BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985

“The Bird” was the sixth and final track on The Time’s third album Ice Cream Castle, and, in the Summer/Fall of 1984, The Bird was released as the album’s second single. The Bird was written by Morris Day and Prince under the pseudonym Jamie Starr.

While reflecting on the track’s history on Facebook in 2014, Jesse Johnson wrote “I wrote a 4 track version on 1999 tour, Prince kinda like the hook, he threw the rest of what I did in the trash can as he commenced to write and performed a straight heater.” Johnson’s name was initially included in the credits when submitted for copyright in May 1984, but after he left the band, his name was removed from the credits when the track was released. It was co-produced by Morris Day and Prince under the name The Starr Company. The song also features in the movie Purple Rain.

The released recording is a live recording from The Time’s concert at First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA, on 4 October 1983, and features no musical input by Prince; it is, in fact, the only track on the album to feature the entire line-up of The Time, as the studio tracks were recorded almost entirely by Prince and Morris Day.

Prince and Morris Day did record a studio version of this song also, however, three months after the live recording, on 4 January 1984 (three days after additional recording on We Can Fuck (later released as We Can Funk), and the day before Oliver’s House and The Belle Of St. Mark), but the decision was made to release the live version on the album instead, closing the album in a similar way to Purple Rain, perhaps because of the inclusion of the song in the movie Purple Rain.

The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 23, 1985 spending thirteen weeks on the survey peaking at #36.

SIDE A:
The Bird (Remix) 6:25

SIDE B:
My Drawers (Edit) 3:43

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Warner Bros. Records ‎– 9 20315-0 A, Warner Bros. Records ‎– 0-20315
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Funk

CREDITS:
Producer [Produced By] – Morris Day, The Starr * Company
Written-By – Morris Day , Prince [Uncredited]

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi