Breakdown

Album: Art Official Age (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Prince opens this orchestral, stately ballad by stating: "This could be the saddest story ever been told." The Jehovah Witness star then proceeds to sing of regret as he decries his former partying self:

    I used to throw the party at New Year's Eve
    First one intoxicated, last one to leave
    Waking up in places that you would never believe
    Give me back the time, you can keep the memories.
  • Prince released the song for streaming on April 18, 2014 immediately after announcing a new partnership with Warner Bros. Eighteen years after the Purple One left the label when he famously wrote "slave" on his face to protest at his contract and changed his name to a symbol, it appears he is on good terms with them again.
  • Prince first performed this song at Minneapolis' Dakota Jazz Club in early 2013. He later referenced it during a March 2014 interview with Arsenio Hall when he said this is his current favorite song to play: "One of the things that we try to do, though, is wait until we have other songs that go together with our favorites," Prince said. "That's why it takes a long time to come out with albums these days."

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