Little Red Corvette

"Little Red Corvette" is a song by American recording artist Prince. The song combines a drum machine beat and slow synth buildup for the verses and a full rock chorus. Backing vocals were performed by Dez Dickerson and Lisa Coleman and the guitar solo was also played by Dickerson. In the song, Prince narrates a one-night stand with a beautiful but promiscuous woman (the "Little Red Corvette" of the title); although he enjoys the experience, he urges her to "slow down" and "find a love that's gonna last" before she destroys herself. In addition to the title, he uses several other automobile metaphors, for example comparing their lovemaking to a ride in a limousine.

"Little Red Corvette"
US 7" single (1983)
Single by Prince
from the album 1999
B-side
  • "All the Critics Love U in New York"
  • "Horny Toad" (UK)
  • "Lady Cab Driver" (UK)
  • "D.M.S.R." (UK 12")
  • "Automatic" (UK 12")
  • "International Lover" (UK 12")
  • "1999" (U.S. picture disc)
ReleasedFebruary 9, 1983[1]
RecordedMay 20, 1982 (basic tracking)
August 11–12, 1982 (mixing)[2]
1983 and 1984 (Purple Rain era studio sessions)[3]
StudioKiowa Trail Home Studio (basic tracking), Sunset Sound (mixing)
Genre
Length5:02 (album version)
3:08 (single)
8:27 (dance remix)
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Prince
Producer(s)Prince
Prince singles chronology
"1999"
(1982)		 "Little Red Corvette"
(1983)		 "Delirious"
(1983)
Prince (UK) singles chronology
"1999"
(1982)		 "Little Red Corvette"
(1983)		 "When Doves Cry"
(1984)
Music video
"Little Red Corvette" on YouTube

Released as a single from the album 1999 in 1983, the song was his biggest hit at the time, and his first to reach the top 10 in the U.S., peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It was also his first single to perform better on the pop chart than the R&B chart. The single was released with another 1999 track, "Let's Pretend We're Married". Following Prince's death in April 2016, the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at number 29. It rose to number 20 one week later. It has sold 1.08 million digital copies in the United States.[7]

A 12" dance remix of the song was released to accompany the single, and it continues where the album version fades out. The US single was originally released with the album track "All the Critics Love U in New York" as the B-side, and in the UK, two separate single releases had it backed with "Lady Cab Driver" or "Horny Toad". Separate UK 12" releases had the song paired with "Automatic" and "International Lover", or "Horny Toad" and "D.M.S.R.". Later, it was released as a double A-side with "1999", thus peaking at number two in the UK in January 1985. On Prince's 2006 compilation album Ultimate, the dance remix of "Little Red Corvette" was a featured track.

Composition

"Little Red Corvette" is written in the key of D♭ major[8] and moves at a tempo of 123 beats per minute in common time. Prince's vocals span from A♭2 to D♭7 in the song.[9] The lyrics use car imagery as a double entendre for sex [10] also making use of horse-related imagery for similar purposes.[6]

Jack Hamilton of Slate noted that the song is about "ambivalence, vulnerability, and fear" of casual sex. "It’s not about sex as fun...but rather about the entirety of the act: its physical, emotional, psychological, even spiritual dimensions. And uniquely, 'Little Red Corvette' isn’t really about anything other than sex."[5] With its instrumentation of guitars, synthesizers, and a drum machine, Hamilton identifies "Little Red Corvette" as a post-disco song "in every respect."[5]

Music video

"Little Red Corvette" (directed by Bryan Greenberg and released in February 1983) was Prince's second music video played on MTV. The first was "1999" the previous year before Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and after Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie".[11]

Origins

Prince got the idea for the song when he dozed off in band member Lisa Coleman's 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder after an exhausting all-night recording session.[12] The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually, he was able to finish it without sleeping.[13]

Awards and accolades
  • Rolling Stone ranked the song #108 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
  • The guitar solo, played by band member Dez Dickerson, was ranked #64 by the readers of Guitar World as one of the 100 best guitar solos of all time.
  • The song is ranked as the 181st greatest song of all time as well as the third best song of 1982, by Acclaimed Music.[14]

Charts

References
  1. Uptown, 2004, p.41
  2. Tudahl, Duane.
  3. Rowman et Littlefield, 2018.pp 4-5.
  4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Prince – 1999". Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  5. Hamilton, Jack. "Prince Was Our Bard of One-Night Stands, and "Little Red Corvette" Was His Masterpiece". Slate.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  6. "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  7. "Hip Hop Single Sales: Prince, Desiigner & Drake". HipHopDX. April 30, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  8. "Little Red Corvette by Prince @ Song Key Finder". www.songkeyfinder.com. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  9. Prince. "Prince "Little Red Corvette" Sheet Music in Db Major (transposable) - Download & Print". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  10. "25 Essential Prince Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  11. Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides Ltd. p. 819. ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0.
  12. Torchinsky, Jason (2016-04-24). "Everybody Was Wrong About the Car That Inspired Prince's 'Little Red Corvette'". Jalopnik. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  13. Leeds, Alan (1993). CD insert booklet. Prince The Hits 2.
  14. "Acclaimed Music Top 10,000 songs". Acclaimed Music. July 15, 2018.
  15. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 239. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA from mid-1983 until June 12, 1988.
  16. Trust, Gary; Caulfield, Keith (April 25, 2016). "Prince's 'Purple Rain' Is the Week's Top-Selling Song, as 6 of His Classics Re-Enter Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  17. "Kent Music Report – National Top 100 Singles for 1983". Kent Music Report. Retrieved August 5, 2020 – via Imgur.com.
  18. "Talent Almanac 1984: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 95 no. 52. December 24, 1983. p. TA-18.
  19. "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  • Uptown: The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince: Nilsen Publishing 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X
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