Kiss (song)

"Kiss"
U.S. 7" single
Single by Prince and The Revolution from the album Parade
B-side	"♥ or $"
Released	5 February, 1986
Format	7" single 12" single
Recorded	Studio C at Sunset Sound; 1985
Genre	Pop, Funk, Minimalist
Length	Album: 3:38 7" single: 3:46 12" single: 7:16
Label	Paisley Park Records
Writer	Prince
Producer	Prince
Certification	Gold - (5 May, 1986)
Prince and The Revolution singles chronology
"America" (1985) "Kiss" (1986) "Mountains" (1986)
Prince (UK) singles chronology
"Pop Life" (1985)	"Kiss" (1986)	"Mountains" (1986)

"Kiss" is a 1986 song by Prince and the Revolution, from the album Parade. Kiss started as a short acoustic demo, about a minute in length, with one verse and the chorus. Prince gave the song to the funk band Mazarati for their debut album. Mazarati and producer David Z. drastically reworked the song, giving it its unique raw funk and oddly effective stripped-down minimalist sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he was amazed at their work and decided to take back the song for himself. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form. Mazarati were credited for their backing vocals, which Prince left intact. He added the song at the last minute to Parade. Despite Warner Bros. not wanting to release it as a single, Kiss became Prince's third number-one U.S. hit following 1984's highly successful "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy". It was also a big hit across the Atlantic, reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart. The song won Prince another Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, and was nominated for Best R&B Song. [1] The song has become a staple at Prince's concerts and is usually sung partially by the audience. The 12" single of the song is an extension of the album track. The extended section is based on the funky guitar line and contains much fuller instrumentation than the main track, including bass, keys and horns. New lyrics are present from Prince with Wendy and Lisa that ends with a humorous dialogue between a wife and her husband watching Prince on television. The B-side of Kiss was the funky "♥ or $" ("Love or Money"), sung in a processed, higher-pitched vocal, which Prince would later use for his Camille material. The song relates to the theme in Under the Cherry Moon and a bit of the song was heard in the film, as was a bit of the extended version of Kiss. The extended Kiss was included on 2006's Ultimate but "♥ or $" has oddly never been re-released. Art of Noise performed a cover of the song two years later, in 1988, featuring legendary belter Tom Jones on vocals. The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, peaking at #5 on the UK Singles Chart. The guitar and horns break in the middle of this cover musically references the themes to Dragnet and Peter Gunn (two songs the Art of Noise covered with much commercial success) as well as their own breakthrough hit, "Close (To the Edit)". This cover was later included as part of an episode of the series Listed on Much More Music, which was on the Top 20 cover songs.

Trivia

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• On the week Kiss hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Manic Monday" - a song written by Prince under the alias "Christopher" and performed by The Bangles was at #2.
• Prince has stated that he has never been happy with the arrangement on this song and it is arranged differently for each tour.
• The music video of this song features Prince dancing sexually with a veiled girl performing exotic dances. The only Revolution member in the video is Wendy Melvoin, sitting on a barstool playing her guitar.
• New Musical Express ranked the song #4 in their The 150 Greatest Singles of All Time.
• Rolling Stone ranked the song #461 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
• Prince changed the lyrics "You don't have to watch Dynasty/To have an attitude" to "You don't have to watch Sex and the City/To have an attitude" as seen in his performance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
• In his performances at the O2 Arena in London, UK, Prince changed the lyrics to 'You don't have to watch Big Brother/To have an attitude".
• Julia Roberts performed the song in her star-making film Pretty Woman.
• Britney Spears has stated that Kiss is her favourite song of all time.
• Comedian Rodney Carrington performed his rendition of Kiss on his live CD, "Hangin' With Rodney". He then proceeded to sing a "country version" of Kiss.
• Kiss is Norma Jean's (Nicole Kidman) heartsong in the 2006 animated film Happy Feet.

External links

• The original demo, with Mazarati's vocals can be heard at the group's official myspace page [2]