On Episode 76 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, I am once again joined by Julian Long to talk about the lyrics for “Christopher Tracy’s Parade,” the first track from Parade, which served as the soundtrack to the film, Under the Cherry Moon. For a song without many lyrics, there is a lot to talk about in terms of the song’s purpose as the opening song on the album, its origin as “Little Girl Wendy’s Guitar,” and the missing lyrical link to the former vault track “All My Dreams.”
“Everyone come behold Christopher Tracy’s Parade”
Come behold the short yet imaginative soundscape that is “Christopher Tracy’s Parade.” It serves as both the opening song and de facto title track to Prince’s 8th album. Somehow, Julian and I spend well over an hour talking about a barely two-minute song and contains only two short verses.
In this episode, we speak on our own personal history with the Parade album, including some dated biases against the Under the Cherry Moon film. One aspect of the song we thought intriguing was how the lyrics changed from “Wendy’s Guitar” to “Christopher Tracy’s Parade” and how certain lines in the song change in meaning based on this update. Listen for yourself!
Be sure to check out Julian’s project, Storytime with Julian (@StorytimeJulian on Twitter & Instagram), a twice-weekly content series dedicated to sharing and spotlighting Black short fiction. Facebook & YouTube links are below.
https://www.facebook.com/StorytimeWithJulian
https://www.youtube.com/c/StorytimeWithJulian/featured
Check out the Press Rewind discord at discord.gg/f8Ueuym and join us in discussing all things Prince.
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 along with any guest I may have
- If submitted, discuss listener’s interpretations of each song’s lyrics
Thank you for joining me on this journey through Prince’s catalog!
