Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DCVI--Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain

[Blogger's note:  Once again, we have a Friday Night Jukebox post on an actual Friday...but only because I'm a week late. On the bright side, we have back-to-back days of FNJ posts, which should bring plenty of joy to my loyal readers (all three of them)....]

 I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray, but when I woke up this morning, could have sworn...I was (lucky seven? days) late again....

Surprisingly enough, my introduction to this week's tune, as with my introduction to the previous tune of his I wrote about, came when the soundtrack to the film that drove his stardom into the stratosphere was released.  I will say, though, the first time I heard this week's song was one of the few times when I thought "This is destined for greatness" (or some such phrasing) and was actually correct....

I wrote about Prince in Vol. DLXI (and in a bit of kismet, last week as well), and the only new news in the last year and a half is that his estate is releasing another compilation, on of all days, today (kismet strikes yet again).  Pretty certain it will not be the last.  On a side note, it is very hard to believe that it has been ten years since his death, though at my age and with my gained knowledge of the passing of time, it probably shouldn't be.

"Purple Rain" was the third single released from his 1984 masterpiece, the rather floridly entitled Purple Rain (for those playing at home, I figured some synonym of cleverly which I usually use for songs and albums with the same name just would not fly for Prince, and yes, I did have to look up floridly as a synonym for purple).  The single would reach #2, being kept from the top spot by Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (gag me with a motherfucking spoon).  The album reached number one.  Rolling Stone ranked the song #18 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" while the album is ranked #8 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."  That's some serious greatness....

Fun Fact:  "Purple Rain" was originally written to be a country duet with Stevie Nicks.  Prince sent her a ten-minute instrumental and asked her to write lyrics for it.  Nicks felt overwhelmed and turned him down. Such is destiny!

While I was doing my half-assed research for "Purple Rain," I came across a quote where someone said that it could be the greatest song ever written.  And instead of wrinkling my nose and thinking, "Are you fucking serious?'  I thought, "It very well could be."  And I literally thought of writing that and leaving it at that.  Alas, I listened and listened and came across a couple of aspects that I'd like to highlight.  One is the majesty of the song--if he'd mentioned God a few times this could have been a hymn sang in any number of churches.  Second, the song really highlights what an incredible guitarist Prince was--the work is at once stunning and revolutionary (play on words there...).  Finally, roughly five minutes in, when Prince begins his otherworldly ooooooh oooh ooohing, I literally get chills and almost choke up--he reaches that place that fills all the holes in your soul.  Amazing.  Superlative. Incredible.  An eight-minute lesson in all that's good in the greatest of the great in popular music.  

Lyric Sheet:  "If you know what I'm singin' about up here/Come on, raise your hand..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DCV--The Bangles: Manic Monday

Wise men say, only fools fall in love, but...I'm (lucky thirteen? days) late again....

My introduction to this week's tune was when it was originally released, but it really seemed worthy of the pantheon that is Friday Night Jukebox (as if) a few years back when--you guessed it!--I found a CD of this week's group's greatest hits at our semiannual library used book sale and gave it a listen for a few months.  While I had a passing interest in the group prior to my find, I came to appreciate their talent for bitchin' pop tunes a lot more after careful listening as I drove back and forth to work.  Almost makes the daily grind worth the while....

The Bangles formed in Los Angeles in 1981, with its original lineup of Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson (yes, sisters), and Annette Zilinskas.  Zilinskas left in 1983 and was replaced by Michael Steele, thus forming what is considered to be their classic lineup.  The band released its first album to good reviews and no sales in 1984, but their follow up made them stars.  They'd release one more album before disbanding in the face of internal tensions.  They would reunite in 1998 and release two more albums, and have been togethers ever since, though Steele left in 2005, and Zilinskas rejoined in 2018.  For their career, the Bangles have released five albums (with one hitting the top five), one EP, ten compilations, and twenty-five singles (with two #1's and three more top five).  Along with the Go-Go's, they are considered by many to have paved the way for the many all-female bands that followed them.

"Manic Monday" was the first single from their 1986 LP, the rather illuminatingly entitled Different Light.  The single would reach #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as # 2 in Luxembourg (which I mention only because it's the land of my ancestors and when the hell else am I going to get to say, "So many cool kids in Luxembourg!").  The album was the highest charting of their career, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  "Manic Monday" was written by Prince, who, for some odd-ass reason, decided to use the name Christopher for the songwriting credit.  Not sure it made any difference, as everyone knows he wrote it and I'm sure he got paid the many, many royalties that came with such a big hit.

Once again, while doing my half-assed research and listening again and again and again (three sounds about right), I noticed for the first time how wonderful the opening piano is for "Manic Monday" and how it sets the stage for the rest of the song (thank you Christopher!).  The song is a whimsical take on the horrors of Monday after your weekend off, and getting ready for another work week.  Its melody is catchy as catchy can be, the band's backing vocals are exquisite (especially the whoa-oh-ohs in the chorus), and Hoffs' vocals put the manic in their manic Monday.  It's all the joy, subtext, and sex of a classic Prince song, wrapped up in a bow by a very talented group of young women who seized the moment and created a scrumptious piece of pop music pie.  

Lyric Sheet:  "Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream/I was kissin' Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXLI--Prince: Let's Go Crazy

 Dr. Everything'll-Be-All-Right wanted this one to be on time....

