Prince died today.
I hold his music close to my heart. I know all the words to all his greatest songs.
Some of my earliest memories are singing along to Little Red Corvette from the back seat, seat belt cutting into my neck as I watch the interstate fly by- too young to have any clues about Vet(te)s and Horses.
Growing up, there was a vacation rule. On trips longer than 2 hours, you had 3 choices: 1. ride in deafening silence, 2. listen to whatever CDs were in the 6 CD changer in the trunk of the car, or 3. endure hours of sports talk radio. I was an only child so there wasn’t any hemming and hawing- choice 2, always 2. It helped that the CDs were always the same:
Prince, 1999
Alabama
The Bee Gees
Prince, Purple Rain
Hank Williams, Jr.
I’d doze off halfway through one of Alabama’s Greatest Hits and jolt awake as we turned onto our street to the sound of “Let’s go crazy! Let’s get nuts!”
I swiped the CDs from my parents somewhere around 2004. College was hard and overwhelming, and I’d find myself kickin’ up dust on farm roads- sunglasses, windows down, volume up, belting those road trip songs to the cows and hay bales.
It’s been a few years since Prince was a staple in my household. The CDs were misplaced somewhere along the way. Between a (failed) marriage/the Army/Germany and back- I somehow lost my roots and anyhow, international road trips with tiny toddlers involved movies on laptops more than playlists.
Prince died today.
When I saw the news on the big screen at work, I bought several of his albums on iTunes.
Tonight, the boys and I rolled the windows down, turned the volume up, and took the long way home.
“Dearly beloved,
We are gathered here today
to get through this thing called life…
Electric word – life.
It means forever and that’s a mighty long time
But I’m here to tell you,
There’s something else-
The afterworld.
A world of never ending happiness –
You can always see the sun, day or night.”
-Prince, Let’s Go Crazy