Prince Could have called this song 'A Tribute to James Brown' or 'Meetings With Extraordinary Men — Curtis Mayfield". It's basically a twelve bar blues form except for the fact that it's twenty-eight bars long. It's also very simple, but deceptively so.

OK. To start off with, a cheap Soundmaster or Dr Rhythm should satisfy percussive requirements, although you'll never get those expensive (Linn 9000) hi-hats that way. Now lay the bass part down using a bass, DX7 or whatever you can lay your hands on. Overload the channel a bit, bounce it down once, bounce it down again, keep on doing that taking no care whatsoever to look after the highs off the signal. That's it, you're getting the idea. Oh look, here's one I finished earlier.

For the chord parts all you'll need is an FM and an analog synth. For the main keyboard part try MIDIing the analog synth with a DX playing a Vibe, Marimba, High Tines or Hamarimba (DX100) patch. Put it through a delay that repeats at twice the speed of the beat. Play the stabs and let the delay do the rest. The second part can be played on DX vibes or marimba patches.

For those wanting to ice the cake with the authentic vocal sound use what the stars use; Dr Payne Genital Scouring Wax (an early cure for herpes) or failing that try napalm...

In the diagram each line denotes a four beat bar, with the relative parts (Keyboards 1 & 2, and guitar) shown at all appropriate points. For the sake of clearness and brevity all repeats are marked as such. Just follow the words and the rest should just fall into place.

Please write in with suggestions etc to me at One Two Testing, (Contact Details)... and remember, this column shows you how songs are really made.

Later verses add patterns on G and A to fill in, played on DX Vibraphone or Marimba patches. The bass plays the lowest note shown on Keys 1 above, in exact time with the bass drum.

The drum pattern would look something like this on a Dr. Rhythm etc, although the hi-hats vary all the time.