On Episode 5 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, I tackle For You’s fifth track, “Just As Long As We’re Together.” This fun, funky jam is an excellent opportunity for a young Prince to show off his musical chops, but what about this song’s lyrics?
“I’ll get the music, baby; you bring the wine.”
Released as the second and final single from For You, “Just as Long as We’re Together” is the album’s longest-running track at over six minutes in length. About half of this run time is an instrumental jam session featuring Prince and his one-man band, Prince.
In terms of lyrics, the song is relatively slight. It’s a feel-good song where Prince sings about a girl he seriously digs spending time with. He essentially wants to let her know that no matter what is going on in their life and what adversity they may face, everything will be alright as long as they’re together. It’s a very optimistic approach. While older, jaded individuals might accuse Prince of being naive in this belief, I don’t think this sentiment is intended to be considered quite so profoundly.
There are a few memorable lines that always stick out to me in this song for various reasons. The line, “girl, I gotta always have you in my ear,” was misheard by me as “always have you in my hair,” a nod to Prince’s well-known B-side, “She’s Always In My Hair.”
Additionally, I always enjoyed the line, “I’ll get the music, baby, you bring the wine.” Partially, Prince doesn’t sing about alcohol too often (Another Lonely Christmas’ banana daiquiris in one easily citable example). Knowing how young Prince was when he wrote this song, I had to double-check the drinking age in Minnesota in the late ‘70s and verified that it was 18. He was of legal drinking age at the time, so it’s all good.
Grab your glass of wine and dive into this long, funky track or its “Disco Mix” version as well.
The goal of each episode of Press Rewind is to:
- Take a track by track look at the lyrical content of Prince’s discography
- Discuss my own interpretation of each song’s lyrics
- If submitted, discuss listener’s interpretations of each song’s lyrics
Thank you for joining me on this journey through Prince’s catalog!
