Severin

A quick recap of the scores so far - I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man 78 If I Was Your Girlfriend 74 Cream 72 Thunder 72 I Wish U Heaven 70 Batdance 67 Sometimes it Snows in April 66 Paisley Park 61 Controversy 61 Starfish and Coffee 57 My Name is Prince 51 Fallinlove2nite 45 New Power Generation 42 I Wanna Be Your Lover 40 Delirious 32 Glam Slam 31 Mountains 29 Girls & Boys 29 Dirty Mind 26 Sexy MF 26 Why You Wanna treat Me So Bad? 25 Come On 25 The Arms of Orion 24 Pop Life 19 Black Sweat 17 Partyman 16 Get Wild 16 Pretzelbodylogic 15 The Morning Papers 15 The Holy River 13 Dinner With Delores 13 A Case of U 12 Peach 12 Cinnamon Girl 12 Dance4Me 11 Letitgo 10 Betcha By Golly Wow 10 Guitar 9 Musicology 7 Rock N Roll Love Affair 7 Anotherloverholeinyohead 6 Scandalous 6 Soft And Wet 1 I Hate U 0 The Truth 0 The Greatest Romance Ever Sold 0 The Work Pt. 1 0 Supercute 0 Fury 0 Breakfast Can Wait 0

=21st I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man Points 78 - Bjork (22) HausofKubrick (20) Jimwatts (14) Popchartfreak (18) dandy* (10) Severin (4) Artist - Prince Released - 1987 Album – Sign O' The Times UK Chart Peak - #29 t5Px4jY1TVc Stalling just outside our Top 20 is this, the final single from Sign O' The Times, collecting scores from six voters once more. A surprisingly moral Prince tells a woman who's on the rebound that he would be unable to provide the companionship she misses, suggesting she 'wouldn't be satisfied with a one night stand' and he could only provide that and nothing else. The song was originally written back in the '70s but re-recorded and updated to complete the album in 1987. The video version is taken from the concert film of the album.

=22nd If I Was Your Girlfriend Points 74 - Jimwatts (22) King Rollo (15) Popchartfreak (14) HausofKubrick (13) JulianT (8) Chartjack2 (2) Artist - Prince Released - 1987 Album – Sign O' The Times UK Chart Peak - #20 TxdlbQ79RcM Another song with six voters and this time it's the second single from his 1987 album Sign O The Times. Originally recorded for the Camille album it naturally features that persona's vocal stylings. Supposedly about his jealousy over the close relationship between his then fiancee Susannah Melvoin and her twin sister (and his guitarist) Wendy. The single was a Top 20 in the UK but less successful back home.

=23rd Cream Points 72 - Severin (20) dandy* (15) Bjork (13) JulianT (12) King Rollo (8) Popchartfreak (4) Artist - Prince and the New Power Generation Released - 1991 Album – Diamonds and Pearls UK Chart Peak - #15 rrbFQEcpJ3A Prince's fifth and final US #1 single was the second to be released from Diamonds and Pearls. The man himself once joked that he looked at himself in the mirror and was inspired to right the song. Something of a fan favourite, this track repeatedly finishes high up in 'best of prince' votes and remained a live favourite. The song is a T. Rex style groove with Funk flavourings and came with an extended video, the second that showcased his latest dancers - Diamond (Lori Werner) and Pearl (Robia LaMorte)

=23rd Thunder Points 72 - dandy* (24) King Rollo (18) JulianT (17) Popchartfreak (12) HausofKubrick (1) Artist - Prince and the New Power Generation Released - 1992 Album – Diamonds and Pearls UK Chart Peak - #28 QbPVnvG5Bw4 The final single from Diamonds and Pearls ties with another from the album. I'm posting Thunder first as it had less voters (5) although the highest marks were given to this. Thunder was the opening track on the album and allegedly chronicles the night when Prince, during a bad ecstasy trip decided to shelve The Black Album at the last minute.

25th I Wish U Heaven Points 70 - popchartfreak (28) King Rollo (22) Bjork (15) Chartjack2 (5) Artist - Prince Released - 1988 Album – Lovesexy UK Chart Peak - #24 nomKVJTla6g Another that for me is surprisingly high. Again it's not a reflection on the song but an unexpected number of high marks once more. I Wish U Heaven is the third single from Lovesexy and another very spiritual offering from Prince. Clocking in at only 2.43 minutes it is very short on the album but the 12" contained a 10 minute suite of the song broken down in to three distinct parts, two of which bear little resemblance to the album version.

26th Batdance Points 67 - King Rollo (29) popchartfreak (19) JulianT (14) Bjork (4) Jimwatts (1) Artist - Prince Released - 1989 Album – Batman UK Chart Peak - #2 ulOLYnOthIw The lead off track from Prince's music for the Tim Burton movie, is essentially one long dance groove littered with samples. The track itself was pieced together with bits of ideas for several other songs, some of which later saw their own releases. Reaching #2 in the UK and #1 in the USA, Switzerland, New Zealnd and Norway it ranks as one of Prince's biggest hits, no doubt in part due to the tie in promnotion with the film. The second track in a row, in our countdown to receive votes from five members.

