Release It
{{song-2|
|song name = Release It
|single image =
from the album Graffiti Bridge
|performer = The Time
|first released = 20 August 1990 - Graffiti Bridge album
|album(s) = Graffiti Bridge
|writer(s) = Prince and Levi Seacer, Jr.
|producer(s) = Prince and Levi Seacer, Jr.
|previous song = Reflection
|next song = Resolution
|introduction = Release It is the third track on Prince's twelfth album Graffiti Bridge (the first track on the album to be credited to The Time). The track is also featured in the movie Graffiti Bridge.
While specific recording dates are not known, basic tracking took place between June and early September 1989 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota for The Time's Corporate World album (during the same sessions that produced Murph Drag, Nine Lives, Donald Trump (Black Version), Love Machine, Shake!, Corporate World and The Latest Fashion). The song was included as the ninth track on the album in early September 1989, as planned for release in November 1989. The album was abandoned when Warner Bros. wanted to involve the other original members of The Time, but many of the tracks were saved for Pandemonium and Graffiti Bridge. It was included as the third track on a late 1989 configuration of Graffiti Bridge, where it stayed on the 1990 configuration and on the final release.
The song contains an uncredited sample of "Squib Cakes" by Tower Of Power (written by Chester Thompson, from their 1974 album Back To Oakland), which was later also sampled on Sleep Around; Prince sampled a brief portion of drums from that track and looped it to create the drum backing.
|recording info =
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|June - early September 1989
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Basic tracking
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Late July - early September 1989
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Saxophone overdubs by Candy Dulfer
|recording personnel =
- Morris Day - co-lead vocals
- Prince - all other vocals and instruments, except where noted
- David Garibaldi - drums (uncredited, sampled loop from Squib Cakes by Tower Of Power)
- Candy Dulfer - saxophone
- Jerome Benton - background vocals
|released versions =
Title | Length | Released | Version | Additional info |
---|---|---|---|---|
Release It | 3:54 | Graffiti Bridge | Studio |
|unreleased versions = |sampled in = |- |style="color:#AB3E00" |Sampled, Referred to, Quoted in...
|- | valign="top"|
Title | Length | Released | Version | Additional info |
---|---|---|---|---|
Shake! (Boom Mix) | 5:05 | Shake! single | Remix | Remix by Levi Seacer, Jr. |
|video versions = |broadcasts, streaming = |first live appearance = 5 August 1990, IJsstadion Thialf, Heerenveen, the Netherlands (vocal interpolation in Partyman; only known performance) |performed regularly on = none |performed occasionally in = 1990 (vocal interpolation in Partyman) |trivia = |see also = Graffiti Bridge album