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We Can Funk is the seventh track on Prince’s 12th album Graffiti Bridge, and is credited as a duet between George Clinton and Prince. The track is also featured in the movie Graffiti Bridge. In 2015, an acoustic version of the track, with some lyrical changes and renamed Oui Can Luv, was included as the eighth track on the acoustic album Oui Can Luv by Andy Allo featuring Prince on acoustic guitar. The original version titled We Can Fuck was released (as We Can F**k) as the tenth track on the From The Vault & Previously Unreleased disc of the Purple Rain Deluxe Edition and Deluxe Expanded Edition album in June 2017.
While the song emerged from a jam on 30 December 1983 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California, basic tracking for the original version took place on 31 December 1983 and 1 January 1984 (still at Sunset Sound), as We Can Fuck (although listed as "The Dawn" and "Moral Majority" respectively, as the original title was considered 'too raunchy').
Prince would later tone down the title and lyrics of the song, and re-recorded the track on 17 June 1986 at the Washington Avenue Warehouse in Edina, Minnesota (in sequence after Data Bank and Can’t Stop This Feeling I Got, the day before recording Girl O’ My Dreams). These recordings were intended for an aborted musical tentatively titled Dream Factory. This version of We Can Funk was later sent to Three O’Clock for consideration along with Neon Telephone, Can’t Stop This Feeling I Got, Girl O’ My Dreams and Teacher, Teacher, but the band decided to use only Neon Telephone. At one point Prince had Micki Free fly to Minneapolis to record lead vocals. It is unclear when this took place and to which version the vocals were added.
The 1983 recording was returned to and updated in 1989 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and this updated version, without George Clinton on vocals, was included as the sixth track on a 1989 configuration of Graffiti Bridge. George Clinton added vocal overdubs in late 1989-1990, also at Paisley Park Studios. Some musical overdubs with Clinton’s musicians were recorded at United Sound Studio in Detroit, Michigan, and the final version was included as the seventh track on a 1990 configuration of Graffiti Bridge, where it remained for release.
In 1992, George Clinton updated the song with his musicians (with Garry Shider replacing some of Prince’s vocals). This version was included as the second track on a 1992 configuration of Hey Man... Smell My Finger but didn’t make the final cut of the album and remains unreleased.
The track’s lyrics mention the Kama Sutra, considered to be the most important work in a long line of Indian erotic literature, written by the Hindu philosopher Vātsyāyana ( later named the first and only album by The NPG Orchestra Kamasutra). The track contains a synth line (a horn line on the 1986 version) that Prince would later use for Martika’s Kitchen in 1990.
In 2011, a 1:00 video (audio only with a static image) of an acoustic demo of the track recorded by Andy Allo (as Oui Can Luv, with a revised chorus to match) was streamed on her Facebook page, with the tagline "CHECK OUT WHAT EYE FOUND IN PRINCE'S VAULT (Demo recorded in Sacramento on 8/31/11 using ProTools 9 & a Sterling Audio ST69 Mic)", followed a few weeks later by a full-length version of the same track. The track was re-recorded in a similar acoustic version. While specific recording dates for the acoustic re-recording are not known, it is believed to have been recorded in Autumn 2011 to mid-2012 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, during sessions for Andy Allo’s second album Superconductor.
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Recording Information
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Recording Sessions
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| Date
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Studio
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Additional info
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| 30 December 1983
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Sunset Sound - Studio 3,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Jam session originating riff, no recording
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| 31 December 1983
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Sunset Sound - Studio 3,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Tracking (as We Can Fuck)
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| 1 January 1984
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Sunset Sound - Studio 3,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Additional recording and mixing
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| 2 January 1984
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Sunset Sound - Studio 3,
Hollywood, CA, USA
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Overdubs, vocals and mixing
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| 17 June 1986
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Washington Avenue Warehouse,
Edina, MN, USA
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Tracking of new version
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| 18 June 1986
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Washington Avenue Warehouse,
Edina, MN, USA
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Mix
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| 1986 (assumed)
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Unknown studio (details needed)
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Vocal overdubs by Micki Free
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| 1989-1990
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Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Additional recording (1983 version, retitled We Can Funk)
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| 1989-1990
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United Sound Systems Recording Studios,
Detroit, MI, USA;
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Additional recording by George Clinton and his musicians (no additional input by Prince)
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| 1992
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Unknown
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Additional recording by George Clinton and his musicians (no additional input by Prince)
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| 31 August 2011
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Unknown location,
Sacramento, CA, USA
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Acoustic recording, as Oui Can Luv, by Andy Allo and Prince
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| Autumn 2011 to mid-2012 (assumed)
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Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Acoustic re-recording, as Oui Can Luv, by Andy Allo and Prince
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Recording Personnel
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Graffiti Bridge version
Oui Can Luv version
Purple Rain Deluxe (Expanded) Edition version (as We Can F**k)
Unreleased 1986 version
Unreleased 1986 version
- same as above (assumed) but with lead vocals by Micki Free
Unreleased 1992 version
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Video Versions
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| Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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| We Can Funk
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1:33
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Graffiti Bridge film
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Studio
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Part of the album version but with an edited ending. Released on VHS and DVD.
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Broadcasts/streaming (only)
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Sampled, Referred to, Quoted in...
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Unreleased Versions
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| Title
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Version
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Additional Info
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| We Can Fuck
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Studio
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1983 preliminary version
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| We Can Fuck (code named W.C. Fields)
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Studio
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1986 recording
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| We Can Fuck
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Studio
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1986 version with vocal overdubs by Micki Free
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| We Can Funk
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Studio
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1989-1990 update of 1983 version with no George Clinton input
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| We Can Funk
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Studio
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Longer 1989-1990 version with slight George Clinton input
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| We Can Funk
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Studio
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1989-1990 version with significant George Clinton vocal input
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| We Can Funk
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Studio
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Longer version edited for album, with some musical variations
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| We Can Funk
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Studio
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George Clinton 1992 version
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