The Prince Is Dead. Long Live the Prince. (4.25.2016)

I'm not a fine enough writer or journalist to eulogize a person as ingenious, unique, and groundbreaking as Prince. So instead, I will simply describe my favorite song of the Purple One's and feebly attempt to explain why I think it's his standout best amongst a mountain of insanely original, catchy pop-funk songs.

That song is 1982's "Automatic," originally appearing on that year's 1999, Prince's breakthrough album. Certainly he had singles in years past that put him in the charts, but nothing to that point would quite reach the zeitgeist that was his fifth album, and artistic masterpiece.

And, certainly, 1999 included many singles itself that were much more well known and successful: "1999" for one, "Little Red Corvette," "Delirious." However, "Automatic" is a technical marvel, and a musical wonder.

At nearly 10 minutes you would expect artsy noodling, but not a single note is wasted. Sonically, it includes speak-singing, electroclash beats, pitch-shifted lyrics, a disturbing loop of caterwauling lamentations, and a false ending. With those ingredients, the best any musician could hope to come up with is a very bad Pink Floyd tribute.

But Prince isn't any musician. He's Prince, and he doesn't just take that mess and turn it into a workable song...he turns it into THE BEST F***ING SONG.  You swing your hips, find yourself singing along, and pray to the great God above that it never ends.

I would be remiss if I didn't make a favorable comparison to David Bowie. Prince is perhaps...no, he is the only artist I can use to make that comparison and not just mean "like David Bowie during a specific period," but instead mean "he IS David Bowie, just born a decade later." One day, Prince was tired of funk and wanted to make electronic dance music, so he did. Then he was tired of that and wanted to make rock music.

So he did.

Prince is the billboard of the 1980's, neon and overshadowing everything in the landscape. He's the only artist to compete with Michael Jackson for space on the charts, and was maybe even better at cultivating his public image.

"Automatic" is not a standard Prince song, but what was ever "standard" about Prince? Instead, it proves he is a musical genius of the highest order, unifying fans of disparate genres and warping the laws of time and space. It is a tour de force, a masterwork. "Automatic" is perfect.

Long live Prince.

Prince (or his publisher) has removed most of his music from streaming services. You can buy (or free sample) 1999 from Tidal to hear "Automatic," or watch the original NSFW video (slightly shortened version) here.