#204: Dirty Mind- Prince

Mike Natale:

Had trouble with the computer yesterday. So…two posts today. Just pretend this one was for yesterday.

Listened to: MP3

Well, you learn something new every day. Like today I learned that “When You Were Mine” is, In fact, not a Cyndi Lauper song, but is in fact a Prince song. Which makes much more sense, as it sounds more like one of his tracks. Still, it does have a different sound than the tracks that frame it on Dirty Mind, those being “Dirty Mind” and “Do It All Night”.

It’s been said that Dirty Mind is where Prince started to move away from disco-esque tracks that were shown on his debut, and was discovering what be his trademark sound and style. Tracks like “Gotta Broken Heart Again” make that clear, as it’s obvious he’s still unsure of how to sound, as this surely isn’t the Prince we’ve come to know and love.

Though, just as we’re thinking that, “Uptown” and “Head” get a little closer to that Prince. Sure, they’re still disco-y, but if they were just heavier, they’d be today’s Prince. Or ay least the Prince of the mid to late 80’s. Those drum beats, that wailing voice, just replace the heavy synths with heavier guitars, and this is vintage Prince.

“Head” also shows real hints of Prince’s real lyrical prowess, sexuality. Come on, it’s the story of a woman who’s gonna get married blowing some other guy. Score 0 for literature, but 1 for smut! (And for me, some days that’s a victory)

“Sister” apparently stirred up controversy as well, but I can’t for the life of me see why. “I was only 16 but I guess that's no excuse/My sister was 32, lovely, and loose/She don't wear no underwear/She says it only gets in her hair/And it's got a funny way of stoppin' the juice/My sister never made love to anyone else but me/She's the reason for my, uh, sexuality/She showed me where it's supposed to go/A blow job doesn't mean blow/Incest is everything it's said to be.” These lyrics are as wholesome and family friendly as it gets.

After yelping out “motherfucker” twice on “Sister”, he seems to try and top that on “Partyup”. In Prince’s musical evolution, he seems to realize yelling “fuck” every oher sentence isn’t gonna get you radio play. And lyrics like “You’re gonna have to fight your own damn war/’Cause we don’t wanna fight no more” prove that Prince oughta stay oughta politics, and stick to fucking.
The albums closer is the most Prince-ly track on the whole album. “Gotta Stop [Messin’ About]” sounds like and outtake from Purple Rain, for God’s sake. It’s almost like at the tail end of recording he went “Oh, wait, here it is. Here’s me!” Without a doubt, this is the best track on the album.

So, for anyone interested in the evolution of Prince, or anyone who wants to see the missing link between disco and the 80’s, this is well worth the listen.

-Mike

Well, see you tomorrow (or now) for #499: Born Under A Bad Sign, by the often ignored Albert King.