Little Red Corvette
| "Little Red Corvette" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| 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) |
"Little Red Corvette" is one of Prince's best-known songs, and a defining point in his rise to superstar status. The song was his biggest hit at the time, and his first to reach top-10 status in the U.S., peaking at #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, due to the pop/rock format of the song.
The song combines a drum machine beat and slow synth buildup for the verses and a full rock chorus. Backing vocals were done by Lisa Coleman. 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. The term "Little Red Corvette" has also been suspected to refer to a woman's vagina or clitoris, due mostly to the lyric, "I'm gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine."[citation needed]
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, while 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 a double A-side with "1999."
Music video
"Little Red Corvette" (directed by Brian Greenberg and released in February 1983) was one of the first music videos by a black artist to get regular airplay on MTV.[1] Michael Jackson was the first to break the color barrier with "Billie Jean," and Prince's hit soon followed.
Origins
Prince got the idea for the song when he dozed off in Lisa Coleman's pink Edsel after an exhausting all-night recording session. The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually, he was able to finish it without sleeping.
Awards and accolades
- Rolling Stone ranked the song #108 on their 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.
Covers, samples and re-releases
- Sandra Bernhard sang a slow arrangement of the song in her one-woman show Without You I'm Nothing, which was released as a double-album and later adapted into a motion picture.
- Alter Ring's song "Infinitely Gentle Blows," which is featured at the end of the 2000 Sundance winning film, Groove, liberally borrows from "Little Red Corvette."
- In 2001 Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly did a cover version of this song as part of the Andrew Denton Breakfast Show Musical Challenge. It appeared on the Musical Challenge Volume 2: Even More Challenged CD.
- Bone Thugs N Harmony samples this song with their track, "Change the World."
- On the 2006 compilation album, Ultimate, the dance remix of "Little Red Corvette" was a featured track.
- In 1992, The Nylons, a Canadian vocal quartet, covered the song on their album Live To Love
- A cover of Little Red Corvette appears on the Gear Daddies compilation disc "Can't have nothing Nice"
- John Mayer covered the track at the beginning of his On His Own show in LA on December 6th 2008
Cultural references
- Stevie Nicks got the idea for "Stand Back" from "Little Red Corvette." She heard Prince's song in her car, wrote "Stand Back" that night, and called Prince, who came into the studio and played keyboards.
- On the American Dad episode "It's Good to Be Queen," Stan (or rather his double) pays a restaurant violinist to play "Little Red Corvette" for Francine.
- On the Celebrity Deathmatch episode where Prince (known at the time as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince) fights Prince Charles, there is a short scene of him having sex with a woman behind a closed door with the Prince symbol on it, and during the loud lovemaking, he calls the unnamed woman his "little red Corvette."
- The line "little red love machine" can be heard in the title track of Saliva's Survival of the Sickest album.
- In 2001, Chevrolet put up billboards with a picture of a red 1963 Corvette Sting Ray that stated, "They don't write songs about Volvos." (An act called The Medallions actually brought out a song called "'59 Volvo" in 1959) In 2003, Chevrolet used this in a commercial that aired for the first time during the Grammys. The ad showed old footage of The Beach Boys performing "My 409" followed by Don McLean singing "American Pie" ("drove my Chevy to the levee"), and then Prince performing "Little Red Corvette."
- The chorus is the basis for Chad in Portland's song "Mike in Wichitard" on The Jim Rome Show.
- The single cover is a sequence with fellow 1999 , track, Let's Pretend We're Married , putting Little Red Corvette first, and Let's Pretend We're Married afterward.