Sheila E.

Released: June 4, 1984

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1]
I heard this afternoon
From the neighborhood slut Claudine
She said "Oliver is leaving soon
So we can make a scene"

[Chorus]
We're gonna have fun
Oliver's house
Make a lot of white noise
Fun, Oliver's house
Play with the white boys

[Verse 2]
Last June, Oliver threw a party for his girl, Louise
She got drunk and called me a bitch
Just 'cause I kissed him

[Chorus]
We're gonna have fun
Oliver's house
Make a lot of white noise
Fun, Oliver's house
Play with the white boys

[Post-Chrous]
Fun, Oliver's house
Fun, Oliver's house

[Verse 3]
Oliver's got a swimming pool
Piano in his bathroom
We took turns throwing down
We took turns throwing up

[Chorus]
Gonna have fun
Oliver's house
Make a lot of white noise
Fun, Oliver's house
Play with the white boys

Fun, Oliver's house
Make a lot of white noise
Fun, Oliver's house
Play with the white boys

[Verse 4]
You should see his mother's room
She's got so many fine clothes
Oliver
He dressed me up
And then he undressed me slowly

[Verse 5]
Oliver is so weird
But he knows how to play guitar
I'm a sucker for a major chord
A ride in an open car

[Chorus]
We're gonna have fun
Oliver's house

[Post-Chorus]
Fun, Oliver's house
We're gonna have fun
Fun, Oliver's house
We're gonna have fun
Fun, Oliver's house
We're gonna have fun

[Outro]
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun
Fun

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.

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