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THE COCOA BOYS - #PrinceTwitterThread #SOTTDELUXE
Here we are folks, the dream we all dream of—band v. band in the name of musical love!
Here we are folks, the dream we all dream of—band v. band in the name of musical love!
I am so honored to be part of this incredible thread series. Sincere thanks to the organizers, @deejayumb @EdgarKruize for inviting me.
My admiration and respect to ALL the brilliant and talented folks who have worked on this. Too many to name but every one of you is TREMENDOUS.
With that let’s all jam out with The Cocoa Boys (hereafter #TCB)!
With that let’s all jam out with The Cocoa Boys (hereafter #TCB)!
For those of you on valium 
The Cocoa Boys is a previously unreleased #vault track now available on the #awardwinning #SOTTDELUXE – disc 5, track 11. Check out the track here: .
The Cocoa Boys is a previously unreleased #vault track now available on the #awardwinning #SOTTDELUXE – disc 5, track 11. Check out the track here: .
Another version of this song has been circulating for a few years. This version is slightly different and definitely worth a listen, and I will highlight this version as we go. In case you haven’t heard it I’m happy to pay it forward here: https://we.tl/t-9yJd9lpY7R
A bit of background: #TCB as well as 2 other tracks also available on #SOTTDELUXE—Crucial and When the Dawn of the Morning Comes ( #WTDOTMC), were the first (and only) songs P recorded for a short-lived film called #TheDawn…
#TheDawn—not to be confused with any project of the same name, official or otherwise, that may have come later.
Incidentally please check out the MUST-READ #PrinceTwitterThread by @Neo_Manifesto that covers #Crucial from A to Z. https://twitter.com/Neo_Manifesto/status/1354129484010684422?s=20
And stay tuned—a #PrinceTwitterThread for #WTDOTMC from professor, poet, short story writer, & P scholar C. Leigh McInnis (shared by @polishedsolid) is set to break the evening of 1/29!
These 3 songs were recorded in a short span of time in Sep. 1986 at P’s Galpin Blvd home studio days after he wrapped up the #Parade tour and disbanded @therevolution.
• #Crucial, 9/13/86
• #TCB, 9/14/86
• #WTDOTMC, 9/29/86
• #Crucial, 9/13/86
• #TCB, 9/14/86
• #WTDOTMC, 9/29/86
Speaking of @therevolution, I must pause and give credit where credit is due. Much of the WEALTH of creative output that went into #SOTTDELUXE can rightly be attributed to P in collaboration with one or more of his bandmates before turning the page. #love and #respect!
In fact some speculate that P may have worked out #TCB with @therevolution during soundcheck before one of the final #Parade tour stops weeks before he entered the studio to record it himself.
Now #TheDawn was conceived as a movie about rival bands, as described in #TCB. Think #WestSideStory, or—hello-- #GraffitiBridge! P carried some of these fledgling ideas forward as GB became a reality.
Setting: Sunday night on the main strip for “a musical battle of the bands,” we hear @susannahmel whisper in the background. 2 bands have come to cut heads. Taking the stage first—the Cocoa Boys. Awaiting their turn and checking out their competition—Sandra Dee.
Who are the Cocoa Boys? (Or is it Coco? No one is really sure). 2 brothers from the east side of the river—Frankie on guitar, Joe on bass, sharing the high-part harmonies. The band is joined by a pair of horns marching from the front door…
1 of whom is as big as a house and pulling on a trombone.
Hmm, kinda reminds me of someone. Shout out to @Royagee the of #NPGHORNS! Check out this pair of videos of Roy talking about life and working with Prince. Btw me brother is FUNNY! Part 1: .
Hmm, kinda reminds me of someone. Shout out to @Royagee the of #NPGHORNS! Check out this pair of videos of Roy talking about life and working with Prince. Btw me brother is FUNNY! Part 1: .
And @Royagee part 2. I recommend watching the whole thing, but if you want to jump ahead he starts discussing his time with P at the 13:25 mark. Hysterical!
Ok, back to it.
Cocoa Boys are scary ya’ll. Make your ears bleed. Lord. They funked so hard the crowd could hardly walk.
IT. IS. ON.
Cocoa Boys are scary ya’ll. Make your ears bleed. Lord. They funked so hard the crowd could hardly walk.
IT. IS. ON.
Side note: Although it seems like a reasonable assumption, Frankie is NOT who @realcatglover is talking about when she says “Serve it up Frankie!” That Frankie was club DJ, Frankie Knuckles. Here is a mix he did of Yo Mister, written by P.
Sandra Dee is up. Bunch of blonde dudes (natural or otherwise), led by our narrator, who may or may not be P. 
Guess they were named for the 50s/60s starlet—actress, or model, or something.
Guess they were named for the 50s/60s starlet—actress, or model, or something.
TURN THE HOUSE LIGHTS UP! Brother’s got somethin for y’all! Everybody jump (up on the 1, now you’re having fun)—NO—down on the floor & do that Detroit Crawl!
Cocoa Boys didn’t expect a dance battle too!
The crowd’s startin to beg.
The drummer just jumped on the rim & started to ride—they hit the Wooden Leg!
The crowd’s startin to beg.
The drummer just jumped on the rim & started to ride—they hit the Wooden Leg!
They slapped 5 and jumped to the side—Kanga-what?!
Ain’t talkin bout the Housequake—no. Ain’t talkin bout Shaken’Bake—no. #Kangaroo!
Ain’t talkin bout the Housequake—no. Ain’t talkin bout Shaken’Bake—no. #Kangaroo!
Too freaky for all the girls, and all the boys. So it was decided—on that night, anyway—the Cocoa Boys were kings of the world. The end—bye bye.
Hold up – IT AIN’T OVER! . . .
Hold up – IT AIN’T OVER! . . .
The story in the song plays like a scene from a movie—the movie P envisioned before moving onto, during the next 4-5 months, more music than some artists record in a lifetime. Speaking of, let’s talk music…
Musically, #TCB is the paternal brother of #Shockadelica, which P recorded just 2 days later—9/16. The base is there, the same snare sound pounds on the 2 & 4, and while it is slightly different and softer in the mix, the kick drum is nearly the same.
27. A band of brothers, 2 songs that share the same DNA…hmmm… #GEMINI
28. For me #Shockadelica is the stronger track. Because of that kick drum, because the guitars on #TCB are laid back in the cut, whereas #Shockadelica has some in-yo-face funk-nasty guitars…it just hits harder IMO.
#TCB also has that familiar floating synth line running through it that P used for the intro of both #UGotTheLook and #Nine, the opening track to the second #Madhouse album. Can we get THOSE records in a #Superdeluxe release??
In the initial recording at about the 1:44 mark & at different spots throughout P can be heard scatting the horn parts, which would later be filled in by the incomparable duo #EricLeeds & #AtlantaBliss. Horns & crowd noise were added sometime later in 86.
Few touchstones here that worked their way into other songs. The released version includes a familiar chant: “You are beautiful, it’s gonna be a beautiful night.” The refrain showed up again in #IGBABN, overdubs for which P recorded in Nov. 86.
Also in the #SOTTDELUXE version of the song: “All the boys and all the girls, you are the new kings of the world,” which of course landed on #Positivity from #LoveSexy. Have U had yo plus sign today? #YES
Lyrically, the 2 versions differ in 2 places. In the early part of 1st take are a few lines that P removed later:
I was in a band called Sandra Dee & honey, we were a sight 4 moral eyes
Everybody in the band had blonde hair, natural or otherwise
I was in a band called Sandra Dee & honey, we were a sight 4 moral eyes
Everybody in the band had blonde hair, natural or otherwise
To close the song P swapped out a bit about the Cocoa Boys winning and P kicking Frankie’s ass, and a moral about no fighting, with the “All the boys and all the girls” and “beautiful night” sections.
My preference in both instances is for the former over the latter. And the hand-written lyrics in the #SOTTDELUXE set are quite a bit different still, if you can read them!
Final note on the lyrics:
Interesting that when Cocoa Boys started their set “The lights were off. ‘Turn ‘em off.’”
Sandra Dee on the other hand says several times, “Turn the house lights up!”
Light/dark. Yin/Yang. Camille/Spooky Electric? #Gemini
Interesting that when Cocoa Boys started their set “The lights were off. ‘Turn ‘em off.’”
Sandra Dee on the other hand says several times, “Turn the house lights up!”
Light/dark. Yin/Yang. Camille/Spooky Electric? #Gemini
And I cannot not mention the nom de plume, Joey Coco. We know this is one of the many alter-egos P used when writing for other artist around this time. Shout out to
@jilldjones
#SheenaEaston
@The3Oclock
@DeborahAllen3
@funkrockster
#KennyRogers
@jilldjones
#SheenaEaston
@The3Oclock
@DeborahAllen3
@funkrockster
#KennyRogers
Find a #JoeyCoco playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcqpi4hucEy7P9t6J42CmPfuS82M-c16D
Thanks so much for going on this ride with me! HUGE thanks to a few folks/groups whose collective knowledge contributed to mine:
@PrinceVault
@Duane_Tudahl
@princeorg
@PrinceVault
@Duane_Tudahl
@princeorg
Thanks also to
@prince
@PaisleyPark
His music shaped my life. It lives on forever in me and in all of you.
@prince
@PaisleyPark
His music shaped my life. It lives on forever in me and in all of you.
Shout out to all the #PurpleAvengers on Twitter and around the world. Now stay tuned for a deep dive into #WTDOTMC from C. Leigh McInnis and @polishedsolid on the next episode of #PrinceTwitterThreads!
Bye bye.
Bye bye.
