My favorite 25 of the Purple One

Three days have passed and I still am having a hard time coming to grips to the fact that Prince is no longer here.

Sure, I admit I had my disagreements with The Purple One over his thoughts of pulling back his most famous songs and music videos from YouTube. I always thought he wasn't looking at the bigger picture over the future and what future generations may find with his older music.

Turns out Prince was looking at the present with his eye to the future. There are stories abound that he has thousands -- yes, thousands -- of songs he recorded at his Paisley Park studio waiting to make CDs or albums or even downloaded singles. That is simply unheard of.

But the Prince we're going to remember is the artist who we knew as Prince and who was formally Prince before he became Prince again as the 20th century became the 21st century. He was a shy, private individual as the first time most of us saw him was on the show American Bandstand when he stammered and stumbled over short answers wit host Dick Clark. Believe me, if you saw that interview, it was painful to wach.

Still, he was a musical genius, unafraid to try different things with different people. In the end, he released an exhausting 39 albums or CDs in 38 years of recording. That's simply unheard of by today's standards of recording music. Prince lived in the studio.

And he made us dance. He made us have fantasies over the opposite sex of the things he liked to do with women. And he made us think as well. Great artists who can get us to think over the lyrics of a song don't come that easy.

So it was a sad and shocking day on April 21, 2016 when Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park studios, just a month and a half short of his 58th birthday. Prince had no children and did not have a wife to leave behind, but he left us some amazing "babies" with his music that will live on for generations to come.

I remember watching that interview on Bandstand. I remember him getting booed off stage as an opening act for the Rolling Stones in 1981. But I also remember the triumph of the album "1999" and then the soundtrack and the movie Purple Rain. He was as much a superstar as Michael Jackson was. Amazing how the decade of the 1980s were about two guys -- Michael Jackson and Prince -- who were not only talented but true introverts as well. Genius comes, sometimes, from the inward nature of people.

In the 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, I was as big a Prince fan as anyone out there. And over the years, I counted on something by Prince that would stir within me, make me think, make me dance ... or those fantasies, but not as much as I was younger.

Then again, Prince was starting to mellow out over the years. The music, though, never wavered from greatness. I have come up with a list of my 25 favorite Prince songs over his 38-year career in order from No. 25 down to No. 1, my all-time favorite and give some reason as to why I liked the song.

I hope you enjoy the list. Maybe some of your favorites are on this list, too. Without further delay, here's my list:

25. Uptown (1980, #101): If you want to hear a little of what the early Minneapolis Sound was all about, put "Uptown" on from Prince's "Dirty Mind" album and feel the groove. It's an irresistible groove that easily could have been recorded by Vanity 6. A very breezy and enjoyable beat ... and a good time had by all, that is, until the sudden ending.

24. Paisley Park (1985, album track): Side one, track one of the No. 1 1985 album "Around The World In Day" and there is where you take an acid trip into another dimension, almost as if Prince has slipped back into the psychedelic 1960s. Since this was the first piece of music we all got our hands on after the hugely successful "Purple Rain" soundtrack and movie, that first track set the tone. Prince's guitar and that drum machine were mesmerizing as the Purple One wove the tale about this imaginary park that one day he would turn into his own home and recording studio.

23. Musicology (2004, #120): Prince knew how to pay homage to those who he learned a few things from in his life, both young and old. "Musicology" is an ode to the music he grew up with and admired from such acts as James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire and Sly & The Family Stone, who he gives shoutouts to by mentioning their hits "Hot Pants," "September" and "I Want To Take You Higher," respectively of the acts who did them. He also gives a nod to the new-school artists like Chuck D. of Pubic Enemy and the late Jam Master J of Run-DMC. No matter who does it, it's still good music in Prince's world as he sings, "Wish you had a dollar everytime someone would say, "Don't you miss that feeling gave you, back in the day.'"

22. Beautiful, Loved & Blessed (2006, promotional single): One thing Prince rarely gets credit for is how well he duets with the ladies, whether it's Sheena Easton or Sheila E. or even an unknown like Tamar Davis. From his 2006 CD "3121," Prince follows Davis the same way he politely followed Sheila E. on her hit song "A Love Bizarre." As for Prince, he reaches a lot of singing ranges, starting down near a bass and coming up to a range we're used to hearing from him, all layered in with a mid-tempo beat that doesn't feel like in any way you're intruding on what he and she are doing. It sounds like they are having a good time bouncing vocals off one another.

21. Let's Pretend We're Married (1983, #52): You've heard enough of the "1999" album to know that most of the songs are heavy on synthesizers and drum machines. Then comes this song, heavy on the synth and drum machines, and Prince is unapologetic about what he wants to do after his girl leaves. He finds the first fine-lookin' lady and he wants to ... well ... you know! As he sings in this song, "Oh darling if you're free for a couple of hours or if you ain't busy for the next seven years. Let's pretend we're married and go all night. There ain't nothin' wrong if it feels all right." He's unabashed about his feelings and that urge that got him in trouble with some folks in Washington, especially when he uses the f-word nonchalantly.

