The song Duff McKagan called “the best three-chord song” ever
All great rock and roll songs are said to be based around “three chords and the truth”. Even though many rock bands have somehow managed to learn a fourth chord after a while, the root of every great rock tune is not supposed to be a technical masterpiece, which usually leads to many artists making the most of what they have. Although Duff McKagan never claimed to be a musical savant when working in Guns N’ Roses, he knew that Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’ made the most out of those three chords.
Considering where both artists ended up, Duff McKagan and Prince feel like they should be on two opposite ends of the musical spectrum. While ‘The Purple One’ certainly had his fair share of rock and roll songs in his arsenal, McKagan was more into the kind of punk and blues rock that had birthed Guns N’ Roses, willing to crank songs by the likes of The Dead Boys and The Damned.
Once McKagan moved out of Seattle for Los Angeles, he quickly became infatuated with the album 1999. Far from the sounds of punk rock, the musicianship was what caught McKagan’s ear for the first time, loving the sounds of the title track from the first few notes. While McKagan admitted that the entire album saved his life, ‘Little Red Corvette’ was always indebted to the sounds of rock and roll.
While Prince performs the song as a typical R&B-soaked romp, most of the song has the ethos of a rock tune. Considering the imagery of a car guiding the tune and being a euphemism for Prince’s love for his girl, the lyrics honestly feel closer to a heartland rock song, not feeling out of place if they were being sung in the gruff voice of someone like Bob Seger.
Aside from the amazing groove, McKagan understood the magic of just having a handful of chords to get the job done. Instead of utilising every chord in the book as he is wont to do, Prince uses most of the song as an excuse to restrain himself, only using three chords to play most of the song.
When talking about the track listing, McKagan would later say how much he related to the record, telling Amoeba, “I had a $300 dollar car. Didn’t think it would make it to New York, but maybe it would make it to LA. This record gave me the courage to do that somehow. It’s not the hit tracks. I mean, I think that ‘Little Red Corvette’ is the greatest three-chord song ever written”.
Although there wasn’t anything too flashy (by Prince’s standards) in the songwriting, McKagan could always appreciate getting the most out of a few chords. Since Prince had limitless options and millions of instruments to toy with, the fact that he stuck to the fundamentals of pop songwriting was far closer to punk rock than anything he had done before.
Even though McKagan never had a chance to show his love for Prince in his main outfit, he did sneak bits of melody into some of their classic songs. At the beginning of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, McKagan’s bassline leads the charge, practically announcing the song as he begins his bassline at the top of the neck, which also outlines only three chords. Prince may have been able to create the sound of an orchestra all by himself, but McKagan knew it wasn’t about the size of a production. It’s how well he used the tools available to him.
