"Ice Cream Castles" is the opening track from
The Time's third album, ''
Ice Cream Castle''. The track was one of the last songs recorded for the album, being cut in mid-January 1984, along with "My Drawers". The song was composed by
Prince and
Morris Day, with Prince writing the lyrics after recording the instrumental tracks. Day provided drums and lead vocals, while
Jesse Johnson played electric guitars on the recording. Prince played all the other instruments.
"Ice Cream Castles" is a laid-back
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
-
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
offering with drums to the fore. The keyboards take an active role over a funky rhythm guitar and an understated organ solo is performed toward the end. The song is about an interracial relationship that devolves into chants and band cues in the mainly instrumental extension. The song's title is based on a lyric from
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
, one of Prince's favorite singers.
The funky elements of the song allowed it to do well on the R&B charts, reaching number 11, but it did not break the top 100 on the pop charts. Still, the song is occasionally still played in concert by The Time and a live recording from 1998 was also included on Morris Day's 2004 release, ''
It's About Time''.
The single was backed with the minimalist funk jam "Tricky", featuring Day on drums and Prince on the bass and keyboards taking humorous jabs at a washed-up singer (in reality, his idol
George Clinton). The UK
12" single
The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...
also included the earlier hit "
Get It Up", from The Time's debut album.
Personnel
Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl and Benoît Clerc
*
Morris Day – lead and backing vocals, drums
*
Jesse Johnson – electric guitars, backing vocals
*
Prince –
Oberheim OB-8, bass guitar, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion, percussion, music box, backing vocals
Charts
References
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The Time (band) songs
1984 singles
Songs written by Prince (musician)
Song recordings produced by Prince (musician)
1984 songs
Warner Records singles