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Suggestions for an Alternate, New Wave, Punk, Pop, 8os Show on the Radio I wanted to request some Prince songs for a radio show as it comes to New Year. The show is Alternate, New Wave, Punk, Pop, Reggae and the host is very interactive with the show. Of course it is a moveable feast and the songs can be at times very commercial. I made some Prince requests and for fun added some background or explanation, a couple of the bits are cribbed from Prince lore or the hits the B sides liner notes but I had fun doing it. I will let you know how the requests/show went. Mark Smith , the unfeasibly large Prince request section (but it shows dedication, methodology and process). All of these songs would fit on Going Underground in at least some alternative (underground?) universe. I have ordered them from plausible to less plausible...
Sign o the Times (a sensitive retouching of Marvin Gayes 'What's going on' in the sense of world troubles with updated Sly Stone drum machines)
Controversy (prodigiously funky guitar line, Prince addressing his public image a little before he was a household name definitive Prince sex, image even a lottle religion)
Lady cab driver (Risque but Funky deep cut from his innovative 1999 album - edit the end - would sound GRAND paired with GRACE JONES pull up to the bumper - BABY)
Something in the water does not compute (1999 with a deep cut so deep it will leave a scar on your soul effortlessly inventive, completely singular and unreplicatable)
Another Lonely Christmas (David Byrne endorsed this recently in his non-Christmas Christmas song playlist)
Annie christian (His most GOING UNDERGROUND track, new wave, experimental light crystal clear drum programming, overarching synths threatening to crush the arrangement, a guitar hero guitar solo and lyrics that name check Regan, gun control, the death of Black Children and the Death of John Lennon - only a year or two after the event. GRAND)
Scarlet pussy (Prince does a female take on George Clinton's Atomic Dog as this seductive femenine captures hearts fast enough to break them)
Dance on (polyrhythmic at times atonal Love Sexy album standout. The bass line is a steam train that stops at every funk stop)
Shockadelica (Hilarious back story. His ex-musician from the Time the ultra talented Jesse Johnson wrote an album called Shockadelica, Prince wrote this song to suggest a grand album should have a grand title track. He released it before Jesse's album came out to make it look like Jesse copied Prince. - sick and twisted Prince trolling)
Erotic city (This B side to LET's GO CRAZY was written after watching George Clinton and P- FUNK. He later covered it himself for PCU, subversive filthy going underground track with pop dance vibes everywhere - may have been inspired by dance track WHITE HORSE by Laid Back)
Hello (So Prince didn't sing on We Are the World but he contributed 'For the Tears in your eyes' instead. This is Prince's angry and magnificent take on the issue 'We're against hungry children but there's as much hunger here at home)
Dance electric (Captivating and post Revelation grooving as Prince has dried off from the Purple Rain and is willing to see the Dawn - written for Andre Cymone who he lived with as a teen when his step dad threw him out (in the basement) and who was a former band mate)
Bob George (Black Album Prince in character as a violent and angry man who finds out his woman has been going out with Prince's manager - a one act play of toxic masculinity enervating and folding in on itself. Madonna sampled this on a remix of Like a Prayer)
Cindy c (Black Album - an epic track about stalking Cindy C including chasing her into a room as she locks the door. Disturbing metoo fun -'two organ solos to go, a gem even Oprah Winfrey talked to him about on her show)
Superfunkycalifragisexy (Prince said don't buy the Black Album -well you should at least listen to it. Demon funky combines a Mary poppins reference and a bucket filled in it squirrel meat.)
Head (A song that takes Rick James Superfreak and takes it to that next next level. Wild and raw another Prince sex fiction story about alternatives to full intercourse) Mark Smith you may play this once, but maybe could not play it twice.
Dirty mind ( Has a rocking Van Halen style keyboard line - but in no other way Van Halen, lovely new wave figrue. Dr Fink his keyboard brought up an idea, Prince went home and finished the whole thing in his little home studio.