Here's a shock--my introduction to this week's tune was when the soundtrack to Purple Rain was released, as both the album and the movie were highly anticipated.  The album turned out to be a masterpiece, and the movie, for those not familiar, was actually downright entertaining and one of the better movies about music and musicians that I've seen....

Hard to believe I'm more than ten years into this gig and still haven't featured a Prince song.  Yikes--that's almost dereliction of duty (and probably would be were I getting paid to do this....).  So...Prince.  Writing a paragraph bio seems a little impossible as his career has been nothing short of phenomenal.  A few highlights:  over one hundred and fifty million albums sold, seven Grammy Awards, six Brit Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe.  Critically acclaimed, a true innovator, genius level musically, ultimate performer (twenty-nine tours in his career), one of the greatest guitarists ever, starred in five movies, and his songwriting may be the most prolific in rock and roll history (it's estimated he wrote between five hundred and a thousand songs).  And he played baseball, football, and basketball in high school.  What didn't he do, for God's sake?  He released forty-three studio albums (four #1's and seventeen top tens), thirteen EPs, five live albums, and nine compilations.  He also released 117 singles (which don't even include digital downloads or promotional singles) of which five hit #1 and seventeen reached the top ten.  Sadly, Prince died of an accidental overdose in 2016.  His legacy ranks with the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Bob Marley as one of the true greats/geniuses of rock and roll.

"Let's Go Crazy" was the second single released from Prince's 1984 career changing album Purple Rain.  The single would reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album also hit #1 on the Billboard 200, as well as Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Zimbabwe (so many cool kids in Zimbabwe!).  It was ranked # 8 in Rolling Stone's most recent list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

Fun Fact:  Prince is one of only three artists to simultaneously have the number one film, single, and album.  The other two?  Elvis Presley and the Beatles.  Pretty elite company....

Had Prince opened "Let's Go Crazy" with his sermon and then the rest of the song had proved to be just meh, it would probably still be a great song.  The intro is one of the greatest starts to a song I've ever heard--and it's mostly spoken word with a funereal organ in the background.  That the rest of the song takes it from there to another level is just more proof of the genius that was Prince.  Prince has said the song is about fighting the devil (the de-elevator is supposed to be Satan) and letting your and God's love shine through--works for me.  Prince fills the song with his energy and a joie de vivre that makes you just want to go, well, uh, crazy.  Dynamite work from the band with explosive percussion and swirling synthesizers and screeching guitars.  Prince closes it up with a scorching guitar solo that soars into a whirling crescendo.  A master work from a master artist at the height of his talents.

Lyric Sheet:  "Maybe it's 'cause/We're all gonna die/And when we do (When we do)/What it all for? (What's it all for?)/You better live now/'Fore the grim reaper come knocking on your door..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXL--Del Amitri: Always the Last to Know

 But I can't be late, 'cause then I guess I just won't get paid [as if!]....

My introduction to this week's tune was one late, lonely night while watching MTV shortly after the song was released.  I was still with Camelot Music and, as always, was listening for anything that might be the next big hit.  While this song wasn't it, it certainly had a nice little run for a nice little band....

Before I did my half-assed research this week, I had absolutely no idea that Del Amitri hailed from Scotland (Glasgow to be exact), thinking that they were an American band, as we egotistical Yanks are wont to do.  They got their start in 1980 and paid their dues for a few years before releasing their debut album in 1985.  The band would go on to a modicum of success in the U.K., selling over six million records and having four of their albums hit the top six on the U.K. charts by 2002.  The band went on a lengthy hiatus after that, before reuniting in 2013.  They've remained together in a few different incarnations ever since.  For their career, Del Amitri has released seven studio albums (five of which hit the top ten in the U.K.), and twenty-one singles (fifteen of which landed in the top forty in England, with three of those cracking the top forty here in the U.S.).  The band recorded their latest studio album in 2021 and toured the U.K. just last year.

Fun Fact:  The band's name came from lead singer Justin Currie, who'd seen a movie directed by a man named Dmitri and suggested that for its name.  Over time it was either misheard or bastardized into Del Amitri, which has no meaning.

"Always the Last to Know" was the first single from their rather transformationally named 1992 album, Change Everything.  The single would reach #30 (with a bullet!) in the U.S., and #13 in the U.K., while the album would soar to #2 in Great Britain, and peak at a whopping #178 in America (which is one more #178 charted album than I have, by the way).

Like many people, I like a good story about vengeance...and "Always the Last to Know" is a good story about vengeance.  Our hero starts out bemoaning that he's always the last to know that his ex-girlfriend is happy, sad, was cheating on him, etc., etc., until the very end when he wonders if she's happy now or if her new boyfriend is cheating on her just like...our hero did.  Man, talk about twisting that knife a bit after having stuck it in--boom, boom, pow (to steal a phrase).  Lead singer Currie delivers an impassioned vocal without getting whiny--he presents our hero as just a guy looking for a trustworthy soul mate.  The band is solid behind him, with some driving drums and some keyed-up guitars bouncing their wall of sound around.  Look, this one isn't going to make anyone forget "Let It Be," but it's a nice little single from a nice little band out of Glasgow, and sometimes that's more than enough for rock and roll.

Lyric Sheet:  "But now you're living up behind the hill/And though we share the same city and feel the same sun/When your winter comes/I'll be the last to know..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee