Tag: 1985
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Baby I’m a Star
“Baby I’m a Star” has the familiar air of Prince self-actualizing through music: projecting himself toward a celebrity status he was still years away from achieving.
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No Call U
It isn’t entirely clear whether “No Call U,” recorded toward the end of the 1999 sessions on July 23, was intended for Jill Jones, another side project, or Prince himself; more likely than not, given the “crazy blur” of recording sessions during this period, it wasn’t even clear to the participants at the time.
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Lady Cab Driver (Rearrange)
What keeps “Lady Cab Driver” distinct from 1999’s other transportation-themed erotic fantasies, “Little Red Corvette” and “International Lover,” is its pervasive sense of angst.
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Lust U Always (“Divinity”)
Had “Lust U Always” come out on 1999, Prince may have forced the issue of music industry self-censorship two years early.
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Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
If “Something in the Water”’s music wasn’t so beautiful, the self-pity and solipsism of its lyrics would begin to feel ugly: an adolescent projection of self-loathing into a spitefully generic female tormenter.
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How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
“How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?” feels in many ways like Prince’s Ur-song: a pure expression of the carnal and emotional longing at his core, drawn from the deep well of the African American musical tradition.