Sugar Walls Explained

Sugar Walls
Cover:	Sugar Walls single cover.jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	Sheena Easton
Album:	A Private Heaven
B-Side:	Straight Talking
Released:	December 1984 (US)^[1] March 1985 (UK)^[2]
Recorded:	January 20–21, 1984
Genre:	Dance-pop^[3] funk^[4]
Length:	4:01
Label:	EMI
Producer:	Greg Mathieson, Prince
Prev Title:	Strut
Prev Year:	1984
Next Title:	Swear
Next Year:	1985

"Sugar Walls" is the second single from Sheena Easton's 1984 album A Private Heaven. It spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, nine of which were in the top 40. It reached number 9 on the Hot 100,^[5] number 3 on the R&B chart^[6] and number 1 on the Dance chart.^[7] The song did not chart in Easton's native UK. The music was credited to Alexander Nevermind, a pseudonym used by Prince.^[8]

"Sugar Walls" was given a special release on 13 April 2019, as a 12-inch single picture disc pressing by RT Industries (Razor & Tie), for 2019 National Record Store Day.

Background

The song title is presumed to be a euphemism for the lining of a vagina, and the general content was considered suggestive enough to qualify the song for the "Filthy Fifteen".^{[9] [10] [11]} Although Easton's music video for "Sugar Walls" did not feature any controversial visual content, some broadcasters refused the video airplay because of the sexual imagery of the song's lyrics. Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart and Tipper Gore's PMRC criticised the song when it was first released.^[12]

Prince came up with the track after having been introduced to Sheena Easton through their engineer, David Leonard. Easton was a fan of Prince, and asked Leonard to see if Prince would be willing to work with her after watching her performance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". At the time, Prince was working on mixing "Ice Cream Castle" for The Time, but once Leonard told him of Easton, Prince watched her performance of "Hard to Say It's Over" on the show and liked it.

Prince spent the next day recording the instrumental track and a guide vocal to send to Easton. Prince then supervised the recording of her vocals, and they both enjoyed working together a lot. Their work on this track sparked future collaborations between the two, on Prince's singles "U Got the Look" and "The Arms of Orion".

Personnel

Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl.^[13]

• Sheena Easton – lead and backing vocals
• Prince – backing vocal, synthesizers, electric guitar, Linn LM-1

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Sugar Walls"!Chart (1985)!Peak
position

Australia (Kent Music Report)^[14]	87
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	27
Canada Top Singles (The Record)^[15]	20
US Cashbox Top 100	5
US Hot Dance/Club Play (Billboard)^[16]	1
US Hot Black Singles (Billboard)^[17]	3

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Sugar Walls"! Chart (1985)! Rank

US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)^[18]	100

Popular culture

• The song was covered by Rachel Lester during her infamous audition on the fourth series of The X Factor in 2007.^[19]

See also

• List of number-one dance singles of 1985 (U.S.)

Notes and References

1. Hot 100 Singles Radio Action . 19 . 22 December 1984 . . 96 . 51 . 0006-2510.
2. Web site: Music Week.
3. Web site: Tom . Breihan . The Number Ones: Sheena Easton's "Morning Train (Nine to Five) . . May 4, 2020 . Prince, the circa-1984 king of funky dance-pop, took an interest, and he wrote Easton’s remarkably horny single “Sugar Walls".... July 19, 2023.
4. Web site: Tom . Breihan . The Number Ones: Sheena Easton's "Morning Train (Nine to Five) . . May 4, 2020 . Prince, the circa-1984 king of funky dance-pop, took an interest, and he wrote Easton’s remarkably horny single “Sugar Walls".... July 19, 2023.
5. Sheena Easton. Billboard.
6. Sheena Easton. Billboard.
7. Sheena Easton. Billboard.
8. Web site: Sheena Easton sets a Billboard chart record when "Sugar Walls" becomes a Top 10 R&B hit. History.com . 2021-02-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20100308020028/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sheena-easton-sets-a-billboard-chart-record-when-quotsugar-wallsquot-becomes-a-top-10-rb-hit. 8 March 2010.
9. Web site: Sheena Easton: She's Got the Look - 1424 - Gay Lesbian Bi Trans News - Windy City Times . Windycitymediagroup.com . 3 May 2006. 2013-07-28.
10. Web site: Philadelphia Inquirer: Search Results . archive.is . 2013-07-28 . https://archive.today/20130728091201/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB2994C20BEF5D8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM . dead . 2013-07-28 . 2021-05-06.
11. Web site: Rock Lyrics Seem Less Objectionable During A Campaign - Chicago Tribune . Articles.chicagotribune.com . 1987-11-25 . 2013-07-28.
12. Web site: JENNINGS: Sheena Easton, Three Dog Night highlight weekend. Thom. Jennings. Niagara Gazette. 25 September 2014 .
13. Book: Tudahl, Duane . 2018 . Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions: 1983 and 1984 . Rowman & Littlefield . 9781538116432 . Expanded .
14. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian)

    . Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6 .

15. Book: Nanda Lwin. Nanda Lwin. Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. 1999. 1-896594-13-1.
16. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn

    . Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 86.

17. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn

    . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 180.

18. December 28, 1985 . 1985 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles . T-21 . Billboard . 97 . 52 .
19. Web site: Simon Cowell Calls THIS The Worst 'X Factor' Audition. 24 April 2021 . 10 January 2022.