What Didn't Kill Me: top ten songs: Prince.

(Please forgive the weird font sizing in this story. I have tried to fix it five times, but for whatever reason, my changes won't take. I'm super annoyed.)

Growing up in South Dakota, I didn't feel the deep connection to Prince that most Minnesotans do. I knew who he was, obviously, and had an appreciation for his unusual sound and stunning outfits, but that's about as far as it went.

Then, in 2005, I moved to Minnesota for college.

Granted, I was not a true Minnesotan back then. I still went home to South Dakota for the summers and told everyone I was from South Dakota. My driver's license listed my parents' South Dakota address. I was not yet assimilated.

I moved to Minneapolis in January 2010, during which time I became more connected with the state of Minnesota. I became weirdly proud to be living in the home state of Target, Bob Dylan, and Grain Belt. (South Dakota has much less to boast about). And Prince.

Though I never SAW Prince out and about in Minneapolis (every Minnesotan's dream), I was honored to be living in somewhat proximity to him. I did drive by Paisley Park a time or two, and I obviously knew where his star was at First Avenue.

And thanks to my new Minneapolis-based favourite radio station, the Current, I became much more familiar with Prince's catalogue.

Then, in late 2011, I moved back to South Dakota. Gone were all my feelings of Minnesotan pride and Minnesotan boasting rights. Thankfully, I got them all back when James and I purchased a home in Minnesota in summer 2013. I got a Minnesota ID and everything, so I was finally official.

Prince died in 2016, and I was crushed. I had spent three years as a card-carrying Minnesotan, but six years living in the state before that. I felt like Prince was one of my own. I was working at the downtown library in Sioux Falls at the time, and I was not the only one devastated by the news. Many of us wore purple for the rest of that week.

MPR "strongly encouraged" Minnesotans to wear purple on Prince's birthday that year, which we definitely did.

James and I visited Paisley Park the following month, overwhelmed by the tributes left there. It was a sight to behold.

All that's to say I have ten favourite Prince songs. Prince and ABBA are the only two artists I've covered so far in which the lyrics are not that deep or meaningful. Like ABBA, pretty much all of Prince's songs are about love. Typically, this completely turns me off from an artist. However, Prince is such an artist that I'm willing to overlook it all. That's what Prince does to me.

(I'd like to apologize in advance for some of the the videos. YouTube would only let me embed really weird ones, but you can find all of Prince's music videos on YouTube. Which I highly recommend you do after you read this. They're so weird and amazing.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-vcXOpG9g
(I couldn't embed any relevant video at all, so just click the link and watch the video.)
"7" is my all-time favourite Prince song, despite the religious undertones. I first heard it on the Current when I was living in Minneapolis in 2010. I don't know who these seven are, but apparently they'll all die. Have you ever watched the music video for this song? It is the WEIRDEST. Yet another reason I have tons of respect for Prince: he wasn't afraid to be strange.

Purple Rain

Don't hate me, but I have to say it: Purple Rain is a TERRIBLE movie. While a top-notch musician, an actor he is not. The movie is just under two hours long, but I could've sworn it lasted an entire day. The soundtrack, though, is awesome. The next three songs (and this one, obviously) are all from the Purple Rain soundtrack. I bought it on vinyl a while ago, and I have never been so excited for a package from Amazon. "Purple Rain" is so full of emotion, and you can't help but feel every bit of it.

When Doves Cry

You may notice my entries for Prince's songs are much shorter than my typical ramblings for other artists' top ten songs. That's because with most artists, I have something to say about the lyrics and how deep and affecting they are. Prince's lyrics just aren't. With Prince, it's the instrumentation and the tunes, through and through. He's got such a distinctive and experimental sound that you can pick out a Prince song pretty quickly, even though it sounds nothing like any of the other songs he's ever done. Just try and think of a song (by Prince or anyone else) that sounds even remotely like "When Doves Cry." You can't do it. And that's why Prince is Prince.

Let's Go Crazy

After Prince's death, this song was so widely quoted, as it opens with an organ and what sounds like Prince giving a eulogy: "Dearly beloved/we are gathered here today/to get through this thing called life." But the rest of the song is basically a dance party... which honestly sounds like a super fun funeral. I guess we can all hope for that.

I Would Die 4 U

This is the last song on my list from the Purple Rain soundtrack, and it's back with the religious messaging. Again, I can ignore it because I love Prince too much. Whenever I write these blog posts, I listen to the song in question as I write its paragraph. (Which you probably assumed, but it's worth telling you.) With all of Prince's songs, I find myself dancing involuntarily. Even if it's just my shoulders moving, it's like the song takes over. SUCH IS THE POWER OF PRINCE.

1999

This song, as well as the next two, are from Prince's album 1999: another masterpiece. I was only 12 in 1999, and I really wish I had known this song in 1999. I do love that this song is so ubiquitous to celebrating that many of us still say "let's party like it's 1999." I'm pretty sure I said that in Iceland, and I'm really sure I said that at James's and my wedding. 1999 was 21 years ago (!!!), and if you can believe it, this song is 38 years old (!!!!!!!). But the sentiment will never die.

Delirious

Yet another truly danceable piece of music. My friends and I used to have dance parties in college (who didn't?), and as we attended a Minnesotan liberal arts college, plenty of our dance tracks were Prince. "Delirious" was always one of them. (PS - how great is this video of Prince and the Muppets??)

Little Red Corvette

You should know: I don't think "Little Red Corvette" is a particularly good song. It made it to my list because of its deep integration into my life. "Little Red Corvette" was the first Prince song I ever heard, though I could not tell you when or where. But it is so much a part of pretty much everyone's psyche that I would challenge you to find one person who does not immediately get this song stuck in their head upon seeing a red Corvette. I bet it can't be done.

Kiss

Prince's sound is called Minneapolis funk, and I think this is my favourite example of it. Also, I LOVE a good falsetto, and Prince can truly pull it off. And you should watch this music video. It's amazing and shows Prince in his prime. You should watch all these music videos, really. They're something else, but in a GREAT way.

Raspberry Beret

Like "Little Red Corvette," I don't think "Raspberry Beret" is an actual good song. but I have such a soft spot for the same reason as "Little Red Corvette": forced life integration. As a young teenager, my older, cooler cousin Ethan gave me his raspberry beret. Years later, I bought one for my friend Bob. Raspberry berets never looked so good.

That concludes my ten favourite Prince songs. There are SO many more I could talk about, as Prince was quite prolific. Instead, I'll leave you here with a picture of me posting as Prince for a library bookface photo. Happy listening.

If you can't get enough of my musical taste, here's a list of ten other artists I've given the ten-song treatment to. (They're in order from newest post to oldest. Can you believe I wrote the first one in 2014?!)

Paul Simon

ABBA