"Alphabet St." is a song from American musician Prince's 1988 album, Lovesexy. 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.
| "Alphabet St." | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK 7-inch single | ||||
| Single by Prince | ||||
| from the album Lovesexy | ||||
| B-side | "Alphabet St. (This is not music, this is a trip)" | |||
| Released | April 23, 1988 | |||
| Studio | Paisley Park | |||
| Genre | Funk[1] | |||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | Paisley Park | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Prince | |||
| Producer(s) | Prince | |||
| Prince singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
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.
Music video
Directed by P.R. "Spot" Epstein, the video shows Prince walking and driving through an environment made out of letters.
The video contains hidden messages. The first 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".
Track listings
7-inch single
- A. "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
- B. "Alphabet St." (cont.) – 3:14
12-inch and CD single
- "Alphabet St." (album version) – 5:38
- "Alphabet St. ("This is not music, this is a trip")" – 7:48
CD promo[2]
- "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
- "Alphabet St." (LP version) – 5:38
- "Alphabet St." (extended version) – 5:40
- "Alphabet St. ("This is not music, this is a trip")" [Listed as "Alphabet St."] – 7:48
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Cover versions
- Scottish noise pop band The Jesus and Mary Chain covered this song which appears on their 1994 single "Come On".
- Sufjan Stevens provides a cover on his second Christmas collection Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6–10.
- Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon covered this song on their 2020 album Noon.
Sampling
- Nine Inch Nails sampled "Alphabet St." for the song "Ringfinger" from their 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine.
- Part of the rap section was used in the 1990 Ween song "L.M.L.Y.P.". Prince's "No!" scream intro also replaces the word "shit" on the radio edit of their 1993 song "Push th' Little Daisies".
- 1990s hip-hop group Arrested Development sampled a word from "Alphabet St." for their breakout song "Tennessee" in 1992. The group were sued for their unauthorized use of the word "Tennessee" and had to pay Prince $100,000.[27]
- In 1992, Czech singer Lucie Bílá sampled the beat and guitar riff for her song "Láska je láska" which became the most successful hit of the year in Czech Republic.
References
- ^ Purple Products. Entertainment Weekly
- ^ "Track Listing". Aprilsnow030.ueuo.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "Australian (ARIA) Top 50 Singles Chart Week Ending 19th June, 1988". ARIA. Retrieved October 24, 2017. N.B. "Alphabet St." peaked on the Kent Music Report chart in the week before ARIA commenced producing the chart in-house. However, it is listed as peaking at No. 17 in David Kent's book (after the ARIA chart became Australia's official chart), and as No. 26 on the australian-charts.com reference, which only contains data from when ARIA produced the chart in-house.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 8714." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Top 3 in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 24. June 11, 1988. p. 24. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 22. May 28, 1988. p. 24. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St." (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St." (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 10 (3. júní 1988)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). June 3, 1988. p. 44. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Alphabet Street". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 22, 1988" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St.". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St.". VG-lista. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St.". Singles Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince – Alphabet St.". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
- ^ "Prince: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Prince Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Prince Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Prince Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1988" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1988". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1988" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ "End of Year Charts 1988". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Tweet (February 27, 2008). "Speech of Arrested Development: Songwriter Interviews". Songfacts.com. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
