Touted as the original backseat song from Prince’s 1983 album titled 1999, Little Red Corvette combines Prince’s sultry, innuendo-laden lyrics with synth-saturated click track beats for a flirty little number.

Although prior to this song, Prince was known for his unabashedly sexual lyrics mixed with a raw, funkier sound, which resulted in most of his earlier recording not being played on the radio. This song was dark enough that it didn’t offend anyone, resulting in some radio play.

In the song, Prince narrates a one night stand with a beautiful but promiscuous woman, metaphorically called “Little Red Corvette”, throughout the song he says to enjoy the experience, but urges her to slow down, find a love that last. before she destroys herself. The exact nature of the song is left to the imagination, as Prince is never quite sure whether he’s talking about a car or a red-hot brazen. In addition to “Little Red Corvette”, Prince uses several other automobile metaphors, including comparing her interlude to riding in a limousine.

Rumor has it that Prince came up with the idea for the song while falling asleep in Lisa Coleman’s Edsel or the Mercury Montclair, depending on who you talk to, after a grueling all-night recording session. Lisa Colman was Prince’s keyboard player for both his 1999 album and the Controversy albums and did backing vocals for Little Red Corvette. Rumor has it that the lyrics came to Prince in snippets during that particular nap and others that followed, and eventually he was able to finish it without sleeping.

Little Red Corvette became one of Prince’s best-known songs and helped put his name on the music charts. This song was their biggest hit at the time, and their first to reach top ten status in the United States, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, which is America’s standard singles popularity chart. the American music industry published by Billboard magazine. Little Red Corvette was one of the first singles from him to perform better on the pop chart than the R&B chart, due to the song’s pop/rock format.

The Little Red Corvette himself inspired another musician, Stevie Nicks, who came up with the idea for “Stand Back” after hearing Little Red Corvette. He listened to Prince’s song in his car, wrote “Stand Back” that night, then called Prince, who came into the studio when they recorded the song to play keyboards.

Little Red Corvette is one of those songs that will forever stand the test of time. In 2001, Chevrolet put up billboards with a picture of a red 1963 Corvette Sting Ray that read, “They don’t write songs about Volvo.” In 2003, Chevrolet used that statement in a commercial that first aired during the Grammy Awards. The ad featured old footage of The Beach Boys performing “My 409”, followed by Don McLean singing “American Pie” (“I Took My Chevy to the Levee”), and then Prince performing “Little Red Corvette”.