song at the time that was really mixing those two things together and I just it was really great. I guess I've gushed enough.
Speaker 2:There's no doubt about it, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So let's take a few minutes and let's listen to a snippet of Chaka Khan's version of I Feel For you and, as William will remind you, if you head over to our Spotify playlist, you can also hear the Prince original version of it as well. So, chaka Khan, take it away. I Feel For you, let me rock you that's all I want to do.
Speaker 1:Let me rock you let me rock you, let me rock you, Let me rock you. Got the feel for you, the feel for you. Oh, I think, speaking of quad cast, William, I think I just pulled a quad dancing to that. It's a good thing that this is an audio podcast and not a video one, because I don't think the folks at home need to see me hobbling around the studio.
Speaker 2:You think you're going to need a cast for your quad oh wow.
Speaker 1:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to dad joke city. Here we're here, we're here all day. Yep, tip your wait staff, stick around for the midnight show. It gets a little blue. So you, you are all very lucky you didn't see me dancing to that, but it's, it's such a, it's such a great song and the production value of it. Maybe we, you know, we should have my son sam come on everyone so because he's really into that production stuff and he could tell us why that's great. Maybe we'll, maybe we'll do that.
Speaker 1:We'll do a top 10 produced songs list and I wouldn't be surprised if that's on it but I will also tell you, I would also tell you, if we did a top 10 list of songs that everybody knows from the 80s and can sing and probably has some version of the album, it would be this next song, which is uh, you know this supposed to be a podcast about songs written by prince, but this, apparently song was written by a fellow named christopher yeah, I'm gonna have to ask. I'm gonna have you explain that to me, William. How did this fit into the podcast? This is Manic Monday by the Bangles.
Speaker 2:Interesting. We had to shoehorn this song in because it is on a technicality. There's this gentleman named Christopher. He also wore purple. No um, we will get into that. Yes, this is Manic Monday. It is by. Is by. Originally written by Christopher aka Prince and recorded by the Bengals in 1986. It was definitely one of, as you said, the defining pop hits of the 80s. Easily Off their second album, different Light, which I now have, my sixth or seventh version of another copy of the vinyl. Please tell me you have an eight track of it somewhere. I may. I'm not sure. I have a box with about 10 eight tracks left somewhere, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I've recently moved, I'm not sure where it is also did not have an eight track player, so I'm not really like in a hurry to find those either. Um, but yeah it. Uh, I don't know if it's fair to say it helped launch the Bengals career, but it helped launch the Bengals career.
Speaker 1:Certainly certainly nationally. I think at this point they were pretty well established on the West coast, you know, as part of that Paisley underground scene and all that other stuff that was going on there. But I think it certainly catapulted them on the national scene easily.
Speaker 2:This ask a musician um down the road the question of you know when you're writing a song. You write a song, you record it, you lay it out there and stuff. How does your brain go to picking?
Speaker 2:you know who would do really well with this yeah, you know yeah, I mean, how do you get from point because, like I'm thinking about, like, even if you wrote a book or you did anything artistic and you're going to have somebody else be the person that was yep, going out and presenting that like, how do you get from point a to point b? I just, to me that's absolutely fascinating, because this is an absolutely perfect song for the bangles, right, you know? Right, I mean it. Just between the song, the video, um, you know, it's a, it's, it's very poppy hooky. Um, right, just everything about it uh, had such a huge, huge impact on pop culture at that time.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, and I think the other thing, getting back to your how you interpret a song, whether you're on the receiving end or the giving end, is, I don't think Prince would have recorded it with kind of that jangly, rickenbacker, beatle-y sound that the Bangles did.
Speaker 1:Right Now, the keyboards on the song to me sound like something prince would do, but the cop, the guitars don't, and and and certainly the the drum has much more of a percussive 60s almost feel, which was in a lot of the bangles music at that time, which, again, if, if there was a swear jar for every time, I said that's the genius of prince's songwriting, I'd we could pay for a keg party after this.
Speaker 1:But that's the genius of Prince's songwriting is you can take a song that probably has a soulful genesis and take it and turn it into a 60s jangly pop thing, yet not lose that keyboard thing. It's spectacular, it was absolutely perfect for them and I I will um fight anyone if you got, since we're fighting people for who is the greatest halftime thing. I will also fight anyone who says to me that, um, the bangles are not one of the greatest interpreters of other songs as well, because whether it's Paul, the Paul Simon covers, that they did a jewel sheer cover, that they did all of these amazing songs going down to Liverpool and I'm blanking Kim Foley song, all these amazing songwriters. They would take these songs and literally make them their own, and that, and that's what they did with Prince, which had to be intimidating as all get out to go. Oh, you're going to give us this song you never recorded.
Speaker 2:Gulp yeah, yeah and and again. You've already uh promised myself, as well as our listeners, that I'm not going to be able to get anywhere near the uh peterson sisters at the upcoming event which, by the way, they will be at in january yeah, no, actually extra security for you, william to keep right, but maybe you could uh sneak in a question for me.
