Monday, March 18, 2013

My Music Monday


Before the Bangles.  Before Chaka Kahn.  Before Sheila E., Sheena E. or Sinéad O'Connor there was Cyndi Lauper.

At least in terms of covering Prince on any of their records.

I don't include The Time, Vanity Six, Apollonia Six, Jill Jones or the Family - as Prince wrote and produced their material (mostly), they didn't cover his songs per se.

In 1983 Lauper released her solo album, She's So Unusual.  Besides her own music, she covered songs by the Brains, the Hooters and yes, Prince. She was the first artist I knew to record one of his songs as a cover.

In '83,  post-1999 but pre-Purple Rain, Prince was still an up and coming artist (as a more mainstream artist, that is) though he was gaining traction with "1999" and "Little Red Corvette".  Still outside of his urban audience, Prince wasn't that well known, and certainly not to white girls from Queens. Maybe to the gay guys who like Controversy, but.....he hadn't exploded on the scene.

So, for me, the actual highlight of Lauper's debut was when she covered the Purple One's "When U Were Mine".

For those who didn't know Prince, you wouldn't have heard his influence in her rendition, but to those who had heard him, even with her production, you could hear his style.  To me, it worked on multiple levels.

Lauper's version of "When U Were Mine" is still great 30 (ugh) years later and still ranks up in the top five songs she's recorded.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Money Changes Everything was his too I think.