Though it’s only April, this has already been a bad year for Western popular music in terms of deaths of important artists. The biggest one was David Bowie, but other deaths have included Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Paul Kantner and Signe Toly Anderson of Jefferson Airplane, Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer (considered by many to be the most technically proficient keyboardist in rock music), George Martin (the Beatles' producer and the man with perhaps the best claim to be the "fifth Beatle"), and Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire. Last week another name was added to the list, one as big as Bowie. I’m referring of course to Prince (or Prince Rogers Nelson, to give him his full name), who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 57.
As was the case with Bowie, I have to admit that my own music collection only contains a limited number of Prince albums, though there were several others I’d always intended to pick up if I ever saw them used (I can’t afford to buy much music new nowadays, unless it’s discounted). For a long time, the only Prince CDs I had were the two that make up the compilation The Hits. I later acquired Purple Rain, the album most commonly cited as his best, the second disc of Sign 'O' the Times, another acknowledged career highlight and an album I had a tape copy of in college (I’ve tried to find a used copy of the first disc ever since getting the first, but with no luck yet), and the later album Musicology. I’d also like to get a copy of 1999 if I ever come across a reasonably inexpensive one.
Back when I first got heavily into music in college, I was mostly into classic rock, so I tended to think of Prince as a good example of an artist I objectively considered brilliant and innovative but who had limited appeal to me subjectively, aside from a few songs that I loved even then, in contrast to more conventional rock artists like Journey or Styx. My tastes have fortunately broadened somewhat, so I’m if anything more likely to put on a Prince album than my Journey best-of compilation (though I still like a lot of Journey songs, especially “Don’t Stop Believing”), but it’s still true that I never got that deeply into Prince. In the wake of his death, I’ve been listening to some of the Prince CDs I have, and I have been even more impressed by them than I remember being (it's also only in the past few years that I've come to appreciate what a great guitarist he was), even if it’s still not likely that I’ll ever want to collect everything he ever did. One thing is for sure, though; there are enough Prince songs that I think are not just good but great to easily fill up a CD. The list below contains most of my favorites, though as is usual with these things, if I redid the list on another day it’d probably be slightly different. Since my exposure to his music has been mainly limited to the hits, there nothing really surprising here, and dedicated Prince fans could no doubt easily name a dozen worthy tracks that I didn’t even consider (because I’m not sufficiently familiar with them). No matter; this is my own subjective taste at work here. It’s enough to say that a CD with all these songs would sound really great.
The first four songs are the ones I’d usually name as my absolute favorite Prince songs, though naturally the order is subject to change, and several other songs could potentially break into the top ranks depending on my mood. Similarly, the rest of the songs are (very) roughly in order of preference, though especially in the second half of the list the order could easily be switched around. My own preferences among Prince’s songs are mostly about the music, the groove and the melody rather than the lyrics, though in some cases the lyrics are also a key attraction. Certainly my very favorite songs have some lyrics that I really like, and many of the others have some clever lines. Two songs, both from the Sign 'O' the Times album, deserve special mention in the lyric department. I like the title track’s unusually direct sociopolitical bent, though I have problems with a couple lines. The bit about the drug-taking cousin implies the inaccurate characterization of marijuana as a so-called “gateway drug” that was pushed so hard in the drug war, and the contrast made between poverty and spaceflight might be taken to imply that there is something wrong with pursuing the latter, when a much better contrast would be between poverty and military spending, or just consumer spending on useless junk (space exploration, on the other hand, brings many benefits in the long run, both tangible and intangible). Despite these quibbles, the song’s lyrics are well written, and deeper than is usual for Prince. “The Cross” is a song I like mostly for its music, including the vaguely Middle Eastern sounding rift running through it. I don’t share the religious sentiment Prince expresses in the lyrics, but it does make for an unusual contrast with most of his other lyrical themes. But as I said, with Prince in most cases what really grabs the listener is the music, and in all of the songs listed below, he outdid himself in that department.
I also included a selection of my favorite versions of Prince songs recorded by other artists, whether the songs were first performed by these artists (e.g. the Bangles’ “Manic Monday”) or were covers of songs previously performed by Prince or one of his various protégés (e.g., “I Feel for You” and “Nothing Compares 2 U”).
15 Favorite Songs by Prince
Purple Rain
1999
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man [link is to a live version w. great guitar intro]
Little Red Corvette
Let’s Go Crazy
Raspberry Beret [audio of live version only]
When Doves Cry
Sign 'O' the Times
Diamonds and Pearls
Pop Life
7
Peach
Kiss
Musicology
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad
Honorable Mentions: Starfish and Coffee (Prince/Susannah Melvoin), U Got the Look, I Would Die 4 U, Controversy, Delirious, The Cross, Adore, Cream
Favorite Prince Songs Recorded by Other Artists
Manic Monday The Bangles
Nothing Compares 2 U Sinead O’Connor
I Feel for You Chaka Khan
Yo Mister Patti LaBelle
Five Women Joe Cocker
Round and Round Tevin Campbell
Love…Thy Will Be Done (Prince/Martika) Martika
The Glamorous Life (Prince/Sheila E) Sheila E
