Music Monday: Prince

With a huge discography, this is one of those artists where I'm really just gonna concentrate on the absolute bangers. Because otherwise we'd be here all week. This is one of the greatest songwriters, performers and guitar players in history, a man who changed his name to a symbol and back again. It's Music Monday, and we're talking about Prince.

Prince (Self Titles Album)

We start our journey with Prince's second album, with a song chosen mostly to show what an amazing chameleon the purple one has been in his career, while maintaining a laser focus on sex. This is an absolute disco jam. This is I Wanna Be Your Lover:

Sample lyric:

I ain't got no money
I ain't like those other guys you hang around
And it's kinda funny
But they always seem to let you down

1999

We're skipping a bit ahead to Prince's fifth album, which was his breakout album. The title song is kinda hilarious in retrospect, just because it talk of a seemingly distant future which is so far in our past. You'll notice how much more musically complex the future symbol's work has become, both lyrically and musically. This is 1999:

Sample lyric:

(I was dreamin' when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray)
But when I woke up this morning
I could have sworn it was judgment day
The sky was all purple
There were people runnin' everywhere
(Tryin' to run from the destruction
And you know I didn't even care)

The second song I'll feature from the album was Prince's first real hit, which peaked at 6 in the Billboard Hot 100. It's a great song, and one that would presage the work Prince was going to do in his next - and most successful - album. This is Little Red Corvette:

Sample lyric:

I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last

Purple Rain

While the film for which it was the soundtrack wasn't the most memorable, this album absolutely is. It is, in fact, one of the greatest albums of all time. And the album starts with an all time banger, one of the best songs ever about good and evil. This is Let's Go Crazy:

Sample lyric:

Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down?
Oh, no lets go!

The next song I'll feature from the album is a song that is both about sex and family difficulties. Because, apparently, that's what the film needed. It was reportedly written in one night. It's another all timer. This is When Doves Cry:

Sample lyric:

How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that's so cold?
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father: too bold
Maybe you're just like my mother
She's never satisfied
Why do we scream at each other?
This is what it sounds like
When doves cry

The album's title track was named the best song of the 80's, and it is one of the biggest hits of all time. It is a song of regret and hope, a turning point in a relationship. This is Purple Rain:

Sample lyric:

I never wanted to be your weekend lover
I only wanted to be some kind of friend
Baby, I could never steal you from another
It's such a shame our friendship had to end

Around the World in a Day

I'm only going to feature one song from Prince's seventh album, but that song makes skipping the album impossible. It's a song about a crush, a song of lust. This is Raspberry Beret:

Sample lyric:

She wore a
Raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second hand store
Raspberry beret
And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more
Raspberry beret
I think I love her

Parade

This album contributes two songs to this post, and they are so vastly different, and yet both represent the best of Prince, an artist at the height of his powers. The first one is a song about what Prince wants in a woman. It's called Kiss:

Sample lyric:

You got to not talk dirty, baby, if you wanna impress me
You can't be too flirty, mama, I know how to undress me
I want to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine
You just leave it all up to me, we could have a good time

The second song is one of Prince's most emotional, and quite possibly his saddest. It's a song about loss and mourning. It was one of the songs that hit the hardest after the artist's passing in 2016. This is Sometimes It Snows In April:

Sample lyric:

Always cry for love, never cry for pain
He used to say so strong unafraid to die
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
No, staring at his picture I realized
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried

Sign o' the Times

I'll only feature one song from Price's iconic double album, because it's the title song, and the one that works best outside of the context of the album. And I want to talk about my problem with this song, a problem I've had since it was released. It's one lyric, and if you know me, you may have guessed what it is:

It's silly, no'
When a rocket ship explodes
And everybody still wants to fly
I'm sorry, yeah? But that's bullshit. You might as well say it's silly to ever leave the house, because people get run over by cars. Space exploration is an unalloyed good, and while the Challenger's crash - which precipitated the line - was a tragedy, wanting to fly is anything but silly. That said, it's a great song. This is, obviously, Sign o' the Times:

Sample lyric:
In France a skinny man
Died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle
And soon she did the same

Batman

Yup. This is an album that happened in real life. I want to skip it, but y'all need to share the madness. So I will subject you to Batdance:

Sample lyric:

Hey, we got the power
Oh, we got the soul
Hey, we got to sho'nuff get off
To make the devil go, go
"This town needs an enema!"

Graffiti Bridge

Not everyone can be a winner, and the sequel to Purple Rain, both the album and the film, were not. Moving on.

Diamonds and Pearls

The two songs I'll feature from the album are both about what may have been Prince's favorite topic: Sex. Both are bangers. This is Cream:

Sample lyric:

Cream
Get on top
Cream
You will cop
Cream
Don't you stop
Cream

And this one is about getting some satisfaction in the bedroom, or any other room. This is Gett Off:

Sample lyric:

Gett off - 23 positions in a one night stand
Gett off - I'll only call you after if you say I can
Gett off - let a woman be a woman and a man be a man
Gett off - If you want to baby here I am (Here I am)

Also known as the "Love Symbol album," this is when he became, for a while, "the artist formerly known as Prince," as an act of rebellion against his record label, Warner Bros. I'll feature one song from the album, which is about, you guessed it, sex (even though it contains the lyric "this ain't about sex"). This is Sexy M. F.:

Sample lyric:

We're all alone in a villa on the Rivera
That's in France on the south side in case you care
Out of all yoor friends I wanna be the closest
That's why I tell you things so you'll be the mostest

The Gold Experience

I'll only feature one song from this album, which is the last album I'll cover here. There were a bunch after that, but I'm not as familiar with them. This one song is one of his prettiest, which is appropriate considering the title and subject matter. This is The Most Beautiful Girl In The World:

Sample lyric:

Could you be the most beautiful girl in the world?
It's plain to see you're the reason that God made a girl
When the day turns into the last day of all time
I can say I hope you are in these arms of mine
And when the night falls before that day I will cry
I will cry tears of joy cuz after you all one can do is die, oh

2 bonus songs

First, a performance to highlight a thing people have long said. Though he's never featured it heavily in his own work, Prince was widely considered to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time. He got to show that off during the 2004
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in a supergroup performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps:

And finally, a song Prince wrote, but became famous when performed by Sinéad O'Connor as her greatest hit. This is another all timer. This is Nothing Compares 2 U:

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