Prince

Released: November 19, 1996

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro]
Big white mansion
Top of the road
Latest fashion
Happy, don't you know?

[Verse 1]
Here I am in New York, yeah
See the girl bold and fair
What's in your backpack today?
Will it take my blues away?
That's OK, "you gotta run"
Huh, check it, I don't need you to have some fun
Coming from the land of snow
I guess I'm kind of used to cold

[Chorus]
But one day I'll have a big white mansion
At the top of the road
I'm going to wear the latest fashion
I'm going to be happy, don't you know?

[Verse 2]
I could use a new guitar
Sing a tune at Chazz' bar
Maybe meet a debutante
Be a toy, do what she want (Tell me what you wanna do?)
9 o'clock, see John K
"But you don't rock, come another day" (When?)
Come another day
Spirit so low reaching up for ground (Reaching up for ground)
One day I'm going to make it in this lonely town

[Chorus]
But one day I'll have a big white mansion
At the top of the road
I'm going to wear the latest fashion
I'm going to be happy, don't you know?

[Verse 3]
Hey there, what's your name? (What's your name, cutie?)
And can you tell me how to play the game? ("I am a winner") (Listen to this)
Do I really have to cut my hair? (No)
Now that's a cross I could never bear (How about them publishing rights?)
Sell my publishing? What a laugh! (Ha ha)
I don't know Bo but I do know math (I do know math)
Back to Minneapolis, there you go
You can't find your house underneath the snow

[Chorus]
Because you're living in a big white mansion (Oh yes)
At the top of the road
You're wearing the latest fashion
Trying to be happy, don't you know? (Trying to be happy, happy)

[Outro]
Big white, big white mansion (Big white mansion)
At the top of the road
You and me wearing Versace, Gucci (Latest fashion)
Hoochies, they all wanna do me (Happy, don't you know?)
But am I really happy?
Big white mansion
(Yeah, maybe one day)
("Yo, Anita!") [Martin sample]
("Yo, check out that ass!")

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.

more tracks from the album

Emancipation

From the album

Emancipation (1996)

Prince popular songs

White MansionPrince

Prince

Emancipation