777-9311

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777-9311

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from the album What Time Is It?
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single art for 777-9311
Song details
Performer: The Time
First Released: 30 July 1982 - 777-9311 single
Album(s): What Time Is It?

It’s About Time

Writer(s): Prince (credited to Morris Day)
Producer(s): Prince (as The Starr Company) (credited to Morris Day and The Starr Company)
Live Appearances
First and last live appearance:
Performed regularly on tour:
  • none
Performed occasionally in shows:

777-9311 is the second track on The Time’s second album What Time Is It?, and, four weeks before the album’s release, 777-9311 was released as the album’s first single. The song was written by Prince, although the song is officially credited to Morris Day. It was produced by Prince (as The Starr Company), but was credited to Morris Day and The Starr Company.

While specific recording dates are not known, basic tracking took place in May or June 1982 at Prince’s Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions that produced Onedayi’mgonnabesomebody, I Don’t Wanna Leave You, and several other tracks that were released over the next several years). Although Morris Day calls various bandmembers' names before solos, the recording features only Prince and Morris Day. While reflecting on the track’s history on Facebook in 2014, Jesse Johnson wrote "777-9311 Was A Stock Drum Beat In Prince’s Linn LM-1 ($5,500 drum machine you know it wasn’t The Time’s) ... The beat was programed into the Linn LM1 by Tower of Power drummer David Garibaldi1 ... for Roger Linn." (David Garibaldi’s drumming would also be sampled, uncredited, years later on The Time’s Release It.) He also added "Prince used my $179.00 Hondo Strat to play the chords on 777 (that’s why the guitar sounds so nice and dull...cause it was cheap!)"

The title of the track was Dez Dickerson’s home phone number at the time, and he was allegedly upset that it was used in the song; when the album was released he received several unwanted calls and changed the number as a result.


Recording Information
Recording Sessions
Date Studio Additional info
May-June 1982 Kiowa Trail Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Tracking
Recording Personnel
  • Morris Day - vocals
  • Prince - background vocals and all instruments (uncredited)
  • Jellybean Johnson - credited for drums and percussion, but did not appear
  • Terry Lewis - credited for bass guitar and vocals, but did not appear
  • Jesse Johnson - credited for guitar and vocals, but did not appear
  • Jimmy Jam - credited for keyboards and vocals, but did not appear
  • Monte Moir - credited for keyboards and vocals, but did not appear

Versions
Released Versions
Title Length Released Version Additional info
777-9311 7:57 What Time Is It?

777-9311 single
Jungle Love 12" single

Studio
777-9311 (Edit) 3:28 777-9311 single

The Walk single (Japan)

Edit
777-9311 (mono) 3:28 777-9311 7" promo Edit same as above, but in mono
Get It Up / 777 3:27 Morris Day: It’s About Time
Live 21 June 1998, House Of Blues, Hollywood, California, USA


Sampled, Referred to, Quoted in...
Title Length Released Version Additional info
Grace 2:37 777-9311 single Studio Uses musical backing of 777-9311
Murph Drag 4:11 NPG Ahdio Show # 3 (not available as a separate track) Studio
Murph Drag Unreleased Studio
Purple Medley 11:03 Purple Medley single Studio medley See Purple Medley for more details
 
Additional Information

See also Trivia

  • 1 It’s interesting to note that while the original beat was indeed programmed by David Garibaldi, the drums samples were not played by him, but a drummer named Art Wood.

References
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