Speaker 2:I'll write it on a post-it note for you so you don't forget. Um, it would be also fascinating to like hear how do you you know, prince the genius, you, when you said how intimidating that would kind of be how do you get that song and then just reimagine it? I'd love to hear right like a backstory on that, if there is one or whatever. Like how does that?
Speaker 2:how did it happen that it just becomes like, so different and I, are these people just that talented that they hear that? And they're like, oh, if I were doing that just a little different, I would do this how do they get? To the genius. That is the remake.
Speaker 1:And again when the person giving you the song is Prince, right.
Speaker 2:Right you.
Speaker 1:The song is prince right it right. Who at that? Who at that point was now using pen names for his song so that it wouldn't overshadow the cover? I mean, that's the reason why he did release things as the family or as christopher as all these other things you know.
Speaker 2:Speaking of that, um, let's just see, I have a, a list, and I did this off the top of my head, without using the internet, but I have a list of some of prince's nicknames and I want to see how many of those you can, uh, come up.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I, I think I've already uh blown my uh larder on that one, and there's a phrase I never thought I'd use in public yeah, um, in with christopher and the family. Other than that, I mean I I know he was basically the time and there were some of those other things, but I don't think I know any more other than those two, christopher and the family well, that's why I'm here, mike.
Speaker 2:I'm going to share a couple of them with you. He, of course, was known to a lot of his followers as his royal badness. Yep, yep, I mean. You know, you're a good artist when you got.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Absolutely During the contract issues with Warner Brothers, when he was walking through life as a symbol, oh yeah, that's when you know and people are kvetching over how do we pronounce it what most people would you get ignored? And, yes, everybody was yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, that was the best part. I thought nobody knew what to call him, right, like when you would see him starting an interview. They'd be like uh like tongue tied Right, Um, but then it turned into with that one. It turned into the artist formerly known.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Later, after that that's because that's that's a mouthful, that's a long time he was simply known as Taff Cap, which is the artist formerly known as Prince, the acronym for that. He was the Prince of Funk. Yeah, growing up before he, I believe before he got his probably not his first guitar, well, maybe before he got his first guitar. This was when he was really young, pre-high school. His nickname was Skipper and I don't know the backstory on that.
Speaker 1:Boy, there's got to be a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, got to be a good one We'll have to get our crack research team on it. Yeah, our executive producer on that. He was known as the high priest of pop. Yeah, uh, the purple one? Yeah, um, alexander, nevermind, and I got to do a little bit of research on that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I do remember how he used her and what circumstance he used that one?
Speaker 2:I don't. I do know that alexander o'neill was involved with him in his band of yep fine folks from minneapolis at one point there, but not really sure. Um, I believe it might have been on a shana easton song, but I'll look that up and okay, all right. Um, there's camille.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I did now now that you're saying these things, they resonate, but I wouldn't have been able to pull them out of thin air.
Speaker 2:I actually made a a song list with all the songs he actually sang in the camille voice yeah, bizarre voice. Um, jamie, you've heard that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, reference that in some lyrics. And, of course, the symbol, which is really just the male female symbol.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, quite a few nicknames for for that man.
Speaker 1:You know. That's when you know you're cool is when even your 24 alter egos are cool. That's exactly that's when you've reached. That's when you've reached a new level. Um, but I think the other thing getting back to manic monday and the bangles is it's the. The beauty of, again of his songwriting is it's such a simple concept to write a song right. This, this stinks, right. I got to get up. I was just having a good dream. You know, last night he or she, whoever I was with, was who doesn't work Right, cause I have to be the breadwinner and employment's down. I mean, only he can take what is a mundane, ordinary thing and turn it into that confectionary that is so great.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And the gals in the bangles did such a great job with it. They really did.
Speaker 2:They did such a good job that that song catapulted all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
Speaker 1:How could it be only number two? What would possibly?
Speaker 2:keep it up, I know, uh, do you remember what it was? I know, you know, basically yeah I, I do, but I'll I'll.
Speaker 1:I won't ruin your surprise.
Speaker 2:Tell william I will tell uh, number one. The whole time it was number two and crawled all the way up to number two was another song by prince called kiss. Yeah, amazing, such a brilliant not that we're talking about that song today, but what a brilliant song, like it was done. And then he goes. You know what? Let's take the bass out and see what happens. Yeah, yeah, they're like what. Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, right yeah, I would have loved a bit of fly on the wall there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. First of all, I'm going to tell you nobody said to him at that point. That doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:Yes, they're just thinking that in their head and then all of a sudden they hear it and they're like, ah, that's why he's the genius.
