Alphabet St.

"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" single
Single by Prince
from the album Lovesexy
B-side"Alphabet St. (This is not music, this is a trip)"
ReleasedApril 23, 1988
RecordedPaisley Park Studios
December 30, 1987[1]
Genre
Length2:25 (7”/video edit)
5:39 (12”/album version)
LabelPaisley Park
Songwriter(s)Prince
Producer(s)Prince
Prince singles chronology
"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"
(1987)		 "Alphabet St."
(1988)		 "Glam Slam"
(1988)

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.

Track listings

7" single

  • A. "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
  • B. "Alphabet St." (cont.) – 3:14

12" / CD single

  1. "Alphabet St." (album version) – 5:38
  2. "Alphabet St. ("This is not music, this is a trip")" – 7:48

CD promo[3]

  1. "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
  2. "Alphabet St." (LP version) – 5:38
  3. "Alphabet St." (extended version) – 5:40
  4. "Alphabet St. ("This is not music, this is a trip")" [Listed as "Alphabet St."] – 7:48

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".

Chart performance
Chart (1988) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[4] 20
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 9
Denmark (IFPI)[6] 2
France (SNEP)[7] 47
Germany (Official German Charts)[8] 18
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 10)[9] 9
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 3
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[11] 1
Norway (VG-lista)[12] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 5
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 9
US Billboard Hot 100 8
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard) 3

Cover versions

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 cuts the word "shit" on 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 unauthorised use of the word "Tennessee" and had to pay Prince $100,000.[16]
  • 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.
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gollark: What do they actually do? Why are they so important to you?
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gollark: Weird how such an incredibly horrible chemical has a silly-sounding name.
gollark: I think some politicians got convinced with "dihydrogen monoxide".

References
  1. http://www.discog.info/prince-discog.html
  2. Purple Products. Entertainment Weekly
  3. "Track Listing". Aprilsnow030.ueuo.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  4. "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.
  5. "Ultratop.be – Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  6. Danish Singles Chart 27 May 1988
  7. "Lescharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St." (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  8. "Offiziellecharts.de – Prince – Alphabet St.". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  9. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 10 (3. júní 1988)" (PDF) (in Icelandic). Dagblaðið Vísir. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  10. "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  11. "Charts.nz – Prince – Alphabet St.". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  12. "Norwegiancharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". VG-lista. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  13. "Swedishcharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". Singles Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  14. "Swisscharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  15. "Prince: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  16. Tweet (2008-02-27). "Speech of Arrested Development: Songwriter Interviews". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
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