Prince

Released: September 26, 1995

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
After a month of just being alone he said, "I wonder what L.A.'s thinking"
Streets he roamed in search of a poem amongst the wild and drinking
When he sees cool dark skin in hot virgin white
The search was over at least for tonight
When she co-signed and then told him she was ...

[Chorus]
Shy - Cool dark skin in hot virgin white
Shy - Lips say won't but her body say might
Shy - Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight
Oh baby (Shy)

[Verse 2]
After a look much louder than words she said, "I passed my initiation
A friend of mine, he got killed and in retaliation
I shot the boy ("Pop! Pop!"), huh, twice in the head
No regrets, no sorrow - I'm going back tomorrow to make sure he's dead
Cuz if I don't, they'll call me a chicken, but you can call me ... "

[Chorus]
Shy - Cool dark skin in hot virgin white
Shy - Lips say won't but her body say might
Shy - Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight
Oh baby (Shy)

[Bridge]
Shy - Lips say no but the body say might
Looks like we're going to take the long way home..
Looks like we're going to take the long way home..
Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight

[Verse 3]
The girl was rough, but he called her bluff
And he told her not to know was better
Fact or fiction he wondered
And that's when the rain and thunder got wetter
And at the top of the page he wrote ...

[Chorus]
Shy - Cool dark skin in hot virgin white
Shy - Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight
Shy - Cool dark skin in hot virgin white
Shy - Lips say won't but her body say might
Shy - Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight
(Oh, say it now, yeah)
(Shy, shy!)
(Shy)

[Outro]
Ooh baby, don't you want to be alone tonight?
Shy - Yeah (Oh yes)
Shy (Shy)
Shy - Looks like we're going to take the long way home tonight

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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