"Ice Cream Castles" is the opening track from the Time's third album, '' Ice Cream Castle''. The song was composed by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and

Morris Day Morris E. Day (born December 13, 1957) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time. Music career Morris Day is best known as the lead singer of The Time, a group associated with Prince. Day and Pr ...

, with Prince writing the lyrics after recording the instrumental tracks. Day provided drums and lead vocals, while Jesse Johnson played electric guitars on the recording. Prince played all the other instruments. "Ice Cream Castles" is about an interracial relationship. The song's title is based on a lyric from

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

. The song reached number 11 on the R&B charts, but it did not enter the pop charts. A live recording from 1998 was included on Morris Day's 2004 release, '' It's About Time''. The single was backed with "Tricky", featuring Day on drums and Prince on the bass and keyboards. The UK

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

also included the earlier hit "

Get It Up "Get It Up" is the debut single by American funk rock band the Time, from their 1981 self-titled debut album. History Like most of the album, the song was recorded in Prince's home studio in April 1981, and was produced, arranged, compose ...

", from the Time's debut album.

Personnel

Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl and Benoît Clerc *

– lead and backing vocals, drums * Jesse Johnson – electric guitars, backing vocals *

–

Oberheim OB-8 The Oberheim OB-8 is a subtractive analog synthesizer launched by Oberheim in early 1983 and discontinued in 1985. As the fourth product in the OB-series of polyphonic compact synthesizers, the OB-8 was the successor to the OB-Xa. About 3,000 ...

, bass guitar, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion, percussion, music box, backing vocals

Charts

References

{{authority control The Time (band) songs 1984 singles Songs written by Prince (musician) Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) 1984 songs Warner Records singles Songs written by Morris Day