390: Let’s Work

Controversy (1981)
Understandably for somebody who’s carved a career out of their passion, in Prince’s world ‘work’ means the same thing as ‘play’ – and they both mean sex. Let’s Work is a dutiful funk soldier, drilled to exude effortless dancefloor pull. Bass guitar flexing on pure muscle memory. Released as the album’s second single, the 12″ edit shows off its stamina, extending the locked groove and for the first time features samples from other songs from the Prince stable. A subliminal Controversy album sampler slipped in towards the end. I’ve already mentioned on these pages the influence of Michael Jackson’s Working Day and Night and the lyrics here at times again remind me of what I consider to be MJ’s finest song, but that probably says more about me than Let’s Work, and if it had been released under its original title of Let’s Rock, I may be comparing this song  to the all-night pleas of Rock With You instead.