Prince

Released: October 5, 1999

Featuring: Q-Tip

Songwriter: Q-Tip Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro: Prince]
The greatest romance that's ever been sold

[Verse 1: Prince and Q-Tip]
So what do you know, you and me
Finally face to face
Checkin' each other up and down
In all the obvious places
All the places in the world we live
They can't hold a candle to the light you give
For real, for real
I have a outlook that's truly uncommon
And if you follow me
You're more than a honor, man
The reason why I'm placed on the earth's face
Is spitting rhymes, getting mine's
Watching your waist, hourglass
Then you give me hot flash
This romance give heat of a sonic blast

[Pre-Chorus: Prince]
So this is where you end
And you and I begin

[Chorus: Prince and Pharrell Williams]
The greatest romance that's ever been sold
I ain't no thug tonight
I'mma stay home and make love tonight
The greatest romance that's ever been sold
I ain't trying to bang
Maybe this song will help me change

[Verse 2: Prince and Q-Tip]
Now your mind is open
To poetry seldom heard
Your heart has never been broken
Until you've heard these words
Givin' off the air like your thang don't smell
You better answer all of that love
Inside your heart, right now
Shorty, look, in the scheme of it all
We could really make it work
When our back's on the wall
For real, for real
Give a week and let your man know
I'll come running
He's heartless
Hold my hand
Yo, he's just fronting
It's time now
Let's dance eternally
They looking at us laughing
But our love is what's concerning me

[Pre-Chorus: Prince]
So this is where you end
This is where you end
And you and I begin

[Chorus: Prince and Pharrell Williams]
The greatest romance that's ever been sold
I ain't no thug tonight
I'mma stay home and make love tonight
The greatest romance that's ever been sold
I ain't trying to bang
Maybe this song will help me change, c'mon
I ain't no thug tonight
I'mma stay home and make love tonight, baby
I ain't trying to bang
Maybe this song will help me change
Lemme holla at you, babe (holla, holla)

[Outro: Prince]
Oh, oh I know you can feel me
I know that you can dance
But what do you know about the greatest romance?
Not what you think but what you believe
Can you tell me the real reason that Adam never left Eve?
I ain't gonna leave you baby

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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