Prince was just too prolific for the release schedule of a single man. He needed to put together groups on the side. That way, he had vehicles for offloading all the material that he wrote and recorded.
The Time might have been the most memorable of those side projects. Their signature song, “Jungle Love”, stood tall with all of Prince’s classics from Purple Rain when it appeared in that unforgettable film in 1984.
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The Prolific Prince
Prince hadn’t yet achieved his big mainstream breakthrough when he recruited the members of The Time in 1981. But he clearly had confidence that it was coming. He envisioned The Time as an outlet for his harder-edged funk tendencies. After all, he figured that he’d need to focus the material he released under his name on the mainstream.
With forethought, he had secured a clause in his record contract to let him undertake such endeavors. The Time, in their first incarnation, included seven members. But, by most accounts, Prince did the writing and played most of the instruments on their early records. Morris Day, the band’s lead singer, would step in and handle the vocals.
By the time Prince and the band prepared their third album, Ice Cream Castle, for release in 1984, The Time had undergone some turnover. That included the departure of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who would soon go on to become the hottest production team of the era. Meanwhile, their former band was about to get their first taste of the mainstream.
Performing in ‘Purple Rain’
As with all matters concerning his side projects, it’s difficult to say how much Prince had to do with “Jungle Love”. He’s credited as a producer and co-writer with Day and fellow Time member Jermaine Johnson. Prince’s demo of the song was released after his death, and the arrangement is strikingly similar to the one The Time used.
Nonetheless, Day put his stamp on the song with his outsized vocal style. Johnson delivered a sizzling guitar solo, although it was cut out of the single version. Prince gave the band a boost by casting them in the Purple Rain film in 1984, where they can be seen and heard delivering an energetic version of “Jungle Love”.
The song hit No. 20 on the pop chart. Unfortunately, The Time soon began to chafe at Prince’s controlling ways. They disbanded not long after “Jungle Love” faded from the charts, although they’ve reunited in several different incarnations over the years.
Behind the Lyrics of “Jungle Love”
“Jungle Love” falls into line with the seductive funk jams that Prince often delivered as a solo artist. “Said I, I’m a little dangerous,” Day warns the object of his lust in the opening verse. “Girl I’d like to show ya.”
When Day sings, “You, you’ve got a pretty car/I think I wanna drive it,” we remember similar innuendo from Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”. Things get extremely heated and animalistic in the final verse. “I wanna take you to my cage,” Day growls. “Lock you up and hide the key.”
“Jungle Love” wasn’t The Time’s biggest hit. That honor would go to “Jerk Out”, which went to No. 9 when the band reunited in 1990 for another Prince film, Graffiti Bridge. But “Jungle Love” is the signature song, the party starter, and the epitome of this band’s boundless charisma combined with Prince’s copious talent.
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