Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🎤 plaidonflannel.com
🎸 plaidonflannelshop.com
An acoustic cover of "Little Red Corvette" by Prince from his 1982 album 1999 for Warner Brothers Records.
Words and music by Prince Rogers Nelson
I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
See, you're the kinda person that believes in makin' out once
Love 'em and leave 'em fast
I guess I must be dumb, 'cause you had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say, "What have I got to lose?"
Honey, I say, "Little red corvette."
Baby, you're much too fast
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
I guess I should've closed my eyes
When you drove me to the place where your horses run free
'Cause I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me
Believe it or not, I started to worry
I wondered if I had enough class
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say, "Baby, have you got enough gas?"
Oh, yeah!
Little red corvette
Baby, you're much too fast, now
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
A body like yours oughta be in jail
'Cause it's on the verge of bein' obscene
Move over, baby, gimme the keys
I'm gonna try to tame your little red love machine
Little red corvette
Baby, you're much too fast, now
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
Little red corvette
Baby, you got to slow down
Little red corvette
You need to find a love that's gonna last
I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
*Song Facts*
"Little Red Corvette" is a song by American recording artist Prince. It was released in 1983 as the second single from his fifth studio album 1999. The tune was Prince's highest charting single at that point. Peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also his first single to perform better on the pop chart than the R&B chart.
Later it was re-released as a double A-side with "1999", peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January of 1985. Following Prince's death in April 2016, "Little Red Corvette" re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 29, rising to number 20 the following week. It has sold more than 900,000 copies in the United States.
The initial US single was backed with album track "All the Critics Love U in New York", while UK releases featured "Lady Cab Driver" or "Horny Toad". An extended dance remix of "Little Red Corvette," featured on some 12" releases, was later featured on the 2006 compilation album Ultimate.
Prince got the idea for "Little Red Corvette" when he dozed off in band member Lisa Coleman's 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder after an exhausting all-night recording session. The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually, he was able to finish it without sleeping. The lyrics use car imagery as a double entendre for sex, also making use of horse-related imagery for similar purposes.
Backing vocals were performed by Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson; Dickerson also performs a guitar solo on the song.
"Little Red Corvette" is written in the key of Dâ™ major and moves at a tempo of 123 beats per minute in common time. Prince's vocals span from Aâ™2 to Dâ™7 in the song.
Jack Hamilton of Slate noted that the song is about "ambivalence, vulnerability, and fear" of casual sex. "It’s not about sex as fun...but rather about the entirety of the act: its physical, emotional, psychological, even spiritual dimensions. And uniquely, 'Little Red Corvette' isn’t really about anything other than sex." With its instrumentation of guitars, synthesizers, and a drum machine, Hamilton identifies "Little Red Corvette" as a post-disco song "in every respect."
Cash Box wrote that "a Vangelis-like synth bottom provides the smokey mood, while Prince’s vocals traverse from the plaintive to the depraved." Billboard called it "a typically racy rock number, thick with electronics" and wrote that Prince's urgent vocal performance "makes even the more innocent lyrics sound illicit."
"Little Red Corvette" (directed by Bryan Greenberg and released in February 1983) was Prince's second music video played on MTV. The first was "1999" the previous year before Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and after Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie". The video was filmed in late January 1983 at the Lakeland Civic Center during the final week of rehearsals for the second leg of the 1999 Tour.
According to Greenberg, there was also supposed to be some scenes shot the next day featuring Prince and Vanity driving around in a corvette. However Prince was said to be uncomfortable with the idea. Given that his videos had usually only featured him on stage, and the idea was eventually scrapped.
#AcousticCover #LittleRedCorvette #PostDisco
🎤 plaidonflannel.com
🎸 plaidonflannelshop.com
An acoustic cover of "Little Red Corvette" by Prince from his 1982 album 1999 for Warner Brothers Records.
Words and music by Prince Rogers Nelson
I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
See, you're the kinda person that believes in makin' out once
Love 'em and leave 'em fast
I guess I must be dumb, 'cause you had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say, "What have I got to lose?"
Honey, I say, "Little red corvette."
Baby, you're much too fast
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
I guess I should've closed my eyes
When you drove me to the place where your horses run free
'Cause I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me
Believe it or not, I started to worry
I wondered if I had enough class
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say, "Baby, have you got enough gas?"
Oh, yeah!
Little red corvette
Baby, you're much too fast, now
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
A body like yours oughta be in jail
'Cause it's on the verge of bein' obscene
Move over, baby, gimme the keys
I'm gonna try to tame your little red love machine
Little red corvette
Baby, you're much too fast, now
Little red corvette
You need a love that's gonna last
Little red corvette
Baby, you got to slow down
Little red corvette
You need to find a love that's gonna last
I guess I should've known by the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn't last
*Song Facts*
"Little Red Corvette" is a song by American recording artist Prince. It was released in 1983 as the second single from his fifth studio album 1999. The tune was Prince's highest charting single at that point. Peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also his first single to perform better on the pop chart than the R&B chart.
Later it was re-released as a double A-side with "1999", peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart in January of 1985. Following Prince's death in April 2016, "Little Red Corvette" re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 29, rising to number 20 the following week. It has sold more than 900,000 copies in the United States.
The initial US single was backed with album track "All the Critics Love U in New York", while UK releases featured "Lady Cab Driver" or "Horny Toad". An extended dance remix of "Little Red Corvette," featured on some 12" releases, was later featured on the 2006 compilation album Ultimate.
Prince got the idea for "Little Red Corvette" when he dozed off in band member Lisa Coleman's 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder after an exhausting all-night recording session. The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually, he was able to finish it without sleeping. The lyrics use car imagery as a double entendre for sex, also making use of horse-related imagery for similar purposes.
Backing vocals were performed by Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson; Dickerson also performs a guitar solo on the song.
"Little Red Corvette" is written in the key of Dâ™ major and moves at a tempo of 123 beats per minute in common time. Prince's vocals span from Aâ™2 to Dâ™7 in the song.
Jack Hamilton of Slate noted that the song is about "ambivalence, vulnerability, and fear" of casual sex. "It’s not about sex as fun...but rather about the entirety of the act: its physical, emotional, psychological, even spiritual dimensions. And uniquely, 'Little Red Corvette' isn’t really about anything other than sex." With its instrumentation of guitars, synthesizers, and a drum machine, Hamilton identifies "Little Red Corvette" as a post-disco song "in every respect."
Cash Box wrote that "a Vangelis-like synth bottom provides the smokey mood, while Prince’s vocals traverse from the plaintive to the depraved." Billboard called it "a typically racy rock number, thick with electronics" and wrote that Prince's urgent vocal performance "makes even the more innocent lyrics sound illicit."
"Little Red Corvette" (directed by Bryan Greenberg and released in February 1983) was Prince's second music video played on MTV. The first was "1999" the previous year before Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and after Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie". The video was filmed in late January 1983 at the Lakeland Civic Center during the final week of rehearsals for the second leg of the 1999 Tour.
According to Greenberg, there was also supposed to be some scenes shot the next day featuring Prince and Vanity driving around in a corvette. However Prince was said to be uncomfortable with the idea. Given that his videos had usually only featured him on stage, and the idea was eventually scrapped.
#AcousticCover #LittleRedCorvette #PostDisco
