Released December 1985 Genre Funk
go-go | Format 7"
12" Label Island
Manhattan | |
B-side "Junkyard"
"Slave to the Rhythm"
"The Frog and the Princess" Length 6:26 (full album version)
4:00 (single edit) | ||
"Jones the Rhythm" is the second single from Grace Jones' album Slave to the Rhythm, which was released in 1985.
Contents
Background
"Jones the Rhythm" was the opening track on the album and was one of the eight variations on the "Slave to the Rhythm" theme, this one more rock-influenced and dramatic than the hit single version, featuring the Ambrosian Singers and symphonic orchestration, effectively serving as the ouverture to the audio-biography. The song includes a spoken introduction by Ian McShane, reciting a passage from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever, which was in parts used for the "Slave to the Rhythm" music video.
The song was released as the second and the last single from the Slave to the Rhythm album and was edited from its original form, exceeding 6 minutes, to a 4-minute track. The B-side on most of 7" releases was the non-album track "Junkyard", another interpretation of the same song, mainly instrumental. A remix of "Jones the Rhythm" had—in the spirit of ZTT Records—been used for one of the B-sides of the previous single "Slave to the Rhythm", on certain editions it was instead named "G.I. Blues".
"Jones the Rhythm" was not a charting success, having been somewhat overshadowed by the huge success of the lead single, and partially due to lack of promotion.