Speaker 1:That's why he's the thing you and I have talked about this as we've been planning out these podcasts is. You know we can do hundreds of episodes on Prince. I would also like to have been a fly on the wall when he was walking the band through the instrumentation of when doves cry. Oh, yeah. Yes. No, it's going to be a big, it's going to be a big hit Really and it was tremendous.
Speaker 2:I would also have loved to have been a fly in the wall in some of the meetings that he was having with Warner Brothers, because from all the documentaries and things I've seen, they were just like what the heck do we do with this guy, other than count the cash that's coming in the back door every time he touches something? But just way, way, way ahead of his time? Uh, I, I don't know. I I would really like to find, uh, an overall musician, single person musician, that is more talented than him right, and I mean Right.
Speaker 1:No, that could do all of those things. Have you ever been to Paisley Park?
Speaker 2:You know, oddly enough, I have not.
Speaker 1:On my bucket list. I have heard that it's worth the trip.
Speaker 2:They had a lot of shows. I know he recorded a couple of them. They were called A Piano and a Microphone where he played yeah at paisley park, yeah on his grand piano and stuff, and he would literally just play songs on the piano and sing yeah for a show. And I can't even imagine how awesome that would have been.
Speaker 1:But I yeah, I I'm not gonna name drop, but there's a a pretty big band that I'm friends with and they recorded an album up there and said it was pretty phenomenal it was all that, yeah, yeah, um.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, of course, who wouldn't love to? Um, get a look, see inside that, that vault, the vault, the vault, just to see the dearth of stuff that's rumored to be in there. I mean, I've heard another lifetime yeah, at least and it's just. It's a real shame that his extended family can't get their you know what together?
Speaker 2:together, yes um and figure out, because I mean I, you know, I don't know, I don't really know how I feel about it, but just being a fan, I think I think fans should have the opportunity to hear stuff like that, yeah but the flip side is if he didn't want it to go. I mean, who knows what his intentions were, and whether you're clear about that, or not.
Speaker 1:this is a great topic and I I would this again. It could be another podcast, but I'm a Beatles obsessive and back in the 80s and I think they've figured out how it all happened, but basically all of their stuff leaked out, all the demos and all the first and eighth, which is why they put out anthology, and I think they've just they figured out what had happened. There was one of their biographies the guy that was putting together their studio diary book which was coming out, which is what, what happened on each day when they were recording at Abbey road, was sick at the time and so they would messenger the tapes over and they believe the messenger would make a stop and they'd copy all that stuff. Um, and I eat it up. I I love, because I have not a creative bone in my body and to hear you know lennon's first strumming of you know strawberry fields oh yeah or you know the the to the, it just to me.
Speaker 1:I'm not an artist, so I don't know how I'd feel, but I, I, I can't imagine for somebody like Prince or McCartney, even if there was two hours of him doing arm farts you know where you wouldn't want to at least hear it go. What was he trying to do with this? This?
Speaker 2:right, yeah, the beatles stuff you speak of. There's um spent some recent documentaries on the beatles and whatnot and it's amazing to me, this many years after they were doing their thing, that new videos coming up all the time and it is so fascinating just to see them approach writing a song, the four of them sitting down and just the banter that they have back and forth and all that I mean. That's that to me. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, I don't know, but that to me is like as exciting as the music, absolutely. A lot of cases here in the stories behind how it came to be To show to show how much I need therapy.
Speaker 1:I once bought a cassette tape, a 90 minute cassette tape of 23 different takes of strawberry fields. That's all it was on it. I've got one that's got like 17 versions of she said. She said right, you know so. So, to get back to your question, I don't know how Prince would feel about it, but I think once your legacy is solidified, as you know, a Mount Rushmore kind of candidate, I think it's probably okay. Maybe you don't want the one where you know he was half drunk or whatever and couldn't do it, but I don't I. I can't imagine that it would be anything but enhancing his career to hear some of the stuff in the vault, the finished stuff and then the path from first chords to the final production. But that's because I'm a fan and I just would love to hear it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, to that end too, and obviously depends on the era and stuff. But like the revolution is the original members of the band the revolution are still together, still performing. Yeah, um, so if there were some songs that weren't a hundred percent finished, you know, maybe they get involved or right right, you know, actually I don't think there's any.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there's. I'm not thinking of one or two, but very few of the musicians in his orbit that he played with that aren't still performing. So, yeah, you know, which is a little different than, like when the Beatles had those two songs. They were looking to finish up, but they did have Lennon's voice that they could use and, by the way, I thought were thought were magnificent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those, those songs yeah, well, and I'm a, and I'm a huge beatles guy and and paul is my mozart. But I don't believe for a second that they didn't get a little help from ai on those, because those last couple, those last couple songs came from the same tapes that um free as a bird and real love came from well that's what I was talking about.
