About The Song
“Alphabet St.” is a song from American musician Prince’s tenth album, Lovesexy (1988). It was the first single from that album and the album’s only top 10 single, reaching the top 10 in both the UK and US. Initially written as an acoustic blues song, the song’s final version includes a rap by Cat Glover and is full of samples. “Alphabet St.” generally echoes themes from the rest of Lovesexy.
The B-side is a remix of “Alphabet St.” called “Alphabet St. (“This is not music, this is a trip”)”. The title and other phrases are repeated at the beginning of the song, but essentially it is an instrumental with a few minor changes. “Alphabet St.” was the first Prince single released as a CD, albeit only in the UK and Japan. A promo CD was issued in the US.
In his review of the song, Paul Clements from Melody Maker felt that “as a lighthearted bubblegum pastiche, it fairly shimmers. There’s some judiciously spare scratch guitar, the usual assortment of percolating percussion, and a magnificent tumbling drum lick.” He also noted its “almost shocking austerity”, and concluded, “Hopefully, a ticklish harbinger of a long, deliciously hot summer.” Sean O’Hagan from NME wrote, “‘Alphabet St’ is, naturally, a record of rare brilliance. It unleashes its outre funk ideology over one of those patented Prince guitar riffs—a clipped, chunky groove that slips into the cerebral space once occupied by the subliminal ‘Kiss’ coda. From then on, the boy has it easy. ‘Alphabet St’ is meatier and a lot less meandering than much of the Madhouse future funk of ‘Black’, stating its case with a hip-shaking sass that is one of the maverick ruler’s stock signatures.”
Directed by Patrick R. Epstein and produced on very short notice on March 20, 1988 by filmmaker Michael R. Barnard, the music video for “Alphabet St.” shows Prince walking and driving through an environment made out of letters. The video contains hidden messages. The first one appears after the end of the first verse (“She’ll want me from my head to my feet”), where there is a split second image with the hidden message “Don’t buy The Black Album, I’m sorry.” The second image says B “heaven is so beautiful”; the third image is D “4 the light dance”; the fourth image is G “funk guitar”; the fifth image is H (heroin) “is 4 punks”; the sixth image, when Prince is in the Thunderbird, says “if U don’t mind”.
Video
Lyrics
No!
I’m going down to Alphabet Street
I’m gonna crown the first girl that I meet
I’m gonna talk so sexy
She’ll want me from my head to my feet
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yes she will
Yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah)
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I’m gonna drive my daddy’s Thunderbird (my daddy’s Thunderbird)
A white rad ride, ’66 (’67) so glam it’s absurd
I’m gonna put her in the back seat
And drive her to Tennessee
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Tennessee
Yeah, yeah, yeah, drive her
Excuse me, baby
I don’t mean to be rude
But I guess tonight I’m just not, I’m just not in the mood
So if you don’t mind (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I would like to watch
Yeah, yeah, yeah can I?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah (can I, can I, can I, can I)
We’re going down, down, down, if that’s the only way
To make this cruel, cruel world hear what we’ve got to say
Put the right letters together and make a better day
Yeah, yeah, yeah, better days
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s O-O-K
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Maybe it’s the only way
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Cat, we need you to rap (no)
Cat, we need you to rap
Don’t give to us slow
‘Cause we know you know
New power soul
Gotta gotta gotta go
Talk to me lover
Come on tell me what you taste
Didn’t your mama tell you
Life is to good to waste? (put your love down)
Didn’t she tell you
That Lovesexy was the glam of them all?
If you can hang, you can trip on it
You surely won’t fall (put your love down)
No side effects and
The feeling last for-ever
Straight up it tastes good
It makes you feel clever (put your love down)
You kiss your enemies
Like you know you should
Then you jerk your body like a horny pony would (put your love down)
You jerk your body like a horny pony would
Now run and tell your mama about that
And while you’re at it tell your papa about this
Yeah-yeah
Put your love down there when you want to get shot
No (yeah, yeah)
Put your love down there when you want to get shot
Put your love down there when you want to get shot
Put your love down there when you want to get shot
Put your love down there
(Yeah)
Get home, Alphabet Street
No
L-L-L-L-Lovesexy
Yea, oh, Alphabet Street
Yea, oh, Alphabet Street
A B C D E F H I love you