P. Control (a.k.a. Pussy Control) is the first track on Prince’s 17th album The Gold Experience, his first under the name . Earlier in 1995, however, the track (as Pussy Control) had been available as the first track on a Pussy Control promo single. In July 1995, clips of three remixes of the track were included on The Versace Experience (Prelude 2 Gold) promo cassette given to attendees of the Versace collection of Paris Fashion Week. A maxi-single with different remixes was compiled around the same time but it was not released. In December 1995, a new cassette single of P. Control was given to attendees of the VH1 Fashion and Music Awards, containing two remixes of the track. In 1998, the Club Mix (now simply known as P. Control) was included as the eighth track on the third disc of Prince’s 20th album Crystal Ball (his fourth under the name ).
Basic tracking for the original version (known as Pussy Control) took place on 25 July 1994 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota (the same day as horn overdubs on Realize). Much like Ripopgodazippa, Pussy Control was based around a bass line and a beat created by Sonny T. and Michael B., although they are uncredited. Prince premiered the song at Glam Slam, Minneapolis, Minnesota that night by playing it directly from CD during the concert.
Pussy Control was included as the first track on an August 1994 configuration of The Gold Experience, and was kept as the opening track on a 13 October 1994 configuration. The song was renamed P. Control when it was added to the album due to concerns that retailers would not carry the album with a first track containing the word "Pussy" in its title. Additional recording took place at some point in 1994, but recording dates are not known. Remixes were made in 1994-5, including a version containing spoken vocals in French by Veronica Webb titled Chatounette Controle (literally translated as "Little kitten control"), but again, recording dates are not known. Some remixes of the track were planned for inclusion on a planned The Hate Experience EP release, but it is not known which remixes, and the final release did not include any remixes of this track.
The House Mix of the track includes Prince’s rap from some versions of Get Wild, and includes a musical finale reused from Mad.
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