“Life is just a party and parties aren’t meant to last… so if I’m gotta to die,  I’m gonna listen to my body tonight.”
Those are the lyrics from “Party Like Its 1999”, one of the late singer Prince’s big hits. Sounds like foreshadowing his own passing now but Prince wrote it 34 years ago.  He died on April 22 at the age of 57.

That surprised me.  I liked his music and though I always knew his stuff was not part of the current pop scene, I didn’t think it was that old. Afterall, “Party Like Its 1999” was chosen to be part of a compilation collection of music from the 90’s. 

It’s a common mistake with Prince music. Take a look at a link to a video of another hit off the same album, “Little Red Corvette” .

Notice that the video is tagged “Prince, 1999”. when the video is from 1983. That’s because the name of the album was “1999”, but a lot of people think he came on to the scene, wrote those hits in the late 90’s, and was a much younger artist than he actually was.

The reason that misconception carried on until his death was announced is that the music has a timeless quality. You can listen to it on your IPhone  taking the subway home from school and have the same reaction as your grandfather did when he was clubbing in the eighties. The music is bright, it’s got a great beat, it’s time to party. The heavy synth and downbeat should give its age away, but not completely.

Another big reveal, now that we are nationally re-examining his work in memoriam is that under the big, happy computer generated drumbeats are some pretty dark, brooding lyrics.

“I guess I should've known / By the way you parked your car sideways / That it wouldn't last” is Corvette’s decidedly unhappy conclusion.

“Party Like It’s 1999” starts out like a real buzz kill. Who knew one of the greatest  pieces of party music has some of the most depressing lyrics

I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin', could've sworn it was judgment day
The sky was all purple, there were people runnin' everywhere
Tryin' to run from the destruction, you know I didn't even care
Say say two thousand zero zero party over, oops, out of time

Wow. That gives me a chill, reading these.

Because all of us who walk past the WTC site to school every morning can see Prince as a prophet. He was only one year off.