1000 X's & O's

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1000 X’s & O’s


from the album Hitnrun Phase One
Song details
Performer: Prince; Rosie Gaines; Nona Gaye
First Released: 7 September 2015 - Hitnrun Phase One album stream
Album(s): Hitnrun Phase One
Writer(s): Prince and Joshua Welton
Producer(s): Prince and Joshua Welton; Prince (as ) (assumed)
Live Appearances
First and last live appearance:
Performed regularly on tour:
  • none
Performed occasionally in shows:

1000 X’s & O’s is the tenth track on Prince’s 38th album Hitnrun Phase One.The history of the track goes back 23 years, however.

The track was originally recorded as A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses in late April - early May 1992, at Studios 301, Sydney, Australia, while Prince was in Sydney on the Diamonds And Pearls Tour (during the same set of sessions as Goldnigga, Deuce & A Quarter, Goldie’s Parade, Everybody Get On Up and Baby Doll). The original version was written solely by Prince and was intended for Rosie Gaines, who sang lead vocals on the recording. Prince had planned on recording a rap by Carmen Electra to include in the song, but he decided against it on the advice of his bandmembers.

In late 1993 or early 1994, Rosie Gaines' vocals were replaced by Nona Gaye at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and her version (still known as A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses) was intended for a planned project titled MPLS, but this project remained unfinished. Around the same time, however, it was considered for inclusion on a proposed album by Nona Gaye, but this was also left unfinished.

In an unpublished Late 1994 NPG newsletter that was auctioned in 2023, an album called Thousand Hugs And Kisses by Derick Hughes was announced for 1995. It is possible that he re-recorded a version of the song, but this has not been confirmed.

During Prince’s 2007 21 Nights In London : The Earth Tour, he unexpectedly played the track during a solo piano set at the 31 August 2007 show (after having played a brief portion of it on 28 August 2007), marking its first live performance, over 15 years after its initial recording.

A new recording of the track was made in Autumn 2014 at Paisley Park Studios with new music produced by Joshua Welton and inspired by Aaliyah’s song Rock The Boat (written by Static Major, Eric Seats and Rapture Stewart) at Prince’s request. This version was premiered over the PA prior to an unannounced Prince show at Paisley Park Studios on 16 November 2014 (a.m.) (along with Revelation, X’s Face, a new recording of If I Could Get Your Attention, Ain’t About 2 Stop and a remix of Pretzelbodylogic), following a show by FKA twigs in a different room. On 24 July 2015 the track was announced on BBC News as included on Prince’s 38th album Hitnrun Phase One, and the updated title was only known when an official tracklist surfaced a few days before the album’s availability on the Tidal streaming platform. The new title is somewhat confusing: "X’s & O’s" is often written as a shorthand, with "X" meaning a kiss, and "O" meaning a hug, so the revised title would actually read "A thousand kisses and hugs" (perhaps this was to avoid the title being read "A thousand noughts and crosses", however, with noughts and crosses being another name for the game referred to in Tictactoe).

An early version of the song was one of the Vault tracks recorded between 1990 and 1992 slated to appear on the planned Diamonds & Love expected to be released by The Prince Estate in the summer of 2022. That project, which consisted of material spanning both the Diamonds And Pearls and eras, was reduced to the Diamonds And Pearls era, excluding songs recorded after October 1991 (and this track as a result).


Recording Information
Recording Sessions
Date Studio Additional info
Late April - early May 1992 Studios 301,
Sydney, Australia
Tracking (Rosie Gaines version)
Late 1993 (assumed) Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Nona Gaye vocal overdubs
Late 1994 (assumed) Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Possible additional recording with Derick Hughes
Autumn 2014 (assumed) Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Re-recording with entirely new music by Joshua Welton
Recording Personnel

Hitnrun Phase One version

  • Prince - all vocals, bass and guitar, except where noted (assumed)
  • Joshua Welton - keyboards & drum programming (assumed)


Rosie Gaines version


Nona Gaye version


Versions
Released Versions
Title Length Released Version Additional info
1000 X’s & O’s 4:27 Hitnrun Phase One Studio


Unreleased Versions
Title Version Additional Info
A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses Studio Rosie Gaines version; recorded late April - early May 1992
A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses Studio Nona Gaye version; recorded late 1993
 
Additional Information

See also Trivia

  • Charts:
USA: Billboard’s Adult R&B Songs chart / 17 Oct. 2015 / Peak = 13 / Weeks = 7.
USA: Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop Airplay chart / 14 Nov. 2015 / Peak = 41 / Weeks = 1.
Belgium: Ultratop Ultratip chart / 7 Nov. 2015 / Peak = 38 / Weeks = 4.
Belgium: Ultratop Urban chart / 14 Nov. 2015 / Peak = 27 / Weeks = 8.

References
319   < < < All Songs Unreleased Songs > > >   1999