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FreePrince

Released: October 27, 1982

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
Don't sleep until the sunrise, listen to the falling rain
Don't worry about tomorrow, don't worry about your pain
Don't cry unless you're happy, don't smile unless you're blue
Never let that lonely monster take control of you

[Chorus]
Be glad that you are free
Free to change your mind
Free to go most anywhere, anytime
Be glad that you are free
There's many a man who's not
Be glad for what you had, baby, what you've got
Be glad for what you've got

[Verse 2]
I know your heart is beating, my drummer tells me so
If you take your life for granted, your beating heart will go
So don't sleep until you're guilty, because sinners all are we
There's others doing far worse than us, so be glad that you are free

[Chorus]
Be glad that you are free
Free to change your mind
Free to go most anywhere, anytime
Be glad that you are free
There's many a man who's not
Be glad for what you had, baby, what you've got
Be glad for what you've got

[Bridge]
Soldiers are a-marching, they're writing brand new laws
Will we all fight together for the most important cause?
Will we all fight for the right to be free?

[Chorus]
Free
(Be glad that you are free)
Free to change my mind
(Free to change your mind)
Free to go most anywhere, anytime
(Free to go most anywhere, anytime)
I'm just glad, I'm just glad I'm free, yeah
(Be glad that you are free)
There's many a man who's not
(There's many a man who's not)
Glad for what I had, baby
(Be glad for what you had and)
Glad for what I got, oh yeah
(for what you've got)
Oh I'm just glad, I'm just glad I'm free, yeah
(Be glad that you are free)
Free to change my mind
(Free to change your mind)
Free to go most anywhere, anytime
(Free to go most anywhere, anytime)
(Be glad that you are free)
(There's many a man who's not)
I'm so...
(Be glad for what you had and for)
(what you've got)

Prince

An American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and actor that produced 22 RIAA-platinum albums during his 40-year career, Prince may be known for one of many different things – his turn as “The Kid” in the iconic film/album/8 ½ minute ballad “Purple Rain”, being the writer behind the acclaimed anthem “Kiss,” rivaling Michael Jackson at the pinnacle of his career, being the inspiration behind censorship laws, or being the artist addressed as an unpronounceable symbol throughout the 1990s—but while many know of Prince, most don’t fully understand the impact his legacy left on this world.

Going by many aliases throughout his life, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958 with his father’s (John L. Nelson) stage name as his own given one. Growing up, Prince suffered from serious epileptic seizures at a very young age, but he had wrote his first composition of many by age seven, and outside of his love for basketball, he wanted music to be his purpose in life. His tumultuous childhood, witnessing alcoholism and abuse, caused him to find refuge in neighbor André Cymone’s home in his teens, where the two competed in local band competitions, leading to Prince’s introduction to Morris Day alongside music with his cousin’s band 94 East, leading him to be courted by record labels and ultimately signed to Warner Bros. Records with complete creative control; at 19, his debut album, For You (1978) was released – Prince played all 19 instruments on the record.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis, Rick James, and James Brown, Prince desired to form a music dynasty and after the success of his next albums – the platinum-selling Prince (1979), the sexually-charged Dirty Mind (1980), and politically-motivated Controversy (1981) – he negotiated for the ability to form his own label and manage artists of his own. Prince’s trademark sexual/religious rhetoric within pop-and-dance, funk-rock sound gained him a following, but his opening slates for Rick James and The Rolling Stones were both negatively received and facing bankruptcy, the young artist began to reach for mainstream popularity. Cashing on the drug-influenced doomsday mania of the times, 1982’s 1999 easily achieved that mainstream appeal, landing him on MTV, music charts, and radio stations across the world.

more tracks from the album

1999: Deluxe Edition

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