Songoftheday 5/1/15 - In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name, by chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same...
"Sign 'O' The Times" - Prince
from the album Sign 'O' The Times (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's Song of the Day comes from R&B/pop/rock master Prince, whose second movie outing, Under The Cherry Moon, and it's companion soundtrack Parade, scored him another #1 hit with "Kiss" and a top-40 follow-up with "Mountains", but was definitely more coolly received. Dropping his band the Revolution from the billing, though continuing to work with the band members on an stalled album Dream Factory, Prince started recording solo work at a great pace, some under the guise of a female named Camille using his sped-up vocals. With songs from Dream Factory and from "Camille" along with material scrapped from a rejected triple-album Crystal Ball, the "Purple One" finally released Sign 'O' The Times in the spring of 1987. The title track was released the month before, and with radio stations automatically rushing to add a new song from this caliber a superstar, what they got was totally different than anything he's done before. Based around a floppy bassline and electric beats that sounded like a metronome with the hiccups, "Sign 'O' The Times" got down and dirty lyrics-wise, but instead of sex, Prince spilled out all the current ills of the world deadpan with only glimmers of pain showing in his voice...
"Sign 'O' The Times" climbed into the American pop top-3 in April of 1987, while topping the R&B chart in Billboard for a week. The extended version went to #2 for three weeks on the Dance Club Play chart as well. Internationally, the record made the top-10 in the UK, Canada, The Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway.
Up tomorrow: Jersey funksters get geologically romantic with their most recent top-40 hit.
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