Sister (Prince with a provocative incest fantasy that is raw and catchy but copped flack as normies took him seriously - paints Prince as the victim of the abuse)
Jack you off (Rockabilly throwaway with boomerang appeal as Prince will only 'do it for a worthy cause, virginity or menopause' - covered by a gay punk band Panzy division - yes this is not getting played)
All the critics love you in NY (Prince talking to the critics with this 1999 epic that took on a Detroit electronic groove to roast the opinionated know it all critics - they won't say your naive if you say what you believe all the critics love you in New York)
Uptown ( A beloved tribute to his beloved city of Minneapolis which racially, progressively, spiritually and culturally was nothing like this tune describes. Heck Prince was his own location and world. Reminds me of Miss you by the Rolling Stones in a way - a song he would cover ever so successfully in concert even after being booed off-stage by mad Rolling Stones fans as he was there opening act
Anotherloverholenyohead (Brilliant unclaimed pop, Prince loved this song which has some inventive and on point vocals from the girls - Wendy and Lisa. Buried as the third single from the Parade project that suffered for the badly received (but quite Princely brilliant Under the Cherry Moon film). Featuring a live video filmed on his birthday and repurposed for his Super Bowl press conference performance)
Pheromone (Deranged cautionary tale of psycho-sexual politics gone wrong. Links to IT (sign o the times) and Bob George Black album)
Come (Unfeasibly long 11 minute funk jam but mentioned for the jazz horns and delightful funk that could put a nun on heat)
Get blue (Hauntingly lonely and libidinous, this is seduction that feels a million galaxies and five relationships away)
Violet the organ grinder (Prince in a musk of creativity takes Get Off and takes it to a never (lower) level of satyriasis (male nymphomania) and obsession
Loose (Prince takes a stab at nineties dance and NIN tinged dance with a hype and intense performance, a study in scarlet)
Ballad of dorothy parker ( A recording error meant the high end of the mixing desk wasn't registering , a happy accident creates a weirdly correct Sign o the Times masterpiece that namecheck Algonquin wit and gone before her time author Dorothy Parker and Joni Mitchell (his idol) and her song Help Me)
If I was your girlfriend (This song is GOING UNDERGROUND personified, but are they ready for it. Expresses a desire for Prince to be able to relate to his girlfriend like she relates to her twin sister. A grower not a shower, I went from liking this song to loving it, maybe you will too. An IMPORTANT Prince song that not even rabid Brit love of Prince could take to a fair rating.
Strange relationship (Addictive and fun this song is again a Sign o the Times treasure about Prince not being able to find that perfect love in a relationship composed of two imperfect but passionate people
Starfish and coffee (Robert Smith of the Cure voted this as one of his favourite 80s tracks , a song recounting a special girl on the spectrum)
Electric chair (Batman produced this chilling and disturbingly ultra pasteurised triple fried masterpiece. The SNL version and the SNL rehearsal with a new band is even better. Played as a snippet in Jack Nicolson/Tim Burton's Batman film = 1989 y'all)
Private joy (Mark Smith, this song is wild. Kylie Minogue voted this her favourite song at one time (before Prince gave her the track Baby Doll that she wrote lyrics for) . The guitar solo is Prince trying to replicate a woman's climax. 'i strangled Valentino you've been mine ever since, if anybody asks you belong to Prince' - Word_
F.u.n.k (Angry Prince is a lethal and beautiful thing. A late period song in response to critics and fans and critical fans a Camile vocalised meal with instrumental solos on most instruments. An rare uncut gem)
Turn me loose (A song delivered on Jay Leno's talk show - Rabid - what I want to do to you is illegal in 13 States - play a guessing game to figure out what that is)
Poom poom poom (This song is all endorphins and golden seal licorice. Not a bad thing at all. Life support drum pattern- the poom poom poom is a heartbeat)
When u were mine (THIS WOULD FIND A FINE HOME ON GOING UNDERGROUND. Covered by Cyndi Lauper and Mitch Ryder of the Detroit Wheels covered this. A level pop balladry with the ornate curves and craft Prince made easy. Recorded on his bone dry funky Madcat (a cheaper Telecaster clone he embraced for his entire career) MYSTICAL with intriguing lyrics the critics and dullards misunderstood.
Feel u up (Written as a heavy funk raw work out, it was remade and cleaned up to be an urbane but still nasty funk track as a Batman B-side 9 or so years later.
Tick tick bang (This was done as a punk version and a funk version which sampled Jimi Hendrix (a Noel Redding song, little Miss Strange)
La la la he he he (Prince was challenged to make a song from this title, needless to say he aced the assignment)
Come and play with me (This is close as Prince ever got to sounding like the Cult. I dig it. Hard to find not easy to forget)
Darling Nikki (At times this ribald tale (reminiscent of the Penthouse forum books Prince's mother would hide under her bed) is also about the star system and the old Faustian pact with the Devil. Think about this, this has been my Favourite Purple Rain track at times)
Computer Blue (Epic Purple Rain track that Benjamim Richards agrees should be on the Sound if not Going Underground, co-write sort of with his dad, has the instrumental piano track 'Father's song' played as a guitar solo mid flight. Like an update to the Dorrs The End - long version even has a vocal outro with Oedipal overtones -Is the water warm enough - yes Lisa)
101 (A gift to Sheena Easton, this understated cool and on point ice cube electric blue track is a felony of funk)
Cool love (does what it says on the box, a Sheena Easton gift - how can you tell if typing pain is RSI or not??????)
