Birthday of Prince Rogers Nelson (Part 1)

Now, as everyone who knows me can attest, I am a fanatic for one Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson and his music. Correction. I am a fanatic for his music. I'm afraid if I ever met the musician, I might not like him. In fact, I'm always afraid of this when it comes to celebrities, mainly because it seems like every celebrity I actually meet finds a way to behave like a jerk. Two exceptions would be hip-hop producer 9th Wonder, who is awesome and extremely down to earth, and Kim Fields, who played "Tootie" on The Facts of Life sitcom. So there's that.

Anyhoo, I love Prince's music. Since I refuse to get wrapped up in the man himself, I do acknowledge his birthday at the beginning of June (the 7th), but I find it useful to celebrate when I get good and ready, as long as I observe it in June. Prince's music is quite fascinating. One thing I've noticed about it, that I don't think I've heard anybody mention, is that Prince's albums usually have a song making reference to a specific person. Sometimes the person is named directly, as in "Darling Nikki". Sometimes the name is implied or the person is referred to by what they do "Lady Cab Driver" or who they are "Baby".

The list below shows the Prince album, followed by the person referenced by a song on the album. Explanations and commentary only where needed:

1. For You (1978). Song: "Baby": "Baby, what are we gonna do?" Young parents worried about having a baby, but the lyrics are also written so that the speaker could be addressing the baby directly.

2. Prince (1979). Song: "Bambi": Bambi cheated on the narrator with another woman. "Bambi, can't you understand? / Bambi, it's better with a man". Oh, apparently not.

3. Dirty Mind (1980). Song: "Sister": So...there seems to be some inappropriate intimacy happening here.

4. Controversy (1981). Songs: "Ronnie, Talk to Russia", "Annie Christian". Obviously, "Ronnie" references President Ronald Reagan and the song goes didactic over the cold war with Russia. "Annie Christian" seems to be a composite of all things that are "anti-Christian", so it's a play on words.

5. 1999 (1982). Song: "Lady Cab Driver". Why Prince likes taxi cabs so much is beyond me. He mentioned living in taxi cabs in "Annie Christian" on the last album. Weird.

6. Purple Rain (1984). Song: "Darling Nikki". Okay, Nikki was a superfreak (with all due respect to Rick James).

...To be continued...

Peace & Princely funk!