Sheila E.

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
She wears a long fur coat of mink
Even in the summer time
Everybody knows from the coy little wink
The girl's got a lot on her mind
She's got
Big thoughts
Big dreams
And a big brown Mercedes sedan
What I think this girl
She really wants, to be in love with a man

[Chorus]
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
She don't need a man's touch
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
Without love, it ain't much

[Verse 2]
She saw him standing in the section marked
"If you have to ask, you can't afford it" lingerie
She threw him bread
And said make me scream
In the dark, what could he say?
Boys with small talk and small minds
Really don't impress me in bed
She said, "I need a man's man, baby"
Diamonds and furs
Love would only conquer my head

[Chorus]
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
She don't need a man's touch
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
Without love, it ain't much

[Verse 3]
They made haste in the brown sedan
They drove to 55 Secret Street
They made love, and by the seventh wave
She knew she had a problem
She thought real love is really scary
Money only pays the rent
Love is forever, that's all your life
Love is Heaven sent
It's glamorous

[Chorus]
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
She don't need a man's touch
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
Without love, it ain't much, it ain't much

[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus]
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
She don't need a man's touch
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
Without love it ain't much, it ain't much
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
She don't need a man's touch
She wants to lead the Glamorous Life
Without love it ain't much, it ain't much

Sheila E., born Sheila Escovedo on December 12, 1957, is a singer, songwriter, and percussionist from Oakland, California. Her honorific title is “The Queen of Percussion”.

The daughter of a Mexican jazz percussionist and Creole/African-American factory worker, Sheila comes from a family of musical royalty – father Pete Escovedo and uncle Coke were members of the Santana band for a time. Her other uncles are Alejandro, who has had a sustained alt-punk career; Javier, who led the early punk pioneer band The Zeros; and Mario, who fronted the 90s group The Dragons and MEX, aka Mario Escovedo Xperience. Sheila’s brothers Juan and Peter Michael are also percussionists, with Peter working on The Wayne Brady Show. Sheila is the goddaughter of Tito Puente, a Latin Jazz pioneer and Spanish Harlem legend.

“Before I had language, I had rhythm,” she wrote in The Beat Of My Own Drum, a 2014 memoir. “I learned it before I learned my mother tongue.” At the age of 20, Sheila became a member of George Duke’s R&B jazz band, and worked with him from 1976 to 1980, during Duke’s early Epic/CBS years. By the age of 26, she had already worked or toured with Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, and family friend Lionel Richie.

more tracks from the album

The Glamorous Life

From the album

The Glamorous Life (1984)

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