20. Delirious (1983, #8): The "1999" album was a party from start to finish and when the big hits from the album got exhausted, Prince put those people out on the dance floor and got them moving their tired bodies to "Delirious," another drum-machine delight that was irresistible in nature. Going ga-ga over a girl whenever she's near, Prince was letting us all in on those feelings while we couldn't stop moving our feet, right to the sudden end of a baby laughing.

19. Cream (1991, #1): As ooey-gooey as his hits of the 1980s and as sexually provocative as well, Prince makes it a romp with a heavy keyboard presence and a fun banter between him and New Power Generation singer Rosie Gaines. If the moaning at the start of the song to a syncopated beat didn't give the song's sexual prowess away, Prince was sure making his presence felt by telling the girl, "You're filthy, cute and baby, ya know it."

18. The Morning Papers (1993, #44): While most of his songs were heavy on the synthesizers, this one was an exception as an emotional Prince jumps behind the piano and delivers a heart-felt message in "The Morning Papers," a look inside to his budding relationship with girlfriend Mayte Garcia, who he would marry three years later. He was expressing how she would be part of his world and how tabloids would follow her every move. Prince ultimately jumps off the piano and goes to his recognizable love, his guitar. Not really your typical Prince song as it sounded more pop than funky.

17. (She's) Soft & Wet (1978, #92): From where it all began for 20-year-old Prince, the album, "For You," in which he plays every instrument (he would on his first five albums), gave us an idea of what was to come with "Soft & Wet," a funky track that made people pause because of Prince's falsetto voice -- was that a guy or a girl singing? His first sexually explicit song ... before he jumped over the line of good and evil.

16. I Wanna Be Your Lover (1980, #11): The first major moment on the charts for Prince, it's that falsetto voice that overwhelms the jam he's put down under it. He's so infatuated with the girl that not only does he want to be her lover, he wants to be her "mama and your sister to ya." He's trying to make his case and assures her by saying, "I wanna be the only one you come for ... yeah." The jam session he plays (practically by himself) takes the song out in a respectable manner that had the underlying of what the "new disco" sounded like after the sudden thud of the old disco sound in 1979.

15. Diamonds & Pearls (1992, #2): Once again, a ballad in pure Prince fashion with plenty of keyboard behind. It's a hit for Prince and his New Power Generation, but in actuality, he's duetting with backing vocalist Rosie Gaines as she highlights the song with her famous "D to the I to the A to the M ... O to the N to the D to the pearls of love." Prince sounds like he's being precise with his cadence as he sings his lines throughout in the tone of, "Da-da-dah-daaah-dum," a few seconds of silence, then "Da-da-dah-daaaah-duuuuuuum." He doesn't sound "free" to sing the way he normally does, but I loved it anyway.

14. I Can Never Take The Place Of Your Man (1988, #10): Ah yes, the "Sign O' The Times" album/CD and what was the third big hit from it. It's a romp that has Prince telling the story of a woman who leaves her man and sees Prince, but he knows he can never replace what she had and that a one-night stand was never going to work. It's fast pace makes it a unique record, but what's also interesting were that two drum machines were working at once on this one and Prince gives not one, but two guitar solos, one a bluesy piece, the other the normal solo that takes the song out.

13. My Name Is Prince (1992, #36): Outside of "Let's Go Crazy," this is probably Prince's other chaotic song he's ever done. The musical background is simply all over the place, overpowered by a pounding backbeat and a chorus backing him and his famous shriek, all the while Prince laying the law down: "My name is Prince! And I am funky!" He delivers a loud, boastful lead vocal and gets the rare rapping help on this one, delivered by Tony M. Shortly after this came out, Prince began dabbling with that unpronounceable symbol as his "name."

12. Gett Off (1991, #21): Featuring the standout flute work of Eric Leeds, a long time musician working for Prince because, in his words, "he played an instrument that Prince couldn't teach him how to do a song exactly on," this is one raunchy plow-fest, quoting from James Brown along the way, "I like 'em fat. I like 'em proud. You got to have a Mother for me," then adding, "Now move your big ass over this way so I can work on that zipper, baby. Tonight, you're a star ... and I'm the big dipper." With Rosie Gaines providing the female vocal and Tony M. doing the talkin' throughout, Prince delighted in this one, heavy on the guitar as he rode the song out. It's one dirty jam we didn't mind feeling dirty about either.

11. Controversy (1981, #70): For one of those times in his career, The Purple One seems to come off robotic in how he approaches his vocals, but yet we understand what he's saying, famously asking, "People call me rude. I wish we all were nude. I wish there was no black and white. I wish there were no rules." Those vocals are buoyed by the pairing of synthesizers and guitar and would provide a lot of what would be played when Prince's protégé band, The Time, came out shortly after this song and album of the same name came out.

