Sugar Walls
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"Sugar Walls" is the second single from
Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress who achieved recognition in an episode of the reality television series ''The Big Time (TV series), The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to gain a ...
's 1984 album ''
A Private Heaven ''A Private Heaven'' is the fifth studio album by Scottish Pop music, pop singer Sheena Easton, released on 21 September 1984 by EMI America Records. The album featured two US Top 10 hit singles: the lead single "Strut (Sheena Easton song), Strut" ...
''. It spent 16 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States, nine of which were in the
top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
. It reached number 9 on the Hot 100, number 3 on the
R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
and number 1 on the Dance chart. The song did not chart in Easton's native UK. The music was credited to Alexander Nevermind, a pseudonym used by
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 ...
. "Sugar Walls" was given a special release on 13 April 2019, as a 12-inch single picture disc pressing by RT Industries (Razor & Tie), for 2019 National Record Store Day.


Background

The song title is presumed to be a euphemism for the lining of a
vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...
, and the general content was considered suggestive enough to qualify the song for the "
Filthy Fifteen The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes via labeling albums ...
". Although Easton's
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "Sugar Walls" did not feature any controversial visual content, some broadcasters refused the video airplay because of the sexual imagery of the song's lyrics.
Televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...
Jimmy Swaggart Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist and gospel artist. Swaggart is one of the most well-known televangelists in America. During the 1980s, Swaggart's crusades were a major part of his ministry†...
and
Tipper Gore Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore (née Aitcheson; born August 19, 1948) is an American social issues advocate. She was the second lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 through her marriage to the 45th vice president, Al Gore in 1970, from who ...
's PMRC criticised the song when it was first released. Prince came up with the track after having been introduced to Sheena Easton through their engineer, David Leonard. Easton was a fan of Prince, and asked Leonard to see if Prince would be willing to work with her after watching her performance on "
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...
". At the time, Prince was working on mixing "
Ice Cream Castle ''Ice Cream Castle'' is a 1984 album by The Time. Their third album, it consists of six tracks in the funk-pop or ballad genre, and it was produced and arranged by Prince as "The Starr ★ Company". The album's two biggest hits, " Jungle Love ...
" for The Time, but once Leonard told him of Easton, Prince watched her performance of "Hard to Say It's Over" on the show and liked it. Prince spent the next day recording the instrumental track and a guide vocal to send to Easton. Prince then supervised the recording of her vocals, and they both enjoyed working together a lot. Their work on this track sparked future collaborations between the two, on Prince's singles "
U Got the Look "U Got the Look" is a song by American musician Prince. It opens the second disc of Prince's double album '' Sign o' the Times'' (1987), and became the album's runner-up chart single. Musically, the song is a standard 12-bar rock song with emphas ...
" and "
The Arms of Orion ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
".


Personnel

Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl. *
Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress who achieved recognition in an episode of the reality television series ''The Big Time (TV series), The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to gain a ...
– lead and backing vocals *
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 ...
– backing vocal, synthesizers, electric 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 ...


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Popular culture

*The song was covered by Rachel Lester during her infamous audition on the fourth series of ''
The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...
'' in 2007.


See also

*
List of number-one dance singles of 1985 (U.S.) ''Billboard'' magazine compiled the top-performing dance singles in the United States on the Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart and the Hot Dance/Disco 12-inch Singles Sales chart. Premiered in 1976, the Club Play chart ranked the most-played sin ...


References


External links

* 1985 singles Sheena Easton songs Songs written by Prince (musician) Obscenity controversies in music 1984 songs EMI Records singles British funk songs {{1980s-pop-song-stub