Witness 4 the prosecution (Love the heightened Camille vocals on this song with my weakness funky funky (ain't nobody , my jamaican guy GRACE JONES ) steel drums 'at school I once traded chairs' , named after a classic hollywood film)
Joint to joint (From his post Slave Warner Brothers contract album Emancipation. Wonderfully batshit Prince experimentation, bass line tike a laser pointed missile and a TAP DANCE SOLO (not one of Prince's instruments) as well as a guest female rapper - the Poet 99)
It (Sign o the Times coldly primitive 3 a.m lust and lament track, underrated by fools and madmen. A flannel wringing with obsession and an itch that can't be scratched)
Gotta stop messing about (Just a cute new wave, song that has an organ sound that has to be heard, lovely skinny black ties Cars sound, sounds even better live 'been playing with my toy so much i'm gonna go blind'
Irresistible bitch (This song verges on early rap, the drum snare snaps like a postal worker on Christmas and is not just a song it is an adventure)
17 Days ( B side to When Doves Cry a divinely perfect pop song that ticks all the Going Underground boxes - a bass line like a pulled yard of golden brown taffy and lonely broken hearted Prince lyrics)
When doves cry (The decision to strip bass from an R and B hit was as (Prince and the) Revolution-ary as it sounds. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top marvelled at the guitar solo. The keyboard line is unattainably clever but understandable, and the drum figure is what suggests the bass, The lyrics are both fictional, personal and accessible) Dig if you will the picture
Of you and I engaged in a kiss The sweat of your body covers me Can you my darling Can you picture this? Dream, if you can, a courtyard
An ocean of violets in bloom Animals strike curious poses They feel the heat The heat between me and you How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that's so cold? (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 (she's never satisfied) Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like When doves cry SEE!
Scarlet pussy (Prince does a female take on George Clinton's Atomic Dog as this seductive femenine captures hearts fast enough to break them)
Rebirth of the flesh (This was Prince on a P-Funk and religious meeting ground. Funky as back of the fridge camembert you can hear the joy and fun Prince had recording this
Dance with the devil (Batman outtake this intense song was too sinister for the sountrack, takes the Devil as a full on real whether as an entity or a dark ebon part of your soul)
The future (The 1990s was calling as Prince's Batman soundtrack hit with this street crime decrying apocalyptic dance rocker. He had a version remixed by William Orbit)
Crystal ball (Clare Fisher's Bond level strings take this Camille voiced funk odyssey to the next level. An epic song that some have seen as Prince's best work. Ambitious and delivering, I could not argue.
Girl (Around the World in B side, takes love to a psychedelic obsessive level as backwards masked lyrics, a throbbing pulsating rhythm talks of a healthily unhealthily intenese love affair - 'Girl you excite me so, a sea of electircity' rinse and repeat)
Others here with us (A scary Halloween that links Tales from the Crypt Horror, wrestling with spirituality and dark shadows of Prince's childhood)
Rock hard in a funky place (A bad ass end to the Legendary Bootlegged black album, now legal - the horn section is a gang of Miles Davis/ P-Funk loving thugs - lyrics he will return same bat time same bat channel that links to the first song he ever learnt on piano Bat Man tv theme)
Heaven (Around the World in a Day Outtake this is seven minutes of absolute funk that draws several curvy lines between love sex, religion and pure universal bliss.
The ball (Prince wearing his P- Funk glasses and giving a cosmic ferris wheel of funk
Ripogodazippa (climbs on the back of Reggae, this deliciously decadent song is as juicy as an overripe Mango seductive and breaks the meta self-referential wall
Love or $ (this song is the epitome of funk. Actually very Sly and the Family Stone. Pitched high in his Camille vocals it can be played in high vocals or slowed down on the 45 to sound like Sly Stone's baritone. Unfairly given a Golden Raspberry for Under the Cherry Moon (soundtrack) undeservedly)
The Sex of it (he gave this song to Kid Creole and the Coconuts. A definitive jam that he slays so evidently he should still doing life for, very much could have been written for Morris Day and the Time but the Time was up after 1984 as Jam and Lewis were fired which would launch a fantastic career and Morris Day was trying to rid the world of all free found cocaine.
Tambourine (The album around the world in a day has been re-released. This track is funk personified as lyrically obtusely Prince struggles with 'falling in love with a face in a magazine, a (woman) trolley car who juggles in 17 and staying at home and playing with his tambourine. The drums and bass aren next level the vocals are sick enough to resurrect the Black Death)
Baby go (A funky little dream pop that Prince whipped up in the middle of a dream (1999 reference) for Nona Hendrix who was of Labelle - Lady Maramalade fun)
Girl power (A Sheila E demo with my weakness - funk steal drums. Girl power before it was overspice (girl) 'd and lame)
A love bizarre (A marathon mixed with a Christmas Day parade as this hit for Sheila E with Eddie M sax captures your pulse and ramps it up a notch or two (hundred)
Shortberry strawcake (Sheila E's Glamorous life had this backwards guitars and vocals STATEMENT SONG, the inversion of the title suggests the backwards guitar - clever little Prince)
Had u (a short but sweet kiss off to a lost relationship, both to a lover and to Warner Brothers, his at the time last work for WB to fulfil his slave contract. Lyrically laconic it uses the taciturn lyrical idea from Nine Inch Nails 'Eraser' - the power of the 2nd person pronoun)
IF YOU HAVE READ TO THIS POINT I SAY THANK YOU AND APPLAUD YOUR STAMINA.
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Billy asked Prince about the intro to "When Doves Cry" after a chance meeting. Prince: "Yeah, that one still gets me, too..." Autopen Signature |
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