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