Prince

Released: October 13, 1992

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

*phone rings*

(Vanessa)
Hello

[Prince]
Vanessa?

(Vanessa)
I'm not recording this time
So how are you?

[Prince]
How are you?

(Vanessa)
Fine

[Prince]
Fine

(Vanessa)
Excuse me, but ah, what's up with your voice?

[Prince]
It's a special phone, a tone box

(Vanessa)
A tongue box. Oh, l-like in the movie Barbarella

[Prince]
Yeah, gives me courage, you know
Like a veil I can hide behind
It talks at, around, through her

(Vanessa)
Okay, so why are you giving me an interview?

[Prince]
Because I want you

(Vanessa)
Pardon me?

[Prince]
To tell the truth

(Vanessa)
Oh - well, I will if you will
For example, the first song of your opera

[Prince]
Ah, the opera

(Vanessa)
Why don't you tell me your real name

[Prince]
My name is Victor

(Vanessa)
That is not the truth and you know it
How old are you?

[Prince]
I'm into my 5th soul now so that makes me three hundred

(Vanessa)
Why do you pretend to be amazed?

[Prince]
And twenty
I'm amazed at your beauty
I saw you on television

(Vanessa)
320 hmm, don't sweat it honey, I'm too young for you
Although rumor has it that the crown princess of Cairo
Is now a member of the NPG
Are you there?

[Prince]
Ahem

(Vanessa)
Do you know that the princess is 16 years old?
How 'bout this for a story: "320 year old robs the cradle"
What a scandal

[Prince]
Scandal

(Vanessa)
You know, if you don't give me the real story
I'll have to make one up of my own
So why don't you tell me the truth - the truth - the truth
Why don't you tell me the truth?

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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[Love Symbol]

From the album

[Love Symbol] (1992)

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Segue IIPrince

Prince

[Love Symbol]