Prince

Released: September 10, 1980

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
She saw me walking down the streets
Of your fine city
It kind of turned me on when she looked at me
And said, "come here"
Now I don't usually talk to strangers
But she looked so pretty
What can I lose
If I just give a little ear?
What's up little girl?
I ain't got time to play
Baby didn't say too much
She said, "Are you gay?"
Kinda took me by surprise
I didn't know what to do
I just looked her in her eyes
And I said, "No, are you?"
Said to myself, said
She's just a crazy, crazy, crazy little mixed up dame
She's just a victim of society
And all its games

[Pre-Chorus]
Now where I come from
We don't let society, tell us how it's supposed to be
Our clothes, our hair, we don't care
It's all about being there

[Chorus]
Everybody's going
Uptown
That's where I want to be
Uptown
Set your mind free
Uptown
Got my body hot
Get down
I don't want to stop, no

[Verse 2]
As soon as we got there
Good times were rolling
White, black, Puerto Rican
Everybody just a-freaking
Good times were rolling
She started dancing in the streets
Girl, she's just gone mad
You know, she even made love to me
Best that I ever had
I don't usually talk to strangers
This time it's all right
See, she got me hot
I couldn't stop
Good times were rolling all night
All night, yeah

[Pre-Chorus]
Now where I come from
We don't give a damn
We do whatever we please
It ain't about no downtown
Nowhere bound
Narrow-minded drag
It's all about being free

[Chorus]
Everybody's going
Uptown
That's where I want to be
Uptown
Set your mind free
Uptown
Got my body hot
Get down
I don't want to stop, no

[Interlude]

[Outro]
Uptown
Uptown
Everybody's going, everybody's going
Everybody got to, got to
Uptown
Got to go, got to go-go-go
Got to go Uptown
Uptown
All now
Uptown
Got to go-go-go
Baby, got to go, got to
Uptown
Come on, come on
You, you have to, you got to go
Uptown
Yeah

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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