By Mark Speck (198.211.138.52) on Sunday, August 03, 2003 - 11:01 pm:

A few weeks ago, while I was hanging out at one of my karaoke haunts, a guy went up and sang the Prince song "Seven".

I couldn't help but notice the writer credits on the screen when the song ended. They read Prince-J. McCracklin-L. Fulsom.

I strongly DOUBT that Prince joined forces with Jimmy McCracklin and Lowell Fulsom to write that song. Now I know that those two blues greats wrote a few things together, so my question is this: did Prince base that song "Seven" on one of their compositions (thus necessitating the addition of their names to the writer credits)?

This has been bugging me ever since I saw it. Anybody explain this one?

Best,

Mark

By Fred (64.12.97.7) on Monday, August 04, 2003 - 01:14 am:

The original version of the song (1992) contains a sample of "Tramp." Whoever has their publishing held out for co-writer credits when Prince asked for clearance. Probably one of Jimmy and Lowell's bigger paydays.

By Mark Speck (199.183.76.194) on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 11:35 am:

Thanks, Fred! I knew you'd come through!!

Best,

Mark

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Friday, August 08, 2003 - 12:16 pm:

Mark:
Listen closely to the bassline in the song, especially between Prince's acapella intro and the first verse. As Fred indicated, it is "Tramp" by Lowell Fulsom - which he recorded for Kent Records (no relation to Britain's Ace/Kent).

Lowell's "Tramp" has been sampled many times. Besides Prince, the rap group Cypress Hill sampled the bass-line and guitar riff from "Tramp" for their 1991 hit "How I Could Just Kill A Man."

Kevin Goins - KevGo