Prince: “Nothing Compares 2 U"

Prince has a posthumous memoir out, and one of its apparent delights is a passage that slams the work of Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran. Using possibly sexual imagery, Prince complains about having Perry/Sheeran songs “shoved down my throat.”

To honor Prince--today and always--I have some thoughts on “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

*Sinead O’Connor did the super-famous version, but in my view, Prince (the writer) did it best. There’s a playfulness in Prince’s writing that seems to be missing from Sinead’s cover. For example: Prince goes to the doctor to complain about a broken heart! How can you deliver this line without at least a sense of mild silliness? Sinead seems to overlook the silliness.

*I very much admire the honesty in a Prince song. In “When Doves Cry,” Prince speculates: “Maybe I’m just like my mother....She’s never satisfied....Maybe I’m just like my father....too bold...” Similarly, toward the end of “Nothing Compares,” a sheepish Prince admits, “I know that living with me, baby, is sometimes hard....”

*”Nothing Compares” is in fact not a statement about romance, but a song Prince wrote in reference to his housekeeper, after she left him to be with her family in a time of crisis. Who could ask for a better tribute?

*There is no resolution offered in this song: The lovelorn speaker continues to think about hedonism, as a possible distraction, but he knows that other girls “will only remind me of you.” And that’s life, kid. You just suffer. But at least you can seek solace in the blues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGA0azFdCs

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