Thread by @PrinceTheEncore

Y'all ready 2 get this #PurpleParty started? @Prince entered @Sunset Sound early May '82 to record what would become his longest electro-jam #Automatic. At over 9 minutes sending the project dubbed 1999 he began in Jan into unintentional Double LP territory

He arrived with clearly something on his mind as everything in #Automatic feels like a confession An urgent unsettling genuine desperation unfolding with lyrical themes of emotion as technology. Lockstep speak-singing in the same pattern of his drum machine.

Both principal themes at the time, spiritual & profane come into play, the latter on full display when he makes cavalier declaration of a sexual favor, the listener & backing singer @JillJones simultaneously snap to as she excitedly responds “You will?!”

The 3rd act is where shit truly gets dark. @Prince & his two cohorts really let it all hang down. Reprising “your pilot Prince” from #InternationalLover then @JillJones & keyboardist Lisa Coleman mockingly repeat his words back AT him with unnerving boredom

Despite Lisa claiming “with you I’m never bored” then coldly declaring “I’m going to have to torture you now” foreshadows the same menacing female lover she plays on the next record #PurpleRain with Computer Blue #1999Thread #PrinceTwitterThread

Something else happens in #Automatic we see again in #PurpleRain (movie) An unthinkable recording of @JillJones crying. When I asked her about it in 2022 she said “ @Prince had this tape of me crying that would appear purposely antagonistically at odd times"

Companion track #SomethingInTheWater (that will be expertly covered by @tonyapendleton tomorrow) doubles down on this theme as well as it’s certainly not a stretch to see how much #Automatic informs #IfIWasYourGirlfriend from the legendary #SignOTheTimes LP

Then this crazy psychodrama called #Automatic seemingly climaxes but then we return to the original groove that instantly sucked us in the first place but this time with even more emphasis (more on this at the very end) #PrinceTwitterthread #1999Thread

Automatic made it’s live debut the 2nd night of the 1999 tour on Nov 12th 1982 at 2 huge nights at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre after a much smaller opening night in Tennessee the night before & made sporadic appearances in the setlist on the tour thereafter

Most significantly on Dec 29th in #Houston Only pro shot performance of #Automatic was filmed. Entire show released on DVD on 1999 Deluxe Editions. But then removing it in 1983 to make room for singles #LittleRedCorvette & #LetsPretendWereMarried

Video for #Automatic was shot at the @CityMinneapolis Armory, during the final week of rehearsals for the 1999 Tour along with 1999 and Let’s Pretend We’re Married. All directed by Bruce Gowers, who directed #Controversy and #Sexuality the year before.

While the other 2 songs saw official US single releases spread 14 months apart it wasn’t until Aug of 1983 #Automatic was released as an Australian only single & also the only place the video was aired #PrinceTwitterThread

In a rare sign of restraint from @warnerbros who declined to submit the video to @MTV2 which features #LisaColeman & @JillJones exploring S&M themes that culminate with flogging @prince after tying him to a bed #1999thread #PrinceTwitterThread

Not one for speculation but Prince was openly courting #Controversy at the time. Airing it & its subsequent ban could have provided the desired publicity a la @Madonna #JustifyMyLove video released 7 years later written by Prince protégée @ingridchavez

Footage of #Automatic video did surface albeit briefly in the video hits collection laden “video” for #NothingCompares2U that’s inter spliced from a late night performance at @PaisleyPark in Jan 1992 but certainly nothing from the whips & chains affair.

Strangely it appeared without fanfare on Prince’s official @YouTube page in all it’s Master & Servant glory about a year after he passed, something that surely would have never happened while he was still alive #1999thread #PrinceTwitterthread

But until then it was just a dirty little secret similar to @neworder #Temptation (also released in 1982) & only seen in liberal minded discos & quickly became a massively sought-after collector's item #1999thread #princetwitterthread

Remember what I said earlier about the “ending” of the song? For the finale: I know it goes against the principals of using this platform but in this case, well….I’m just gonna have to show ya

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little dissection of my fave track from @prince 1999 & encourage you to check out the entire #1999thread with some amazing contributors we call the #purpleavengers @tonyapendleton your up!