Alphabet St.

"Alphabet St." is the first single from American musician Prince's 1988 album, Lovesexy, 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.

Chart performance

Chart (1988)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)^[2]	26
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[3]	9
France (SNEP)^[4]	47
Germany (Official German Charts)^[5]	18
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[6]	3
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[7]	1
Norway (VG-lista)^[8]	1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)^[9]	5
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)^[10]	5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)^[11]	9
US Billboard Hot 100	8
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)	3

Track listings

7" single

A. "Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
B. "Alphabet St." (cont.) – 3:14

12" / CD single

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

CD promo^[12]

"Alphabet St." (edit) – 2:25
"Alphabet St." (LP version) – 5:38
"Alphabet St." (extended version) – 5:40
"Alphabet St. ("This is not music, this is a trip")" [Listed as "Alphabet St."] – 7:48

Music video

The video features Prince wearing trousers with his name on them, and wearing multicolored eyeshadow.

In the video, there are hidden messages. The first 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 one is after Prince drives the Thunderbird; the message says "H is 4 Punks". Another message appears at 0:38 of the video; the letter B has the word as Beautiful and after a second, there is a message on top of the B saying "Heaven Is So Beautiful". The 3rd message scrolls by when Prince is driving the white car, saying "If U Don't Mind".

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.

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 cuts the word "shit" on 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 unauthorised use of the word "Tennessee" and had to pay Prince $100,000.^[13]
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.

References

↑ Purple Products. Entertainment Weekly
↑ "Australian-charts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Ultratop.be – Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Lescharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St." (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Prince – Alphabet St.". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – Alphabet St." (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Charts.org.nz – Prince – Alphabet St.". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". VG-lista. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". Singles Top 100. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Swisscharts.com – Prince – Alphabet St.". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Prince: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
↑ "Track Listing". Aprilsnow030.ueuo.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
↑ Tweet (2008-02-27). "Speech of Arrested Development: Songwriter Interviews". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Prince singles

1970s	"Soft and Wet" "Just as Long as We're Together" "I Wanna Be Your Lover"

1980s	"Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" "Still Waiting" "Sexy Dancer" "Bambi" "Uptown" "Dirty Mind" "Do It All Night" "Controversy" "Let's Work" "Do Me, Baby" "Sexuality" "1999" "Little Red Corvette" "D.M.S.R." "Delirious" "Automatic" "Let's Pretend We're Married" "When Doves Cry" "Let's Go Crazy" "Purple Rain" "I Would Die 4 U" "Take Me with U" "Paisley Park" "Raspberry Beret" "Pop Life" "America" "Kiss" "Mountains" "Anotherloverholenyohead" "Girls & Boys" "Sign "O" the Times" "If I Was Your Girlfriend" "U Got the Look" "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" "Alphabet St." "Glam Slam" "I Wish U Heaven" "Batdance" "Partyman" "The Arms of Orion" "Scandalous!"

1990s	"The Future" "Thieves in the Temple" "New Power Generation" "Gett Off" "Cream" "Diamonds and Pearls" "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" "Insatiable" "Thunder" "Sexy MF" "My Name Is Prince" "7" "Damn U" "The Morning Papers" "Pink Cashmere" "Nothing Compares 2 U" "Peach" "Pope" (remix) "Come" "Letitgo" "Space" "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" "P Control" "Dolphin" "Endorphinmachine" "I Hate U" "Gold" "Dinner with Delores" "Betcha by Golly Wow!" "The Holy River" "Somebody's Somebody" "Face Down" "The Truth" "Extraordinary" "The Rest of My Life" "5 Women" "It's About That Walk" "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold"

2000s	"U Make My Sun Shine" (with Angie Stone) "When Will We Be Paid?" (with Audio Stepchild) "Supercute" "The Work, pt. 1" "Days of Wild" "Musicology" "Cinnamon Girl" "Controversy (Live in Hawaii)" "S.S.T." "Te Amo Corazón" "Black Sweat" "Fury" "Guitar" "F.U.N.K." "Dance 4 Me"

2010s	"Extraloveable" "Rock and Roll Love Affair" "Screwdriver" "Fixurlifeup" "Breakfast Can Wait" "Pretzelbodylogic" "Fallinlove2nite" "Breakdown" "Clouds" "Baltimore" "Hardrocklover" "This Could B Us" "Free Urself"

Promotional singles	"When You Were Mine" "D.M.S.R." "Another Lonely Christmas" "Erotic City" "Hot Thing" "Trust" "Willing and Able" "Nothing Compares 2 U" "Pope" "Love Sign" (with Nona Gaye) "Come" "P. Control" "Dolphin" "Endorphinmachine" "Slave" "Somebody's Somebody" "Face Down" "Extraordinary" "The Rest of My Life" "5 Women" "It's About That Walk" "Baby Knows" "Man'O'War" "She Loves Me 4 Me" "Last December" "One Nite Alone... Live EP" "Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas" "Call My Name" "The Song of the Heart" "Beautiful, Loved & Blessed" (with Tamar Davis) "Chelsea Rodgers" "Future Baby Mama" "The One U Wanna C" "U're Gonna C Me"

Airplay-only songs	"International Lover" "Shhh" "Satisfied" "Better with Time"

Internet downloads	"One Song" "Cybersingle" "Bataclan" "Glass Cutter" "Live from Paisley Park" "Strange Relationship" (Live in Minneapolis) "Guitar" (original "demo" version) "Love" (acoustic version) "Rock and Roll Love Affair" (Remix 7) "Screwdriver" (Remix) "Boyfriend" (Demo) "That Girl Thang" "Live Out Loud" "Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone" "Extraloveable Reloaded" "Menstrual Cycle" "Octopus Heart" "Groovy Potential" "The Sweeter She Is" "Something in the Water" (Paisley Park Rehearsal) "Da Bourgeoisie" "What If" "The X's Face"

Streams	"U're Still the One" "Xylophone" "In a Large Room with No Light" "Purple and Gold" "Cause and Effect" "Hot Summer" "Rich Friends" "Same Page Different Book" "Stare"

EP's	The Scandalous Sex Suite EP New Power Generation Remixes Gett Off Remix EP Cream Remixes' My Name Is Prince Remixes 7 Remixes The Beautiful Experience Letitgo Remixes Space Remixes I Hate U Remixes 1999: The New Master The Greatest Romance Ever Sold Remixes Breakfast Can Wait

Other songs	"I Feel for You" "When You Were Mine" "Head" "Private Joy" "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" "17 Days" "The Beautiful Ones" "Computer Blue" "Darling Nikki" "Baby I'm a Star" "4 the Tears in Your Eyes" "Housequake" "Starfish and Coffee" "Adore" "Don't Talk 2 Strangers" "I Can't Make U Love Me" "La, La, La Means I Love U" "One of Us" "Everyday Is a Winding Road" "A Case of U"

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