‘Uptown’: The Prince song about fighting in the street
Prince was a true visionary. The enigmatic artist possessed a tendency to compose and deliver songs in an exceptionally distinctive manner, resulting in the rarity of other musicians covering his tracks. However, despite his lasting legacy, much of his material struggled to gain widespread attention until the arrival of his third album Dirty Mind, followed by his iconic offering 1999.
‘Uptown’ was the first release from Dirty Mind. Commencing with a solitary drum introduction, the composition swiftly transforms with the onset of the keyboard-rich chorus. As the song progresses, it deconstructs into an instrumental phase in its concluding moments, primarily featuring the interplay of guitar, bass, drums, and intermittent keyboard riffs.
The song is a musical ode to Prince’s Minneapolis hometown, broadly known as a creative hub and meeting place for artists within the city. Growing up, however, Prince discussed how he and his friends “took a lot of heat all the time. People would say something about our clothes or the way we looked or who we were with, and we’d end up fighting”.
He added: “I was a very good fighter… I never lost. I don’t know if I fight fair, but I go for it. That’s what ‘Uptown’ is about – we do whatever we want, and those who cannot deal with it have a problem within themselves”.
The song delves into themes of biases and racial discrimination, using the town symbolically to represent an idyllic realm devoid of these societal issues. Prince assumes a first-person perspective in his vocals, and the song’s commencement recounts an encounter with a captivating woman who, in a tactless manner, questions his sexual orientation.
Subsequently, he goes on to vehemently criticise narrow-minded prejudices and racism while celebrating a mindset and demeanour that transcend such pessimism. This track notably stands as one of Prince’s initial endeavours to weave political declarations into his artistic expressions. When asked about growing up in the neighbourhood that sits at the crux of the song, Prince admits it was “pretty different” and “kinda sad”.
He said: “I mean, the radio was dead, the discos was dead, ladies was kinda dead, so I felt like, if we wanted to make some noise, and I wanted to turn anything out… I was gonna have to get somethin’ together. Which is what we did. We put together a few bands and turned it into Uptown. That consisted of a lot of bike riding nude, but ya know it worked. We had fun.”
Although ‘Uptown’ achieved a notable position just below the top spot on the Hot 100 Chart, it stood as the closest semblance to a hit within Dirty Mind. While the album, as a whole, received positive feedback from fans and critics, it didn’t quite align with radio’s conservative standards, with some of the songs deemed too daring for mainstream radio. It wouldn’t be until Prince’s fifth album, 1999, that he became a mainstream presence across radio airwaves.