10. U Got The Look (1987, #2): Prince calls this "The World Series of Love." And why not? That opening salvo sounds serious and like a competition. And with Sheena Easton singing backing vocals on this one, we're not sure if we should be peaking in on what it is they're saying to one another or how heavy the sexual tension is. Prince plays this raucous rocker out, proving once again he has the chops to lay down that lead guitar like not many others can.

9. Raspberry Beret (1985, #2): Prince made this a joyous adventure, so much so that I wish I was riding down by Ol' Man Johnson's farm. The girl had to be a knockout for Prince to just cut out on work and entertain her. Unlike a number of Prince songs, this one is filled wit strings, played on here by violinist Novi Novog and cellists Suzie Katayama and David Coleman with Wendy & Lisa of the group providing the arrangement of the strings. It's Prince at his playful best and he and those strings work beautifully together to give us one of those moments you never forget from the man musically.

8. Darling Nikki (1984, album track): Of all of Prince's songs that drip with sexual desire and being downright horny, this one from the movie Purple Rain may take the cake, especially when Tipper Gore put Prince on her hit list because of the nature of this song, part of the "Filthy Fifteen" brought upon by the Parents Music Resource Center. In the movie, this slinky, sexy, filthy, enjoyable piece of music was meant to get under the skin of Prince's protégé in the film, played by Appolonia, who is being courted by The Kid's rival, played by Morris Day, who is telling her horrible things abut Prince. It's like listening to a sex show we weren't supposed to hear.

7. Let's Go Crazy (1984, #1): It's that one song you know Prince poured every last drop of himself into. It's a powerful rocker, yet you can dance to it and never be unapologetic for it. Starting off with Prince announcing, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life." His opening sermon sets it up for a marriage of the traditional Minneapolis Sound to that of Prince's own urge to go heavy on his guitar, especially the unforgettable solo at the end of the song. As he says at the end, "Take me away!"

6. Kiss (1986, #1): Except for the small guitar solo in the middle and the sniffs of guitar licks throughout, this one is driven by a drum machine, synthesizer and a one-toned, high-pitched Prince singing his way through this sassy piece of pop. He plays the role of the reliable guy who, no matter what the situation, will come through for her and all he wants in return is her extra time and her (muah, muah, muah, muah) ... kiss. Unlike other Prince tunes, this one was far from over the top and because of that, it was one of the most successful singles the Purple One ever had. So popular the song that two years later, the Art of Noise and Tom Jones thought highly to remake the tune.

5. When Doves Cry (1984, #1): To think we've heard this song for so many years and you realize one thing without ever knowing it -- there's no bass in the song! A simple drum machine is so effective that Prince masks the lack of a bass guitar. It's a dance tune that isn't over the top and whose melody is as memorable as that of Terence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well" or the J. Geils Band's "Centerfold." The song became Prince's first No. 1 song in 1984 and first release from the soundtrack and the movie Purple Rain. This song works both in its shortened version or in the longer version where Prince "yipes" through the musical backdrop.

4. Little Red Corvette (1983, #7): That Saturday night felt really awesome when it was Prince, his girl and that car. Delivering various backing vocals making it sound like he had friends singing along, it was all Prince doing the song that put him on the map for good from the "1999" album. Though the sexual overtones aren't so out there, the innuendo of what happens that night is very much spelled out. "But it was Saturday night, I guess that makes it all right and you said, 'Baby, have you got enough gas?' Oh yeah!" Prince had so many ways he could've written "Little Red Corvette." Whatever he wrote would not have been wrong. In other words, this was a bona fide smash hit.

3. Sign O' The Times (1987, #3): The world was at a crisis stage and if his fans didn't know that, Prince surely was going to have a word about it to them. He sang about the AIDS epidemic, the troubles with youth gangs and the problems of living in a world of the bomb dropping and killing millions. And his vocals were all delivered over a syncopated synthesizer and drum machine that got all too familiar with his fans.

2. Purple Rain (1984, #2): By the end of this dramatic song, you are either in tears or near tears -- especially if you saw the movie and how powerful a tune it was in the club when Prince sang it in honor of his father, played by Clarence Williams III, who was lying in the hospital with a bullet wound to the head after he tried to take his own life. Prince pours everything into this song, first singing about his father, then his girlfriend, then his band mates, The Revolution, as his guitar work help play the full version of the song out. The meaning of the song, according to the late singer, is about being with one or ones you love as the end of the world nears. Spooky indeed.

1. 1999 (1983, #12): "Purple Rain" is maybe the best song Prince has ever done. But my favorite is "1999" because it's really an enjoyable dance record with the backdrop of the world coming to an end, but as Prince sings in the song, "We could all die any day." So if the world is coming to an end, let's have a going-away party like you've never seen before! "1999" started as a late fall single release, but when it failed to hit the Top 40 as the first single from the album, Plan B was to release "Little Red Corvette." That song became a hit and so Warner Brothers tried again with "1999" as a single and this time around, it fit perfectly as a late spring release in 1983 and one of the reasons, in my humble opinion, the Summer of 1983 is still the greatest musically ever.