Prince

Released: January 29, 1998

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Refrain]
This is what it's like in the Dream Factory, oh!

[Verse 1]
Hollyrock ain't all it seems (Lordy)
Don't get to serious, it's just a dream
Don't forget your friends, they're all you have got (Lordy)
Listen to the story of a man I am not
Party all night, hanging out
In the streets more than I be at home
I take a pill to wipe away my doubts
But a pill can't cure my being alone
Vodka and seven straight to my brain
Put me under false impressions, hide all my pain
Somebody help me, I'm losing control

[Refrain]
This is what it's like in the Dream Factory, oh!

[Verse 2]
Everybody got the big dreams (Hey Lordy)
But nobody got the bucks
Love and trust will help you make it in a world (Everybody)
Where there ain't no love, ain't no love
Dig
A man came up to me, smile in his eyes
He told me I was a saint
So I'm quitting my friends much to their surprise
I can't live up to the picture that they paint
Ah somebody help me, I'm losing control (Ow!)

[Refrain]
Guess I'm just a sucker in the dream factory, oh!

[Bridge]
La, la, la, la, la (Sucker)
Got to drive
(It's just a dream)
Look out
Do you want to party?
Do want a pill?
How about a false impression?
(Thrills, spills, chills)

[Refrain]
This is what it's like in the Dream Factory, oh!

[Verse 3]
Ow! Yeah
Up a little bit
(Dream factory, oh)
Party all night, hang up on the side, I said "Uh"
(Do you wanna party?)
I can't make up my mind
(How about a false impression?)
I can't seem to live with no pictures (Thrills, spills, chills)
Somebody got to help me! (Just a sucker)
I'm losing control (Just a sucker)
Guess I'm just a sucker in the dream factory, oh!

[Outro]
Guess I'm just a sucker in the dream factory, oh!
(Just a sucker, motherfucker!)

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.

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