Produced and written by Prince & the Revolution
Warner 29121 1984 Billboard: # 5
As you may have guessed by this point, I have a bit of a weakness for Phil Spector records--not Leiber & Stoller records, not Motown records, but Phil Spector records. Yes, they're overblown, even operatic, but that's what I love about them. There are times in your life, especially when you're young, when the emotions just feel so Big that well-analyzed, clear-headed observations just don't cut it. You need to feel as if the Whole World really does depend on a single Kiss.
This Prince record--originally the B-side to "I Would Die 4 U" but eventually a seasonal hit in its own right--feels to me like the record Phil Spector would have made if he had been black (as opposed to just packaging the talent of black artists). It's actually sadder than most Spector records, more like a funk reimagination of "Last Kiss," J. Frank Wilson's classic tearjerker from over two decades earlier. But all those instruments, that epic feeling . . .
And then there are the banana daiquiris. Do you really think that's what he's drinking? That's almost too sensitive to be real. Part of me wonders if this is just a line he uses in Twin City bars around the holidays. Still, he sounds so sad. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
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