It was '82
Me and my girl we did it one time
Said I love you, moved in together
That's how you did
Never considered people might think an interracial couple was something
We were in that love bubble, and it was Oakland
Full of black people and white people. no big
'83 we moved to another hood in Oaktown, an apartment building
Still stood out as the black and white dykes
Still didn’t care

Driving her 64 chevy pickup, I heard this pornografalsetto song
And thought, whoa, who's this chick getting so personal on the radio
Then the DJ said, "that was prince singing Do Me Baby,"
And I said oh shit I need to pay more attention to this genderfucker
We moved to the white neighborhood
Still standing out. still not caring
But I think it started to wear on us a little, specially her
Being the only white dyke in a black hood
Was different than being the only black dyke in a white neighborhood

'84, my best friend from hi skool told me he was positive
I got off the phone and broke down
Sat in the living room that year
Under the Gone with the Wind spoof poster
Of Thatcher and Reagan with the mushroom cloud in the background
Watched Mad Max, Brother From Another Planet
Liquid Sky, The Hunger, Christiane F, and Sid and Nancy
6 times each before returning them to the video store
Drank a million Buds and Slip n Slid with our pals in our wifebeaters
And mirrored cop shades before they became wife pleasers
We most definitely weren’t wife beaters
Beating the hell out of each other over a freebase pipe
Sat in front of Grandma's converted TV console
High lacquer cherrywood cabinet full of records and a turntable
Drank myself silly to Howlin' Wolf and Lightnin' Hopkins
And Gil Scott and Suzie Quatro and the B52s
For hours, listening to Prince's Controversy
Turning the album cover over in my hands
Analyzing. did he really mean it?
Did he love us that much?
Was he really saying this?

(****)

"Am I black or white, am I straight or gay?..
People call me rude, I wish we all were nude
I wish there was no black and white
I wish there were no rules…"

We were all alone in a world where Christians wanted us dead
But there was Prince, coke and whisky and Starfish and Coffee
And Let's Go Crazy and Jack U Off and Annie Christian
And Purple Rain, a cult crossover hit
And Under the Cherry Moon, panned by critics
But he could do no wrong
And ruffled shirts and romance and femme dykes onstage
His spittin' image, girl versions of him
A narcissist dream of straight acting queers fucking the mirror
Like there might be something going on
Just like us and our pals, brown and black and white
Fags n dykes passing joints at the disco
Sexy even if there was a plague, one big cuddle party
It didn’t feel lonesome
It felt right and like motherfuckers better make room for us
Because if they didn’t, we were coming through anyway
Led by the most fearless, least fucks-giving motherfucker on the planet
With all the moves and a voice
That could go from girl to boy in a second
If he wasn’t intimidated, neither were we

'89, me and my records got tossed on the street
Cuz I got high and everyone was mad
2016 I’m ashamed now more than I was that day
Because when I look to pay homage to the man
I gotta go on the internet like some kinda poser
Cuz I never bought new Prince records
The night after he leaves us, it's a full moon

I put on When Doves Cry, but it keeps stopping in the middle
Because everyone in the world is playing it
Becuz somewhere along the line we all lost our records
The clouds are all over the moon
She’s real big behind that cloud cover, I can tell
I light the candles and say
Come out, you gotta call him home
And the clouds part, and I say
I’m sorry Prince. I lost the records
I’m sorry. it's not that I ever stopped loving you
I just thought you’d always be there