"Mountains" is a 1986 song by American musician

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 The Revolution, from his eighth album, ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' (1986), and the soundtrack to the film ''

Under the Cherry Moon ''Under the Cherry Moon'' is a 1986 romantic musical comedy-drama film directed by Prince in his directorial debut. The follow-up to his 1984 film debut '' Purple Rain'', it stars himself along with former The Time member Jerome Benton, Steve ...

''. It was written by The Revolution members

Wendy & Lisa Wendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) is a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band the Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasi ...

together with Prince. The extended

12" 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, compar ...

version of the song runs nearly ten minutes. It reached number 23 in the US but only 45 in the UK. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

was the instrumental "Alexa de Paris", one of the few tracks from this project featuring a

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

solo. Both songs appear in the film ''Under the Cherry Moon'', with the video for "Mountains" playing as the credits roll. The version shown on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

to promote the single was in color as opposed to the film's

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

version. "Mountains" was often performed in his live concerts. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, directed by Prince was released in April 1986.

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "Mountains" – 3:58 # "Alexa de Paris" – 3:20 * 12-inch single # "Mountains" (Extended Version) – 10:03 # "Alexa de Paris" (Extended Version) – 4:54

Personnel

Credits from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc, and Guitarcloud *

– lead and backing vocals, electric guitar * Lisa Coleman – synthesizers, backing vocals *

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band the Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

– electric guitar, backing vocals * Dr. Fink – synthesizers *

Brown Mark Mark Brown (born March 8, 1962), better known by the stage name Brown Mark, also styled Brownmark and BrownMark, is an American musician, bassist and record producer. Life and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Brown's early ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

Bobby Z. Robert B. Rivkin (born January 9, 1956), aka Bobby Z., is an American musician and record producer, best known as being the drummer for Prince's backing band The Revolution from 1978 to 1986. Life and career Early life Rivkin began his mus ...

–

Simmons SDS-V The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer (notated as ''SDS-V'' on the following) was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by M ...

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

Eric Leeds Eric Leeds is an American saxophone player, mostly known for his work with Prince (musician), Prince. He has recorded mostly music in the Pop music, pop and funk genres, but is a studied jazz musician.Cole, George.Eric Leeds: Interviews: The Las ...

– saxophone *

Atlanta Bliss Matthew "Atlanta Bliss" Blistan (born c. 1952) is an American jazz trumpeter. He is best known for his work with Prince from 1985–1991. He won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the 1986 single "Kiss" by ...

– trumpet *

Miko Weaver Miko Weaver (Born 11 March 1957 in Berkeley, California) is an American guitarist best known for his work with Prince. Weaver came to Prince's attention when he was a member of Sheila E.'s band. He and some other members of the band joined ...

– electric guitar *

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorat ...

– orchestral arrangements

Charts

References

{{authority control 1986 singles 1986 songs Music videos directed by Prince (musician) Paisley Park Records singles Prince (musician) songs Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) Songs written for films Songs written by Lisa Coleman (musician) Songs written by Prince (musician) Songs written by Wendy Melvoin Warner Records singles