Difference between revisions of "The Cocoa Boys"
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*[[Eric Leeds]] - saxophone | *[[Eric Leeds]] - saxophone | ||
*[[Atlanta Bliss]] - trumpet | *[[Atlanta Bliss]] - trumpet | ||
| + | * [[[[Susannah Melvoin]] - background vocals | ||
|released versions = | |released versions = | ||
{{Songchart| | {{Songchart| | ||
Revision as of 17:10, 6 October 2020
{{song-2|
|song name = The Cocoa Boys
|single image = 
from the album
Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition
|first released = 25 September 2020 – Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition
|album(s) = Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition
|performer = Prince
|writer(s) = Prince
|producer(s) = Prince
|previous song = Coca-Cola
|next song = Coincidence Or Fate?
|introduction = The Cocoa Boys (previously assumed to be titled Coco Boys) is a track recorded by Prince alone on 14 September 1986 at his Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
The song was written specifically for the planned musical The Dawn (along with Crucial and When The Dawn Of The Morning Comes), but the musical was ultimately abandoned, and the song was never intended for any other of Prince’s many late-1986 album projects.
Overdubs, including background vocals, horns and a bed of looped audiences, presumed to be from the 25 August 1986 show at Le Zénith, Paris, France, where It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night was recorded, were added at a later session.
The song also has the lines ‘All the boys and all the girls, you are the new kings of the world’, later reused in Positivity, as well as a chant of ‘We are beautiful, it’s gonna be beautiful night’ from It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night.
The Cocoa Boys was the name of a band of fictional brothers Joey and Frankie Coco, included as characters in the musical. The Cocoa in the band name is supposedly a play on words in the fictional story of the song. While the band names changed, the idea of rival bands was reused in the initial 1987 draft of the Graffiti Bridge movie.
In September 2020 the song was released as the eleventh track of Vault Tracks part 2, one of the discs with previously unreleased tracks included with the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition.
|recording info =
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|25 August 1986
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Le Zénith,
Paris, France
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|‘audience’ of main show (assumed)
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|14 September 1986
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Galpin Blvd Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Basic tracking
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|September 1986
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Galpin Blvd Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|overdubs, including horns
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|22 November 1986
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Galpin Blvd Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|possible overdubs and mix
|recording personnel =
- Prince - all vocals and instruments
- Eric Leeds - saxophone
- Atlanta Bliss - trumpet
- [[Susannah Melvoin - background vocals
|released versions =
| Title | Length | Released | Version | Additional info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cocoa Boys | 6:06 | Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition | Studio |
|unreleased versions = |- |style="color:#AB3E00" |Unreleased Versions
|- | valign="top"|
| Title | Version | Additional Info |
|---|---|---|
| The Cocoa Boys | Studio | Version, before background vocals, horns and other overdubs |
|video versions = |broadcasts, streaming = |sampled in = |first live appearance = This track is not believed to have been performed live by Prince |performed regularly on = none |performed occasionally in = none |trivia = The intro of The Cocoa Boys opens with the same Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, FILMUSIC (patch 69) preset synth opening heard in U Got The Look and Nine.
- The pseudonym Joey Coco was used by Prince as the writer of of at least eight songs for other artists: 101, Baby Go-Go, Cool Love, Neon Telephone), Telepathy and You’re My Love, with Jill Jones' My Man and Violet Blue listed as Prince compositions on her album, but registered to Joey Coco at the Library of Congress.
- It is unclear why the character in the song and planned musical The Dawn was Joey Coco but used as a writing synonym as Joey Coco.
- It has long been alleged that the song was played as an instrumental jam during a soundcheck session on 25 August 1986 at Le Zénith, Paris, France, hours before the Parade Tour show (along with recordings of Susannah’s Blues, Strange Relationship, Last Heart, a cover version of The Temptations’ I Can’t Get Next To You and a first run-through of It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night, which was then recorded live at the show), but this is now considered to have been misinformation.
|see also = Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition album
- The Dawn musical
|references = The Vault: The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince (2004) |categories = }}
