"Starfish and Coffee" is a song performed by
Prince, and written by him and
Susannah Melvoin. It is the sixth track on his 1987
double album
A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...
''
Sign o' the Times'', and was based on a true story about a girl named Cynthia Rose that went to the same school as Susannah and
Wendy Melvoin. Susannah, Prince's girlfriend at the time, would receive a writing credit for the lyrics on the track due to the story that she told of Cynthia.
Background
During the early sessions for what would eventually become ''Sign o' the Times'', Prince and
Susannah Melvoin would often tell each other stories of their childhood memories. At one point, Susannah brought forward a story of Cynthia Rose, a girl that she and her twin sister
Wendy used to know at their school. Cynthia was often ignored by classmates, but Susannah took a special interest in learning more and more about Cynthia. Whenever Cynthia was asked what she had for breakfast, her response was often "starfish and pee pee". Susannah would further explain this odd answer:
Prince would become so fascinated with the story that he felt he had to make it into a song, on one condition: the phrase "pee pee" had to be replaced with a different word, which would become "coffee".
Susannah agreed, and after writing down what she had told him on a piece of paper, he went to his home studio and began recording the song. To give the song its magical and unusual feel as depicted in the lyrics,
harp
The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
sounds were created on
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
s, while Prince's initial drum kit was doubled with a
reversed
LM-1 drum loop.
After spending ten hours recording with engineer
Susan Rogers, the latter woke Susannah up to listen to the track, and Prince, with a smile, simply stated "here it is!".
The couple both found to have loved it when they listened to it, and it would remain a part of album configurations for Prince's next album until it was eventually released in March of 1987.
Legacy
The track would later serve to be the inspiration behind the website of the same name by Susannah, with a page dedicated to the song's creation.
Merchandise is sold on the website with numerous references to the song, and pictures and drawings are made of both Cynthia Rose and Susannah.
Personnel
Credits from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc and Guitarcloud
*
Prince – lead and backing vocals, piano,
Ensoniq Mirage,
Fairlight CMI, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums,
Linn LM-1, tambourine
*
Susannah Melvoin – backing vocals
References
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1987 songs
Songs written by Prince (musician)
Prince (musician) songs