Alphabet St. Explained

Alphabet St.
Cover:	Prince_AlphabetSt.jpg
Caption:	UK 7-inch single
Type:	single
Artist:	Prince
Album:	Lovesexy
B-Side:	Alphabet St. (This is not music, this is a trip)
Released:	April 1988
Recorded:	December 30, 1987
Studio:	Paisley Park, Chanhassen, Minnesota, US
Genre:	Funk^[1] funk rock^[2] blues • pop rock
Length:	2:25 (7-inch and video edit) 5:39 (12-inch and album version)
Label:	Paisley Park
Producer:	Prince
Prev Title:	I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Prev Year:	1987
Next Title:	Glam Slam
Next Year:	1988

"Alphabet St." is a song from American musician Prince's tenth album, Lovesexy (1988). 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.

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.

Critical reception

In his review of the song, Paul Clements from Melody Maker felt that "as a lighthearted bubblegum pastiche, it fairly shimmers. There's some judiciously spare scratch guitar, the usual assortment of percolating percussion, and a magnificent tumbling drum lick." He also noted its "almost shocking austerity", and concluded, "Hopefully, a ticklish harbinger of a long, deliciously hot summer."^[3] Sean O'Hagan from NME wrote, "'Alphabet St' is, naturally, a record of rare brilliance. It unleashes its outre funk ideology over one of those patented Prince guitar riffs—a clipped, chunky groove that slips into the cerebral space once occupied by the subliminal 'Kiss' coda. From then on, the boy has it easy. 'Alphabet St' is meatier and a lot less meandering than much of the Madhouse future funk of 'Black', stating its case with a hip-shaking sass that is one of the maverick ruler's stock signatures."^[4]

Music video

Directed by Patrick R. Epstein and produced on very short notice on March 20, 1988^[5] by filmmaker Michael R. Barnard, the music video for "Alphabet St." shows Prince walking and driving through an environment made out of letters. The video contains hidden messages. The first one 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".

Track listings

• 7-inch single

A. "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25

B. "Alphabet St." (cont.) – 3:14

• 12-inch and CD single

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

• CD promo^[6]

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

Personnel

Credits sourced from Benoît Clerc and Guitarcloud^{[7] [8]}

• Prince – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, Roland D-50, synthesizers, bass guitar, Linn LM-1, Dynacord ADD-One, cuíca, handclaps
• Sheila E. – drums, handclaps
• Eric Leeds – saxophone
• Atlanta Bliss – trumpet
• Cat Glover – rap, backing vocals
• Boni Boyer – backing vocals
• Ingrid Chavez – spoken voice

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Alphabet St."!Chart (1988)!Peak
position

Australia (ARIA)^[9]	20
Denmark (IFPI)^[10]	2
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)^[11]	8
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)^[12]	2
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 10)^[13]	9
Italy (Musica e Dischi)^[14]	3
US Cash Box Top 100^[15]	9

Year-end charts

1988 year-end chart performance for "Alphabet St."!Chart (1988)!Position

Belgium (Ultratop)^[16]	72
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)^[17]	46
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[18]	36
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[19]	22
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)^[20]	60

Cover versions

• Scottish noise pop band The Jesus and Mary Chain covered this song which appears on their 1994 single "Come On".
• Sufjan Stevens provides a cover on his second Christmas collection Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6–10.
• Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon covered this song on their 2020 album Noon.

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 replaces the word "shit" on the radio edit of 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 unauthorized use of the word "Tennessee" and had to pay Prince $100,000.^[21]
• 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.

Notes and References

1. https://ew.com/article/1990/09/21/decade-prince-albums/ Purple Products
2. Le Petty Prince Edition. Hit Parade Music History and Music Trivia. Slate. Molanphy. Chris. October 30, 2017. July 9, 2023.
3. Paul. Clement. Singles. Melody Maker. April 30, 1988. 32. October 29, 2023.
4. Sean. O'Hagan. Singles. NME. April 30, 1988. 18. October 29, 2023. Sean O'Hagan (journalist).
5. Web site: Video: Alphabet St. . Prince Vault.
6. Web site: Track Listing . Aprilsnow030.ueuo.com . January 14, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110717135344/http://aprilsnow030.ueuo.com/tracklists/prince/lovesexy/3543.htm . July 17, 2011 . dead.
7. Book: Clerc, Benoît . October 2022 . Prince: All the Songs . Octopus . 9781784728816.
8. Web site: Lovesexy. 2023-04-28. guitarcloud.org.
9. Web site: Australian (ARIA) Top 50 Singles Chart Week Ending 19th June, 1988. ARIA. 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.
10. Top 3 in Europe. Music & Media. 5. 24. 24. June 11, 1988. August 28, 2020.
11. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. Music & Media. 5. 22. 24. May 28, 1988. August 28, 2020.
12. Book: Nyman, Jake. 2005. Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja. 1st. Tammi. Helsinki. 951-31-2503-3. fi.
13. Íslenski Listinn Topp 10 (3. júní 1988). Dagblaðið Vísir. is. 44. June 3, 1988. July 26, 2018.
14. Web site: Classifiche. Musica e Dischi. it. May 28, 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Prince".
15. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 Singles. November 19, 2022.
16. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 1988. Ultratop. nl. August 28, 2020.
17. Web site: Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1988. Dutch Top 40. November 7, 2020.
18. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Single 1988. MegaCharts. nl. August 28, 2020.
19. Web site: End of Year Charts 1988. Recorded Music NZ. August 28, 2020.
20. 1988 The Year in Music & Video. Billboard. 100. 52. Y-23. December 24, 1988. August 16, 2021. June 28, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210628012030/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1988/BB-1988-12-24.pdf. live.
21. Web site: Tweet . Speech of Arrested Development: Songwriter Interviews . Songfacts.com . 2008-02-27 . 2012-01-14 . September 17, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080917034644/http://www.songfacts.com/int/2008/03/speech-arrested-development.html . dead .