27th Sometimes it Snows in April Points 66 - Chartjack2 (30) HausofKubrick (21) dandy* (7) Jimwatts (6) JulianT (2) Artist - Prince and the Revolution Released - 1986 Album – Parade UK Chart Peak - #193 ikZgBhSMSUM Chartjack2 provided us with this wildcard entry and he duly gives it his maximum. One of the standout tracks from the album Parade (Music From the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon) and one that received quite a bit of attention following his death. The song is about the character of narrator's memory Christopher Tracy and how he will hopefully see him again in the afterlife.

=28th Controversy Points 61 - dandy* (26) HausofKubrick (15) Severin (10) Chartjack2 (10) Artist - Prince Released - 1981 Album – Controversy UK Chart Peak - #5 (re-release in 1993) 4gazNwzC4H0 Controversy is the lead single and title track from Prince’s 4th solo album. A breakthrough hit in Australia and a UK top ten when re-released in 1993. The song concerns the speculation around Prince’s gender, sexuality and religion back when he was an emerging artist and how he found the whole interest in these aspects of him strange.

=28th Paisley Park Points 61 - JulianT (23) Popchartfreak (15) King Rollo (12) dandy* (11) Artist - Prince and the Revolution Released - 1985 Album – Around the World in a Day UK Chart Peak - #18 1mhL5ynXzB0 Depending on where in the world you lived this was either the first, second or third single from the 1985 album, Around the World in a Day. Personally, I was surprised to see this come as high as it has. As much as I do like it I feel it's a track that is neither widely loved or disliked. Whatever my thoughts though, this clearly has enough admirers on here to suggest I don't really know what people like.

30th Starfish and Coffee Points 57 - JulianT (19) Jimwatts (18) Popchartfreak (16) HausofKubrick (4) Artist - Prince Released - 1987 Album – Sign O' the Times UK Chart Peak - DNC X59sbJK3Cxg Another of our wildcard entries, this time from popchartfreak and taken from what many consider to be his best album, 1987's Sign O' the Times. The song's title comes from a true story told to Prince by his then partner Susannah Melvoin. It concerns a girs she was at school with who said her breakfast consisted of 'starfish and pee pee'. Prince felt intrigued by the story of this strnage answer and wrote the song, subsequently insisting pee pee was replaced with another word. He gave Susannah a writing credit for her input. I'm afraid I couldn't resist using this video...

31st My Name is Prince Points 51 - Bjork (20) Popchartfreak (18) dandy* (13) Artist - Prince and the New Power Generation Released - 1992 Album – LoveSymbol UK Chart Peak - #7 w0g9Qkrc8nE The opening track and second single from his 1992 album sees Prince and his band in full on Funk attack, with Prince proclaiming his musical and sexual dexterity in a wryly mocking self parody (his wicked sense of humour was often missed by the media). This track proved to be another UK Top 10 and helped push sales of the album higher. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't give this points. I do find it ridiculously silly and throwaway but it is such fun whenever I do hear it, I should probably have given it a fair few points over some that I did.

32nd Fallinlove2nite Points 45 - King Rollo (17) JulianT (16) HausofKubrick (12) Artist - Prince ft Zooey Deschanel Released - 2014 Album – Hit N Run Phase One UK Chart Peak - DNC cEzoIApsmt4 Fallinlove2nite is that rare thing in Prince's body of work - a duet with a co-credit. This time it's Zooey Deschanel from the TV sitcom New Girl in which Prince appeared in one episode. Prince was apparently a huge fan on the show and his part required a duet with Zooey in his scenes. For this reason her vocals were recorded and the song came out as a download single in 2014. The song would appear on his 2015 album Hit N Run Phase One albeit without Zooey's vocals, although it is believed this version is the original version and hers were added for the single rather than removed for the album.

33rd New Power Generation Points 42 - Bjork (18) dandy* (17) Popchartfreak (7) Artist - Prince Released - 1990 Album – Graffiti Bridge UK Chart Peak - #26 _Hd_EkQo9gg New Power Generation was the second single from the album Graffiti Bridge - a soundtrack album to Prince's third theatrically released motion picture. Despite the critical mauling and commercial failure of his previous film Under the Cherry Moon, Prince was given another chance to make a movie, this time a sequel to his 1984 box office smash Purple Rain. The film was panned even harder than the previous effort and earned a total of five nominations at the Golden Raspberries, although unlike Under the Cherry Moon, Prince didn't actually win any this time. The album received generally positive reviews and takes its title from a now demolished Minneapolis landmark.

