I like to write songs myself nothing professional just to see if I can and it gives me joy to see the results. I was wondering if prince had ever discussed his songwriting process in any interviews. Did he have a set way like some musicians have to have the lyrics before the music or vise versa or they will have a melody first and and build a song around that or was he not so rigid and used all of the aforementioned?

I think it was almost always music before lyrics. He was known to take breaks during the recording sessions for writing the lyrics. He wrote them quickly. He had his roots in funk, after all.

I am also under the impression that after he got a studio of his own he really just wrote the music "on the fly" in the studio. There were some exceptions - presumably "Kiss" (originally, a bluesy guitar piece), the piano stuff, etc.

novabrkr said:

I think it was almost always music before lyrics. He was known to take breaks during the recording sessions for writing the lyrics. He wrote them quickly. He had his roots in funk, after all.

I am also under the impression that after he got a studio of his own he really just wrote the music "on the fly" in the studio. There were some exceptions - presumably "Kiss" (originally, a bluesy guitar piece), the piano stuff, etc.

I didnt know kiss started as a blues song.

Most of the descriptions of the process (in the way you have described) come from close associates e.g. band members, who were with him as a song sometimes evolved during rehearsals / jam sessions.

However, a lot of his songs were seemingly composed without the prior involvement of others and, by the time he came to recording songs, many were already formed in his head both musically - where he knew the various intrumental parts, at least in his head; and lyrically - where he would have already written out the lyrics and have those before him as he laid down the drums, then bass, then other parts, before recording vocal parts. This might therefore be the first time that someone else (e.g. the recording engineer) had heard the song. Engineers have sometimes said that he rarely, if ever, discussed the evolution of the song to that point,

Occasionally, the notebooks Prince used for writing possible lyrics might suggest that the music was already known. For example, a set of handwritten lyrics might also make reference to the key to be used, where a chorus or bridge featured etc.. Moreover, there are accounts of where he laid down the music, then took a break or returned at a later session with lyrics which appeared to have been written or completed in the interim.

But Prince himself appears to have rarely discussed his songwriting process in these terms.

A Godly gift. No atheist should like him.

2freaky4church1 said:

A Godly gift. No atheist should like him.

Just so in awe of his talents...almost too much to be wrapped up in one person. I would be happy if I could just sing, let alone write my own music! He was just too much...

2freaky4church1 said:

A Godly gift. No atheist should like him.

Well, I do...

[Edited 1/22/18 2:06am]