Prince

Released: August 21, 1990

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
Boy is lonely on a burning hot summer night
He's looking for some action, he's looking for a fight
He's looking for a saviour in a city full of fools
Maybe he just needs a good talker to give him a good talking to
Can we talk baby?

[Refrain]
Strip down, strip down
I think I'm going to fall in love tonight
Elephants and flowers

[Verse 2]
Hot sweaty light paints a picture red and gold
On a crowd of naked bodies stripped down to their very souls
How can he find a shy angel in a city so bold (so bold)
He can't even find a place for dance, this is rock and roll

[Refrain]
Strip down, strip down
Elephants and flowers
Is everybody ready? Here we go

[Chorus]
Love the one who is love, (love)
The one who gives us the power, (power)
The one who made everything, (what?)
Elephants and flowers (what will he do?)
The one who will listen when all others will not
There will be peace for those who love god a lot

[Refrain]
Elephants and flowers
Strip down
Think I'm going to fall in love tonight

[Bridge]
When I do, there won't be no more (confusion)
There won't be no more (no tears)
There won't be no more enemies, so that eliminates all the fear
And there won't be no sorrow, (sorrow)
There won't be no pain, (no pain)
There won't be no ball and no chain

[Refrain]
Strip down, strip down
Elephants and flowers

[Verse 3]
Boy is lonely on a burning hot summer night
He's looking for an angel to hold him until the morning light
Here we go

[Chorus]
Love the one who is love (love)
The one who gives us the power, (power)
The one who made everything (what?)
Elephants and flowers (what will he do?)
The one who will listen when all others will not
There will be peace for those who love god a lot
Here we go
Love the one who is love (love)
The one who gives us the power, (power)
The one who made everything (what?)
Elephants and flowers (what will he do?)
The one who will listen when all others will not
There will be peace for those who love god a lot

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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