Speaker 1:Those two songs, oh yeah, I thought, and then they did this most recent one. Whether it's not now and then, or whatever, right, right, yeah, yeah, a couple years ago yeah, and, and they declared that no, no, no, there was just better technology to separate the vocals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which man yeah I don't know and I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't particularly care, because it's his song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm the kind of guy that would do arm farts and think it's awesome, so I yeah, I totally, completely agree, and I just uh, you know these, I mean I guess we're we're picking. We're talking about Prince and the Beatles right now.
Speaker 1:Right, right, yeah, can't we talk about?
Speaker 2:goat moment here.
Speaker 1:Can we talk about some better musicians in that? So you are a Minnesota boy, you grew up in the area. You have to have a story or two of Prince, besides the your girlfriend in the shirts, uh, uh, and, and keep in mind, we're probably going to do Prince in about 10, 10 more episodes going forward, but is there one story that you would want to tell about Prince? Sure Brush with greatness or an amazing moment? You saw him 50 times. You had to have seen something.
Speaker 2:I mean there's. There's so many. I'll tell two. One will be very quick. Um, one was he was playing.
Speaker 2:They had the um special olympics worldwide special olympic, like olympics was at the metrodome, um, where I was working, and I was working for the twins and vikings at the time and I knew prince was going to be rehearsing and we could just walk the twins and Vikings at the time and I knew Prince was going to be rehearsing and we could just walk from our office up to the field and hang out and watch him. So I'm standing there, I'm a 16, 17 years old standing there by myself out on the field watching Prince rehearse. He's yelling at people and, um, everybody's laughing cause he's so short, you know, and just like whatever. There weren't that many people there and all of a sudden, this woman walks up and is standing right next to me and I'm completely into this rehearsal and she looks over and she goes he's awesome, isn't he? And I look back at her and I'm like, like I couldn't speak. It was. It was Kirstie Alley in her cheers days.
Speaker 2:Oh, she was there, just like I don't know. Sure I don't know if she had part. That was part of the opening ceremonies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who knows, who knows yeah.
Speaker 2:Whoa, I mean, I was. I was a boy, that was 17.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and after that you were 19. Yes, I get it Exactly. Yes, so there's that.
Speaker 2:But my absolute favorite one. I just started a new job downtown Minneapolis. We're going to Timberwolves a Timberwolves game and I was with a colleague of mine and we went out to dinner beforehand and my company had rented a suite. I just started there, so I'm a little bit nervous. Hadn't even met everybody I was working with and we're walking from the dinner to the arena where the Timberwolves play.
Speaker 2:And we walked by this building and it was a recently opened Glam Slam Prince's Bar, yeah, downtown in the Warehouse District, which has no doors and no windows, by the way, or had yeah. So we're standing out in front of it like wondering what does it look like inside? It's obviously it was locked. Sure, maybe we'll wait a couple minutes Just see if it, if it opens, just to peek inside, just out of curiosity.
Speaker 2:Well, we're standing there waiting for about 15 minutes and all of a sudden there's like three or four people that are also standing there waiting behind us and we're sort of forming a line. I'm like whatever, nobody, nobody seemed to know what was going on and we just I mean it was beautiful out and we just were standing there talking, hanging out, and then a guy comes out out, a bouncer from the bar and he goes just to let you know. Now there's probably maybe 10 people out there milling around just to let you know he's. He's playing tonight. It's going to be $10 to get in. Um doors are gonna open in a half hour, okay so we're like oh shoot, what do we do?
Speaker 2:yeah, gotta, I got the work thing. Yeah me, me more so than her, because she had been with the company for a while. I'm like I don't know if I can skip out on the work thing. You know I don't get in trouble. She's like I'm not going back there. Um, we did find out you had to pay ten dollars. We're gonna originally we're gonna buy tickets, just get like 10, 15 tickets and see if anyone wanted to come back with us, but you literally had to pay and walk in. Uh, long story short, it turns out it was a rehearsal for his upcoming tour, which I want to say was the alphabet street tour, and he played. Um, the first set was about three hours. There was a lot of starting and stop.
Speaker 1:The first set was three.
Speaker 2:First set the first set. Yeah, you heard me right. Three straight hours too. No, no breaks, nothing other than occasionally. He would start and stop songs because it was a practice and it was the first time they were playing some of them, so you'd be, like you know, turn the on the one, you know, yeah, yeah whatever right and um.
Speaker 2:So that was awesome. It was really cool and fun. Oh and, by the way, there was only I don't remember how many people they let in, but let's say it's a bar bar that could easily hold 300 people. Maybe they let in 100 and just stop, god private concert basically.
Speaker 2:So I literally could walk up and I did walk up to the bar, get a drink, walk from there to the stage, put my drink on the stage and go to the bathroom and come back and my drink would still be on this. I mean, it was like that. Yeah, it was. I'm not, it was.
Speaker 2:It was like watching somebody who no one's ever heard of. And then he ends, he thanks everyone, he apologizes for all the starting and stopping. He was explaining about the practice and just how they're still learning parts of the songs and stuff. And then he said if you don't mind, I'm going to take a quick 10-minute break and then I'm going to come back and play the hits.