34th I Wanna Be Your Lover Points 40 - HausofKubrick (23) Jimwatts (10) Chartjack2 (6) Severin (1) Artist - Prince Released - 1979 Album – Prince UK Chart Peak - #41 Rp8WL621uGM A bit of a jump in points now as the songs begin to have more voters, four again this time. This also marks the second and final song in the countdown from the 1970s. All the rest are from the '80s, '90s and '10s. Black Sweat was the highest from the '00s. Prince’s first UK charting single and the first release from his second album. The subject of the song is the singer Patrice Rushen who iPrince had become enamoured with. She is most famous in the UK for her 1982 top ten hit Forget me Nots, which was later used as inspiration by both Will Smith and George Michael. To promote the song Prince announced shows in London but they were cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

35th Delirious Points 32 - JulianT (24) Jimwatts (5) HausofKubrick (2) dandy* (1) Artist – Prince Released – 1983 Album - 1999 UK Chart peak – DNC Fyms8opV8LQ Only the second song to receive marks from four voters, this earned a large amount of its total from JulianT who entered it as his wildcard. Prince’s second straight US top ten hit following the success of Little Red Corvette. It was not released as single in the UK. Similar in lyrical content to Little Red Corvette it again uses cars and racing as a sexual innuendo over a Rockabilly inspired bassline. Prince would later perform it live with a brass section, giving it a more Swing based style.

36th Glam Slam Points 31 - King Rollo (14) Bjork (12) Severin (5) Artist – Prince Released – 1988 Album – Lovesexy UK Chart Peak – #31 n-qK5MNSwoE The second single from the Lovesexy album highlights the albums themes of sex and God over a complex arrangement that includes a string coda and Funk breakdown. In 1991 Prince re-recorded the song, although it remains unreleased. The lyrics were changed and after he messed around with the arrangement some more it later became known as Gett Off.

=37th Mountains Points 29 - JulianT (20) Jimwatts (8) Popchartfreak (1) Artist – Prince and the Revolution Released – 1986 Album – Parade UK Chart Peak – #45 _WmPeLOLDnA And in a bizarre quirk Mountains scores exactly the same number of points as Girls & Boys, perhaps suggesting that maybe the decision to pick this over that was the right one - at least in terms of fan reaction, if not chart sales.

=37th Girls & Boys Points 29 - Chartjack2 (16) JulianT (11) Severin (2) Artist – Prince and the Revolution Released – 1986 Album – Parade UK Chart Peak – #11 gQcKgAsQHzs Released as the second single from Parade in the UK but not chosen in the US, with Mountains being preferred there. The Revolution's drummer Bobby Z suggest this decision was an odd one an contributed to a lower than expected level of success for the album. He may have had a point as when Mountains did get a single release in the UK, it performed poorly, not breaking the Top 40 at all.

=39th Dirty Mind Points 26 - Chartjack2 (12) Jimwatts (7) HausofKubrick (7) Artist – Prince Released – 1980 Album – Dirty Mind UK Chart Peak – DNC c3GPPnVz1fw Dirty Mind is the title track and second single from Prince’s third album. The song is a notable departure from the smooth R&B sound of his first two albums towards a more US New Wave style and features a distinctive synth riff throughout, Eddie van Halen later admitted to having copied this part for his own song Jump.

=39th Sexy MF Points 26 - Bjork (16) King Rollo (10) Artist – Prince and the New Power Generation Released – 1992 Album – LoveSymbol UK Chart Peak - #4 bfHsF6FKgb4 As we enter the Top 40 we have one of Prince's bigger '90s hits, the unsurprisingly controversially titled, Sexy MF. Prince had insisted this was the opening single despite label reservations, the upshot of which was that the track Strollin', from Diamonds & Pearls was added to the release as a double A-side. Radio stations in the UK however, preferred to play the censored version of the newer song meaning it reached that chart position on its own merits.

I'm not a fan of the Batman stuff either. I like Patyman as a throwaway piece of silliness but the rest leaves me cold. I love the film but I would never listen to the album out of choice

=41st Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? Points 25 - Severin (11) Jimwatts (9) HausofKubrick (5) Artist – Prince Released – 1980 Album – Prince UK Chart Peak - DNC fPaYtVJouYA The second single of Prince’s second album was not a hit either in the US or UK but still managed to pick up enough points here to graze the boundary of our Top 40. Nearly but not quite once again.

=41st Come On Points 25 - JulianT (25) Artist – The New Power Generation Released – 1998 Album – Newpower Soul UK Chart Peak - #65 _ITpmILKap4 The second song to receive over 25, this time a hefty 25 from JulianT. Despite being credited to the New Power Generation, the Newpower Soul album is considered a de facto Prince record as the man himslef is front and centre on every track on the album. This song features the vocal talents of Chaka Khan, who had taken Prince's early single I Feel 4 U to #1 in the UK 14 years earlier.

43rd The Arms of Orion Points 24 - Bjork (21) King Rollo (3) Artist – Prince Feat. Sheena Easton Released – 1989 Album – Batman UK Chart Peak - #27 ZYS6yJ_csq4 The 3rd song released as a single from the Batman Soundtrack also features Sheena Easton, one of two in the countdown that does. However, this track, unlike U Got the Look, was a co-write with Prince as Sheena provided the lyrics. It is the firt song in our countdown that received over 20pts from a single voter, receiving a healthy 21 from Bjork.