Prince's pop life, song by song, in chronological order.
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The Belle of St. Mark
While “Glamorous” sounded tailor-made for Sheila’s particular talents (even if it wasn’t), “Belle” is well-crafted but faceless, embodying the essentialist cynicism of the publishing imprint Prince used for his female side projects: “Girlsongs.”
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Down a Long Lonely Road
Were it not for the unusual delicacy of Prince’s singing voice, “Down a Long Lonely Road” would sound for all the world like some old Folkways recording of a Black church group.
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Just Another Sucker
Did Prince bring a dose of magic to “Just Another Sucker”–or did his own, much more lucrative take on the Minneapolis Sound owe an unpaid debt to Pepé Willie’s influence?
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Wouldn’t You Love to Love Me?
Prince seems to have discovered early on that he was better at writing about sex from a woman’s perspective: his sexual appeal is simply more convincing, more fully-realized, when he’s putting himself in the shoes of his own seducee.