Speaker 1:And were people complaining?
Speaker 2:They said no, don't yeah no, yeah, I got to go. It's already 9.30, 10. I got to jump.
Speaker 1:I got to catch the last quarter of the Timberwolves game.
Speaker 2:I'm like I didn't even realize. I'm like, oh my God, he hasn't played like anything off of you know, the 1999 or Purple Rain or anything yet you know. And then it just started. It was like, oh my God, I don't even believe this. You know it was just because of the lack of people there. The uh, you know that would be one If you could get a tape of that one right off the board.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say that those are the, those are the ones that you, if they're not going to open the vaults, then give us that. Right, Right, yeah, Cause I I would assume all that stuff was recorded because if he found any magic he would want to recapture it Absolutely. Yeah, this is probably not the thing. We'll save it for a future one. But I know you know the story. You probably know the story of purple rain and that riff, the solo. There's a, there's some videos on that, that show the extended version that was recorded that night and the expression that was not part of the thing, and he finds it during the show and you can see the look you know. So I would assume, and that's what they use too, right Right.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and there's some videos that will show you right where it was cut and right where it came back in it. Miraculous, but I would assume that he recorded all that stuff. I think they recorded everything. Yeah, miraculous, but I would assume that he recorded all that stuff. I think they recorded everything, yeah. So so if you're listening up in paisley park and I'm sure they are if you could just go ahead and release the live you know the rehearsals we'll take that.
Speaker 2:if you're not going to open the vault yeah, and if, if it would be easier for you, mike and I will come up there you could give us a quick tour, because we've never been before. Well, we'll pay for it, even, sure, yeah whatever, yeah yeah, and then you could just give us the stuff there. We'll have a small truck with us right.
Speaker 1:Trust us, we'll take good care of it we'll take good care of it. Yeah well, I knew you'd have to have some good print stories oh, I have many more. Many do well, I think we can find other reasons for him to be our topic in some future quadcast.
Speaker 1:So, why don't we take a minute and listen to Sue and Vicki and Debbie and Michael sing Manic Monday, and then, when we come back, we'll do our fourth song of the quadcast, and I think there'll be some good conversation around this as well. So, vicki, sue, debbie, take it away Bangles Manic Monday already made.
Speaker 2:It's just another manic monday. That song excites me so much for this upcoming event that we have coming up in January. Mike, do you want to tell us a little bit about Joey's Song, the dates please?
Speaker 1:Oh sure. So for those of you that are new to all of this, vicki Peterson and Debbie Peterson from the Bengals are Joey's Song regulars, so they come every year and play our benefit. And this year we have expanded Joey's song and the Bangles. Vicky and Debbie are going to do a full Bangles set during the week leading up to the Joey's song concert on January 11th.
Speaker 1:So on January 10th Vicky and Debbie, along with Jane Weidland from the Go-Go's yes, rock and Roll Hall of Famer, jane Weidland from the Go-Go's and Gail Greenwood, the bass player from Belly, are going to perform a full Bangles set with all these Bangles songs and all the Bangles hits, and some of them like in a lot of cases, like last year when we had them and they came and played. They played Hero Takes a Fall, which is a Bangles song that Vicki wrote but never sang because it was a Sue song. So last year she sang it live for the first time ever at our little thing, and I think you'll probably see more of that this year in January when Vicki and Debbie and the friends play an evening of bangle songs. It's going to be freaking great. So, joeysongorg, to get your tickets I would suggest you get them quickly, because they just went on sale this week and I don't think they're going to be sitting around long.
Speaker 2:And I am working on something. I haven't completely baked it all out yet, but something for our show, uh, as a, you know, like a, a prize that people can apply to win. I again working on the logistics, but it's. It's basically going to be when to be win a dream date with Sir William. At the event. It'll be what I'd like to call almost VIP-like event. We'll get to maybe meet some people not Vicki and Debbie, because I've been banned, yep, although the person who would be my date. We might be able to side.
Speaker 1:That would be fine. We can get them past security.
Speaker 2:They could maybe meet with them or whatever. But we'll get that all buttoned up down the road.
Speaker 1:Instead of VIP, it would be SIP, a somewhat important person.
Speaker 2:Or an almost important person, an AIP. There you go.
Speaker 1:Adjacent important person. Yes, an AIP, there you go, yeah. Adjacent important person. Yeah, there's so many things that we can do with this. That would be great. Yeah, we're still flushing through the deets on there, but thank you for giving me the chance to talk about it. If you are a Bengals fan, this will be a one-off that you will never see again, and the guests that will be joining them will make it really special. I'll take it a step further.
Speaker 2:If you're a music fan, this is an event you'll never be able to see again. Even if you were there last year with me or with Mike, you won't be able to see that show again, and it'll be different this year and it's kind of like this is the greatest show on earth.
