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Prince · S4 E4
Delirious
New wave, rockabilly, and funk mashed into one track. The third hit from one album, proving Prince can bend any genre to his will
1983. Prince releases a single that sounds like Elvis Presley jamming with Kraftwerk, and radio programmers across America stare at it trying to figure out which format it belongs in.
"Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" (Prince & 3rdEyeGirl, 2014). A 1999-era deep cut revived three decades later with a full rock band. The original was cold, synthetic, and deliberately inhuman. This version proves the song works just as well with live instruments and raw energy.
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute), Prince (1982)
"Something in the Water" is pure synth-pop paranoia: cold keyboards, a metronomic drum pattern, and Prince singing about contamination and confusion. The production is intentionally sterile, all sharp edges and digital textures. Listen for how Prince uses space as an instrument: the gaps between the notes are as important as the notes themselves. This is the sound of a man who refuses to make the same song twice.
Sources
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
The Rockabilly Curveball
"Delirious" is the third single from the 1999 album, and it sounds nothing like the first two. Where "1999" was synth-funk and "Little Red Corvette" was pop-rock, "Delirious" is rockabilly filtered through a drum machine: hiccupping vocals, a bouncing bass line, and a guitar tone borrowed from 1956. Prince isn't crossing genres. He's erasing the lines between them.
Sources
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
TAP TO REVEAL: How many genres does Prince borrow from on "Delirious"?
Three Hits, Three Genres
Three singles from one album, each in a completely different genre. No other artist in 1983 is pulling this off. Most pop stars find a formula and repeat it. Prince finds a formula, tears it up, and builds a new one for the next single.
Sources
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Delirious: The File
All the Critics Love U in New York, Prince (1982)
The original closing track of the 1999 double LP, and it sounds like a live performance captured in a bottle. "All the Critics Love U in New York" is Prince at full throttle: funk, rock, and a crowd energy that's either real or the best simulation ever recorded. After an album of studio precision, Prince ends with chaos.
All the Critics Love U in New York, Prince (1982)
The title reads like a victory lap, and the lyrics match. Prince name-checks the city that first took him seriously as an artist, celebrates the critical embrace, and turns the whole thing into a funk jam. It's the closest Prince comes to saying thank you on the 1999 album, and he does it at full volume.
What was the original closing track of the 1999 double LP on vinyl?
The 1999 album has proven Prince can make hits in any genre, but behind the scenes he's doing something even stranger. Next episode: a band called The Time, fronted by Morris Day, whose songs Prince writes, records, and produces entirely in secret.
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