Three songs you may not know Prince wrote.
The first time I heard a Prince song was when I was in Grade School. Back then, I was listening to the greats. It was the time when I had the internet for the first time so I was able to explore a lot of great music on my own. The first song I heard from Prince was probably Kiss or 1999.I remember repeatedly playing the opening funky guitar chords from Kiss. It was so addicting. Prince was the first musician who introduced me to funk he later led me to funk groups like Parliament and Funkadelic. I knew Prince as a really awesome guitarist. He did a really sweet guitar solo during George Harrison’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. In the first half of the performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Prince did a basic rhythm piece but when it got to the guitar solo, Prince just exploded! It was one of the best guitar solos I have ever seen.
I also learned that Prince wrote the song Nothing Compares 2 U. When I was younger, I really liked that music video by Sinead O’Connor in extreme close-up and crying, singing and all that. I later found out that Prince wrote it. I then got really interested reading about the relationship of O’Connor and Prince. I read about how they never got along. There was a story that after Nothing Compares 2 U came out, Prince invited O’Connor to his house. They got into a punch-out and O’Connor had to escape the house at five in the morning.
Prince was such a bigger-than-life musician for me. He was an extremely talented guitarist and song-writer. The more I got older, the more I learned that other musicians have borrowed from Prince’s music. So as a tribute to the King of Purple, I have compiled songs that you may not know Prince wrote.
1. Nothing Compares 2 U
We’ve all heard that heartbreaking 1990 song by Sinead O’Connor but just like me, some of us never knew that Prince wrote it. In 1985, Prince wrote the song for his side project The Family, a funk band created as an outlet to release more of Prince’s music. The song received little recognition. But a young Irish singer O’Connor found the song and placed value on it. Her rendition reflected on her mother’s death in 1985, that’s why her version gave a more powerful emotional intensity to the song. However, we rarely get to hear how Prince sings it, so here he is singing the song live with Rosie Gaines.
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2. Manic Monday
In 1986, everyone started to hum this song on their way to work on Monday morning. The first single off their second album, The Bangles recorded a smash hit that everyone started to play as anthems for Mondays. In 1984, Prince wrote Manic Monday and recorded it as a duet for the band Apollonia 6. However he pulled it out and two years later offered the single to The Bangles under the pseudonym “Christopher”. A demo recording of the original song can be heard on YouTube.
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3. How Come You Don’t Call Me
Incredibly sung by Alicia Keys in 2002, the last single off her debut album Songs in A Minor, the song became a moderate success for the New York City singer. Keys’ cover was inspired by a long-term relationship with a boyfriend. The cover song features some RnB beats and Keys’ incredible vocals. However, in Prince’s original recording, which the singer entitled How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?, the King of Purple sings the song in his falsetto range, with his own bluesy piano playing as the only instrumental accompaniment. Although the original song can’t be found on YouTube, it can be found on his 1993 compilation album The Hits/The B-Sides and on the soundtrack album for the 1996 film Girl 6.
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