Speaker 1:So it's not the circus, but it's the greatest show on earth. So it's not the circus, but it's the greatest show on earth. Well, backstage it can be kind of a circus, but that's for another podcast, right? So what do we have for our last song, sir william, in our song and boy.
Speaker 2:Last night I um hosted a a um an event to raise money for the alz Alzheimer's foundation, yep, which you thought maybe would have helped me a little bit, but I can't remember the horse.
Speaker 1:Nothing compares to you.
Speaker 2:My favorite, okay, I knew it was right there, I was on the tip of my tongue.
Speaker 1:No, that was it was actually a perfect setup, so some of the money you raised last night will be going towards you.
Speaker 2:Towards research. For me down the road.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yes, Nothing compares to you Such an absolutely great, great song. You know what I think I made a mistake earlier in the show you did and I wasn't going to correct you.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, the Chris Cornell comment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was kind of late night last night at this event.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so that'd be Chris Cornell, who sings another version of Nothing Compares to you. Yeah, as well as our next artist that we'll be introducing here that took a song written by Prince and turned it into a worldwide smash and also the launch point of her career, and that would be my sister from across the pond, sinead O'Connor.
Speaker 1:I will not do my Irish accent. I will save you all on that. I can't imagine there's anybody that listens to this song and watches that video that isn't moved. And it's another example almost the opposite of what we were talking about with what both Chaka Khan and with what the Bangles did. Sinead basically stripped this down as opposed to built it up like it. If you hear the Prince original, which is available online, you can hear it. I think it's on that original CD where he did a lot of it's called Prince Originals.
Speaker 2:It's also going to be on our Spotify list.
Speaker 1:His version is bombastic a little bit. I don't know if it's bombastic, but there's boom, boom, boom, boom kind of stuff to it and it's. It's more of a powerful, a sonically powerful, where hers is more emotionally powerful.
Speaker 2:Hers is very sparse. Yeah, very good.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's, that's the difference. And the video is just basically a headshot. I haven't gone back to look at it to see if it's a continual headshot or not. I think it is, but it just that's it. It's basically her lip syncing the words to it and by the end there's tears coming down her face and it's amazing.
Speaker 1:I think the thing for me about both this song and, for the 95th time, the genius of prince, is the song without any lyrical change. There's a few little tweaks that shenaid makes to. It works as a. In my interpretation, prince's version is he screwed up and lost the girl. That's that my interpretation.
Speaker 1:Sinead's version to me is she was cheated on and someone left her. Exact same song, exact same lyrics, everything else about it, but the way that it's arranged and the vocal performance and all that. I don't know if that's right or not. I don't know if that's what Prince was thinking or that was what Sinead was thinking, but that to me is you know, know, prince is like I really screwed up, and so now I just go out every night and I sleep all day because I really should have done better and hers is why did you leave me? And I'm stranded and I'm floundering. And again, that's that's the beauty of great songwriting. I mentioned it earlier when we were talking about Manicay plus. There's nothing complicated about any part of this song. There's nothing complicated about the lyrics. Nothing compares to you. That's basically it and it. It carries more power and emotion than some you know extremely complex wording, and that's that's.
Speaker 2:That's the power of it yeah, her voice is just so I can't think of a like haunting, like yes, good way absolutely love. I'm actually going to play it right after we hang up probably that in a little emperor's clothes, just for you know, for fun.
Speaker 1:But yeah, there is a, a shakiness in her voice that there is on everything. If you listen to Mandinga and some of her other um hits, that really hits hard on this song and I I it's not that kind of you know what the kids do today with the gravering and all that other stuff it's, it's subtle in her voice yeah and it just it.
Speaker 1:It packs more emotion than just about anything you. You can, you can do, but again, if you, if seeing that close up of her face we've said this before in those days you would see the music as well as hear it, right, and that you can't watch that video and not be moved. You just can't.
Speaker 2:It's impossible. Do you think she's more known for that or for her antics on Saturday Night Live?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, good question. It depends on how you define well-known In the music community. She's admired for her antics, not because you agree or disagree with what she did, but the fact that she stood by her principles, knowing it would ruin her career, at least here in the U? S and in lots of places in the world. For those that don't know, uh, a performance on Saturday night live. She pulled out a picture of the Pope at the time.
Speaker 1:I think it was John Paul the second said something about fighting the real power, or something like that, which is amazing when you understand that she was an ordained minister. I don't know if at the time but became one. So religion I don't know if you know this or not, but in Ireland it's a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know that or not, william, I sure do yeah, I'm sure you do, and so she ripped it up on TV and it caught. You know they cut away and it wasn't planned and everything. So I know in the music business she is admired for taking a stand in a community where that's very important and praised, right. That's the whole idea of being an artist to present. Now in the greater community. She's probably known for ripping up a picture of the Pope because it's a stunt and we all like controversy and all that other stuff. So I don't know, I don't know that probably those probably level each other out on what she's better known for. But I know I will tell you that when she passed last year year before, I don't remember exactly when it was and we were putting together the Joey song playlist, it was not even a question. Whether we would do nothing compares to you. It was going to happen, because I know that everybody on that stage felt that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, by the way, for a future show is somebody writing all these down, cause I think we've come up with eight different topics today. I know I will.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna write. Oh, by the way, nobody's gonna enjoy this except you, but I have a quad cast oh, binder wow with the logo and I'm saving all the show notes, wow.
Speaker 1:We're like watching this.
Speaker 2:We're like big boys, william. I was watching this documentary the other night. It was John Gruden, the football coach, yes, and he his wife, was so sick and tired of him having his friends over talking about watching like game film and just talking football and stuff. She's like you got to get this crap out of our house. So he said, fine, I'm going to rent a place then. So he went and rented a building. He's got like all these different rooms.
Speaker 2:He's got the green bay packer room, the san francisco yeah, everywhere he worked and he goes in there for different things, but he has these binders with every game plan he's ever written and he walks up to the shelf and he pulls out. This is the, this is the game that uh, so-and-so got hurt, was it mckowski got?
Speaker 1:hurt and then far came in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah you know, and then, and then he never, never went back out after that. And you know, I mean he's like got the whole, like all the plays right there and I was just like that's pretty cool, I'm going to do that with our show. Um, so I will. Yeah, so I'll write this down. But anyway, I don't know if we can weave this in and if it even makes any sense, but I would love to have a show where we talked about the topic of what was I asking about.
Speaker 1:Sinead and ripping up the pictures of the Pope.
Speaker 2:The topic about musicians and their platform.
Speaker 1:And how they used it, for good or evil.
Speaker 2:Obviously, the most biggest recent example was Taylor Swift endorsing a candidate for president and like what kind of impact that may or may not have. Right, I would just be. I'd be fascinated to have a conversation with you, whether it's on the show or not, but I just think it's a very, very interesting time.
Speaker 1:There's been a handful that we could just do saturday night live on itself. Because, uh, elvis costello very famously got banned for like 20 years because he didn't play the song he was supposed to and went into radio radio and so, yeah, that that's a, that that's a great topic. That would be a, that would be a fun one.
Speaker 2:I mean it's, it's to me it's uh like I won't get into how I totally feel, but there's so many of these artists that and it's high risk for them, especially given today's world. Like you too, you know there's a political side to every one of their shows springsteen, right, you know a lot of these guys and it's kind of like I frankly it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 1:I you know, I don't care what side somebody's on, if they do it.
Speaker 1:Well, for me it's the opposite. For me, I just feel like if I know that somebody is not of a persuasion that appeals to me, I don't get mad. I just don't listen or watch or go to or buy tickets to, as opposed to getting all up in arms and I can give you the list of all the folks right now that I you know you couldn't pay me to go see but as opposed to trying to cancel them if. If people want to go see Ted Nugent, God bless, you just stay away from me, Right, and and and. So that's okay and that's where we get back to.
Speaker 1:And now we're really going to go off quick, tangent. Here. It's OK to differ with somebody on it. It's when there's a violent undertone to it or an enemy flavor to it, which Ted's a perfect example of. It's not just that he's a conservative, Ed, it's that he's also violent and you know all the gun nut. It's that he's also violent and you know all the gun nut. Well, yeah, that's a whole nother topic. So I'm, I'm with you. That would be, that would be a fun topic to do. Um, and shenaid is a perfect example of somebody that decided to stick with it and knowing the cost right and is so talented.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's another. There's so many sides to that whole topic. Absolutely other side is what risk are you putting your career in right, going that you know going so far?
Speaker 2:right right yeah, michael jordan famously right the republicans buy sneakers too, right, and so I'm not really gonna let people know which way I'm leaning or whatever, which I agree with, and I was actually my thought. When everybody was calling for taylor swift to endorse kamala harris, I was thinking, well, they're you know, republicans, listen to your music too. But I sort of feel like she's immune to that, like she's bigger than that, like I don't think it matters at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And and and, realistically, most of the entertainment business is of a progressive persuasion. Anyway, we know the ones that aren't um, because they're on Fox news every three hours, because there's like seven of them they're certainly not performing at the republican conventions or anything.
Speaker 1:No, and I will not be other than lee greenwood yeah, and I will not be ripping off my shirt like the hulkster. Um, so I, yeah, I it's a, it's a. It's easier for me to take a look at it because I know most of the folks who I admire artistically probably are in sync with me on a lot of the things that are important to me. And let's be honest, let's call a spade a spade. Here is we have the issues are usually around social issues, not around fiscal kind of stuff. Ted Nugent and I aren't disagreeing on tariffs or fiscal policy, on funding public education, right. So there's a whole element to that that makes it much more personal than just disagreeing on how we fund hot lunches, right, you know. But so anyway, we've digressed and now we've lost half of our audience because I know, but they'll.
