New Prince song to debut Friday at 7am - exclusively on The Current!

Posted at 8:23 AM on February 23, 2010 by Jim McGuinn (4 Comments)

"I am here... Where are you?"

Every week the programming team at the Current is asked for our opinion on new music by local artists. "Is this song appropriate for the station? Will we play it?" And so on. Rarely do these questions come from the one local artist who has sold more than 50 million albums in his career, but last week it did when Prince's rep called to offer The Current a new and exclusive song. Having already demonstrated his support for the station by joining us at our 5th Birthday Party last month at First Avenue, we were blown away that he wanted to give 89.3 The Current a song to World debut. And even more amazed that it mattered to him if we liked the track or not!

The song is called "Cause and Effect," and it's a rocker - filled with virtuosic guitar work, explosive drum breaks, a poppy chorus, trademark shrieks and whoops, some intriguing lyrics ("if I had the chance to do it all again / I wouldn't change a thing except my next of kin") and a call to mankind ("you need compassion"). Opening with Prince's classic pop smarts, the last minute of the tune swerves into a propulsive minor key guitar/strings/drum workout like we haven't heard from him in years. Whether it's listening to all that Radiohead and Vampire Weekend on 89.3 while tooling around Chanhassen or the inspiration of being in Minnesota after several years of living in LA, it seems clear that Prince wants us to know that he's back, he's recording, and from the sound of it, and he's inspired to create the new Minneapolis sound and start a new chapter in his amazing career. It's not known whether "Cause and Effect" will be the first peek into a new record or just a one-off gift to the listeners of his favorite local public radio outlet, but we're proud and honored to debut it Friday morning around 7am with Steve Seel and Jill Riley.