A Love Bizarre

The Glamorous Life

It was the spring of 1984. Prince and I were scheduled to meet up and work on my first album at Sunset Studios in L.A. He had just wrapped up a post-production of his up coming movie. His very first motion picture. I was excited for him.
Prince and I first met after a show I did with my father back in 1978. He found me and told me that he had been following my career for awhile. He told me that he and his band mate argued about which one of them would marry me. I was flattered. We kept in touch ever since then. A few years after we met he asked me what my salary was working as a percussionist for Lionel Richie. When I told him he admitted he could never afford me. If this new movie of his becomes a successes, he'll be able to afford 10 of me! I finally get down to his studio. He came out fresh faced and just stunning.

"Hey", I greeted. "You look a little over dressed to be working in the studio all day."
He didn't say a word in response and just opened his arms out for a hug. It was a soft gentle hug. He smelled really good.
"I just got back from a photoshoot. Come in", he demanded as he made way. I finally got inside and there was no one else there. I looked over at him confused.
"Where's the engineer?", I asked.
"You're looking at him. We don't need sound engineers right now anyways. We just need to get started on writing lyrics. All in due time."
"So it's just going to be us?"
He slowly stepped closer to me as he removed his black coat.
"Are you uncomfortable with that", he asked as he stared at my lips.
"No, I don't mind".
In reality I sort of did mind. Prince is a huge flirt. He just loves the ladies and the ladies love him. He's got this charm that you can't compare with anyone else. He's made passes at me a few times and he normally takes the opportunity when we're alone.

We finally got settled and he handed me a pencil and paper. This is when it hit me. I'm just a drummer. I'm no singer. I've never made an album. How has he convinced me to do this? I noticed him starring at me with concern as I was freaking out in my mind.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked as he leaned in. "Prince... I don't know what I was thinking coming here and agreeing to make my own album. I can't do this. I don't know where to begin".
He moved closer to me on the couch that we were sitting on. He grabbed my hand which caused me to flinch and accidentally drop my pencil. He quickly bent over below my knees to grab it. His head rubbed against my knees causing me flinch again. Once he picked up the pencil and gave it back to me he began looking at me strange. "What's up with you today?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You just seem a bit nervous"
"I am. I just can't do this album."
"That's why I'm here to help you. You can do it. You're an amazing drummer. It seems like it comes so easy to you. Once in a while it's good to challenge yourself. Look at me, I'm a musician and I just finished my first movie. I'm no actor but I took on the challenge."
I must admit it made me feel at ease after he said those things. I smiled and said "okay, let's do this."
"Alright so what do you want to write about?"
He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well the way I look at it, every song has got a story to tell. For an example, Little Red Corvette was about a girl who moved on from lover to lover real fast".
"Really? I always thought it was about a car", I joked. He smiled. His smile quickly disappeared and so did mine.
"Tell me something, what's your story? Your love life. We've never talked about your past lovers", he insisted. I started to get tense and moved a bit away from him.
"Is there a need to talk about it now?"
"Well, you don't have to but I always get inspiration for my songs from life experiences. I find that the more real it is the better the story", he explained.
I finally relaxed my shoulders and decided to open up.
"I've only had one relationship". He raised his eyebrows but quickly relaxed them to avoid looking judgemental.
"Go on", he said.
"I fell really hard for him and he fell for me. I later came to realize that he was married. He tried to convince me that he would leave her but that made me even more sick because the last thing I ever wanted to be was a home wrecker. I was just not raised that way. I had to make a really tough decision and that was letting him go. I had to make the decision to break my own heart. It happened 2 years ago and it's been hard and I'm over him finally. However, I haven't been with anyone since". There was about a 30 second silence before he spoke.
"So does that mean you haven't had sex in 2 years?"
"Oh my goodness, is that all you got from that?" I shouted.
He started laughing. I couldn't help but join him. If it were anyone else I would have been offended by their lack of sensitivity but there's just something about Prince, he knows how to really change the atmosphere without offending anyone. I expected this from him. He's never really the kind of person to have a deep conversation with.