Speaker 2:They're still sticking with us because they're really curious as to are we done? Do we have more songs?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Could there be more Looping back, because we are running up against time? And next to Prince's and then the Chris Cornell version, as you mentioned, are three versions of the same song that hits you three different ways, have three different perspectives. You can craft multiple stories around the perspective of the singer without changing a single lyric or the melody, by just playing with the arrangement and the emphasis on the vocals. And that's again where genius comes from.
Speaker 2:And just to hammer that point home um, as uh, you know, you and I both learned on our last show, I believe we we both have DJ in our blood and everybody knows when you're putting together like a, a playlist or something that you're going to be sharing with others, you don't put the same song three times in a row on your list, unless you're somebody's going to hit random or whatever right right, right, those three songs you could actually play back to back to back and probably would even want to as a little social experiment because, they are so different with the exact same words, but they bring you to.
Speaker 2:They bring me to different places every time, absolutely, and I love all three of them, and that's that's pretty rare too to usually a favor one version over the other or whatever.
Speaker 1:But right I I'm. I'm completely with you on that. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, on this, but I think Prince was a heck of a songwriter I don't know if I've mentioned that or not. Heck of a musician too. Yeah, this to me is your starting point If you really want the not the starting point of his career, but if you really want to take a look at what great songwriting is and simple songwriting. Take all three versions that we've talked about, play them and make a note of how they hit you, and then you will see why it's genius. On a song who's basically says 14 times nothing compares to you, which is not that we've all felt that way. It's not that deep of a sentiment. He hasn't gone in and pulled your chakra out and found the meaning of life. But man, it's something else, sure is it sure is.
Speaker 1:Something else. Well, william, I have a feeling that this will not be the last time we talk about Prince Rogers Nelson in our podcast, because we haven't even really gone into his versions of songs or his B-sides or any of that stuff. But I have a feeling you and I could talk Prince all day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's going to be tough to narrow that next show down to four songs, but you know we'll come up with another hook and make it. You know four songs that begin with the letter Q or something yeah right, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I think that's it Exactly. So all right, william, thanks for hanging with the queue like in quadcast. Did you mean that I did?
Speaker 2:yes, you radio guy, you're pulled quadcast.
Speaker 1:That's exactly it. Well, with that I'm going to go ice my pulled quadcast down and stick with us. Come back soon. We've got more on the way. William's going to get that binder of his out and we're going to start taking notes. That's right, I'm going to let you close us down here, William.
Speaker 2:Yes, please, if you haven't heard this message yet please, please, please, go to joeysongorg, where you can purchase tickets. Yet today they're online on sale, ready to go. They're going to be gone soon. Today they're online on sale, ready to go. They're going to be gone soon. I mean, we're not at the threat of being out yet because they just went on sale not too long ago, but you're going to want to get on there and do it and just buy it for the whole week, you know just have one real quick.
Speaker 1:I have one real quick question for you. But what if people they've already bought their joey song tickets but want to keep up with the quad cast? How or where would they do that? Oh great question, mike.
Speaker 2:Great question, thank you. Recently you launched a Facebook page. Yep, if you go onto Facebook and simply type in the new buzzword that's trending all over Twitter, all over Quad cast, that's Q-U-A-D-C-A-S-T. Just like it sounds. That's one-U-A-D-C-A-S-T. Just like it sounds. That's one place to find us. Well, actually, there will be a link to each of our shows there, so follow us on the socials, yeah, wherever you listen to podcasts. Again, you're going to want to just type in Quadcast with a Q and you'll find us. You'll find us right there, we're starting new things every single day.
Speaker 2:So you know, we might even be on TikTok. If one of us can figure out how to use that, I wouldn't hold your breath. It's not going to be me, but no, no, no One of our. Maybe we'll get one of our minions to figure that out for us.
Speaker 1:Where is my staff? Yeah, the research department. Yeah, that crack research staff william.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much. We'll talk to you everybody soon. Thanks for listening to the quadcast. I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant, but nothing. I said nothing compares to you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us for the Joey Song Podcast. Remember to visit our website, joysongorg. Follow us on all our social media handles, which are at Joey Song. We'll see you guys at the show. Oh geez, sorry about the record scratch. Wait a minute. I forgot one thing. If you want to help us spread the word about Joey Song and our podcast, there's a few things you can do that are real simple that will help us. One of the things you can do is follow the show wherever you get your podcast, give us a five-star review I mean, why wouldn't you and write a review. All of these things help our podcast and our cause get more traction and seen throughout the community. And if you wanted to tell a few friends about Joey's Song in the podcast, that would be great as well. And, of course, you can visit joey's songorg and follow us on social media. All of our handles are at Joey's Song. Okay, I think that's it. We will see you guys at the show.
