Released: October 27, 1982

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro]
Taxi! Taxi!

[Verse 1]
Lady cab driver, can you take me for a ride?
Don't know where I'm going because I don't know where I've been
So just put your foot on the gas, let's drive
Lady, don't ask questions
Promise I'll tell you no lies
Trouble winds are blowing, I'm growing cold
Get me out of here, I feel I'm going to die

[Chorus]
Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast
Lately trouble winds are blowing hard, and I don't know if I can last

[Verse 2]
Lady, I'm so lonely
I know that's not the way to be
Don't want isolation, but the air it makes me cold
Drive it, baby, drive it, drive this demon out of me
Take me to your mansion
Honey, let's go everywhere
Help me, girl, I'm drowning, mass confusion in my head
Will you accept my tears to pay the fare?

[Chorus]
Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast
Lately trouble winds are blowing hard, and I don't know if I can last

[Interlude]
Lady cab driver, can you take me for a ride?

[Chorus]
Lady cab driver, roll up your window fast
Lately trouble winds are blowing hard, and I don't know if I can last

[Breakdown]
This is for the cab you have to drive for no money at all
This is for why I wasn't born like my brother, handsome and tall
This is for politicians who are bored and believe in war
This - Yeah, that's for me, that's who that one's for
This is for discrimination and egotists who think supreme
And this is for whoever taught you how to kiss in designer jeans
That one's for- That one's for- for you have to live
This one's for the rich, not all of 'em, just the greedy -
The ones that don't know how to give
This one's for Yosemite Sam and the tourists at Disneyland
And this one- ooh! Yeah - That's the one
That's for- that's for the- the creator of man
This is for the sun, the moon, the stars, the tourists at Disneyland
This is for the ocean, the sea, the shore
This is for- and that's for you, and that's who that one's for
This is for the women, so beautifully complex
This one's for love without sex
This is for the wind that blows no matter how fast or slow
Not knowing where I'm going
This galaxy's better than not having a place to go
And now I know (I know)

[Instrumental Break]

[Outro]
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver
Lady cab driver

Prince

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.