"Delirious" is a song by American musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, from his fifth studio album, ''

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

'' (1982). It was the album's third single, and Prince's second Top 10 hit, reaching No. 8 in the US during the fall of 1983. The success of the single was boosted by the runaway success of the previous single, "

Little Red Corvette "Little Red Corvette" is a song by American recording artist Prince. The song combines a Linn LM-1 beat and slow synth buildup with a rock chorus, over which Prince, using several automobile metaphors, recalls a one-night stand with a beautiful pr ...

", and also because DJs often played the first three album tracks in sequence, which just happened to be the order of the singles released from the album.

Background

"Delirious" is a standard 8-bar

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

number that tells how Prince is being driven crazy by a beautiful woman. The song teases the listener with sexual metaphors for cars and racing, hidden enough to avoid being censored. The track begins with a trademark

Linn Linn may refer to: People * Linn (surname) * Linn (given name) * Carl Linnaeus, abbreviated as Linn. * Linn da Quebrada, stage name of Brazilian singer, actress, screenwriter and television personality Lina Pereira dos Santos (born 1990) Place ...

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

loop and a bit of synth bass before the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

hook introduces the song. A rubbery

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

gives the track a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

feel, which Prince had experimented earlier on "Jack U Off" from ''

Controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

''. The track ends suddenly with the

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

of a baby cooing. In live performances over the years, Prince would later add live horns to the song, making it into more of a swing number. The

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

release of the song included a poster bag with a 1983 calendar and images of Prince. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "a bona fide finger-popper." The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to the track is "Horny Toad", which is very similar in rockabilly style and instrumentation. Some of the sexually charged lyrics were interpreted as sadistic at the time and were the source of some controversy. The track was included on ''

The Hits/The B-Sides ''The Hits/The B-Sides'' is a box set by American recording artist Prince. It was released on September 10, 1993, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is a comprehensive three- disc set consisting of many of his hit sin ...

'' in 1993 and ''1999 Deluxe and Super Deluxe edition'' in 2019.

Personnel

Credits sourced from Guitarcloud and Benoît Clerc: *

– lead and backing vocals, Oberheim OB-Xa, electric guitar, bass guitar,

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

, finger snaps * Lisa Coleman – backing vocals

Charts

References

* Uptown: ''The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince'': Nilsen Publishing 2004,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delirious (Prince Song) 1982 songs 1983 singles Prince (musician) songs Songs written by Prince (musician) Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) Warner Records singles