Released: March 27, 2004

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
As war drums beat in Babylon
Cinnamon Girl starts to pray
I never heard a prayer like this one
Never before that day

[Pre-Chorus]
Tearful words of love for people she had never met before
Asking God to grant them mercy in this face of a holy war

[Chorus]
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl

[Verse 2]
Cinnamon Girl of mixed heritage
Never knew the meaning of color lines
9-1-1 turned that all around
When she got accused of this crime

[Pre-Chorus]
So began the mass illusion, war on terror alibi
What's the use when the God of Confusion keeps on telling the same lie?

[Chorus]
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl

[Bridge]
Don't cry, don't shed no tears
One night won't make us feel
'Cause we know how this movie's ending

[Chorus]
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl

[Verse 3]
As war drums beat in Babylon
And scorch the blood red sky
Militants bomb the foreign gun
Both side's children die

[Pre-Chorus]
Cinnamon Girl opens the book she knows will settle all the scores
Then she prays after the war that there will not be anymore

[Chorus]
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl
Cinnamon Girl
Don't worry, baby, it's gonna be alright
Cinnamon Girl

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.