Prince

Released: July 16, 1982

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
Stand up everybody, this is your life
Let me take you to another world, let me take you tonight
You don't need no money, you don't need no clothes
The Second Coming, anything goes

[Chorus]
Sexuality is all you'll ever need
Sexuality, let your body be free

[Verse 2]
Come on everybody, yeah, this is your life
I'm talking about a revolution we got to organize
We don't need no segregation, we don't need no race
New age revelation, I think we got a case

[Chorus]
I'm OK as long as you are here with me
Sexuality is all we ever need
Oh baby

[Refrain]
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
Everybody
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
One time say
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize

[Spoken Interlude]
We live in a world overrun by tourists
Tourists, 89 flowers on their back
Inventors of the Accu-jack
They look at life through a pocket camera
What? No flash again?
They're all a bunch of double drags who teach their kids that love is bad
Half of the staff of their brain is on vacation
Mama, are you listening?
We need a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
Don't let your children watch television until they know how to read
Or else all they'll know how to do is cuss, fight, and breed
No child is bad from the beginning
They only imitate their atmosphere
If they're in the company of tourists, alcohol, and US history
What's to be expected is 3 minus 3
Absolutely nothing

[Refrain]
Stand up, organize
Reproduction of a new breed, leaders stand up, organize
I want to be in the new breed, stand up, organize

[Chorus]
Sexuality is all I'll ever need
Sexuality, I'm going to let my body be free
Sexuality is all I'll ever need
Sexuality, I'm going to let my body be free
Sexuality

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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Controversy

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Controversy (1981)

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Prince

Controversy