I was just retouching some artwork to tag my iTunes music, and I noticed some of the lyrics on the back cover of 1999 are incorrect.

I've typed out the back cover as it is on the original:

I was dreaming when I wrote this

So forgive me if it goes astray

But I woke up this morning and I

Could have sworn it was judge-

ment day the sky was all purple

There were people running

Everywhere trying to run

From the destruction but you

Know I didn't even care because

They say 2000 zero zero party

Over oops out of time so tonight

I'm gonna party like it's 1999

Error 1: "So" - it's not sung in the song

Error 2: "when" is missing from "but when I work up this morning"

Error 3: "And I" - they are not sung in the song

Error 4: "But" - it's not sung in the song

It should read something like this:

I was dreaming when I wrote this

Forgive me if it goes astray

But when I woke up this morning

Could have sworn it was judge-

ment day the sky was all purple

There were people running

Everywhere trying to run

From the destruction

You know I didn't even care because

They say 2000 zero zero party

Over oops out of time so tonight

I'm gonna party like it's 1999

(I didn't correct for anything like "could have" becoming "could've" or "because" become "cuz"). Notice that the mistakes are from the other singers, not Prince himself.

It's rare that the printed lyrics on covers, dust jackets and booklets which accompany albums are 100% accurate transcriptions of the lyrics featured on the release.

Back when Prince had his NPG Music Club, he posted the lyrics to one of his more recent songs, I can't recall which one, but I remember somebody in the forum made the same kind of remark as this one. The NPG moderator responded with, "Those are the official lyrics, even if somebody decided to sing something different."

So, it's likely that the same thing happened here. Mind you it's not the first time it's happened. A few years ago while I was reviewing the "3121" album, I noticed that he did the same with "The Word." The lyrics sheet says "There's no reason to feel uneasy" but he changed it to "No reason to feel such pain."

^^

That's how I treat it, as a separate piece of "poetry", similar to the When Doves Cry back cover.

I always figured those lyrics on the back cover were worded as such because they needed them to fit on the back cover, so they reworded a bit here and there to make it all symmetrical.

That's just how it was back in those days. Not just Prince.

If you listen to your music on decent equipment - not an iPod - you will hear the lyrics as they are written on the back of the lp. None of those words are missing.

No it doesn't.