St. Vincent Songs - Prince Johnny Lyrics

St. Vincent - Prince Johnny

St. Vincent - Prince Johnny Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: St. Vincent
Released: 2014

Prince Johnny Lyrics

Prince Johnny you're kind but you're not simple
By now I think I know the difference
You wanna be a son of someone

Remember the time we went and snorted
That piece of that berlin wall that you extorted
And we had such a laugh of it
Prostrate on my carpet

You traced that andes with your index
And brag of when and where and who you're going to bed next
Oh we're sons of someone's
Oh we're sons of someone's

I saw you pray to, oh oh oh oh oh, to make you a real boy
Saw you pray to oh oh oh oh oh, to make you a real boy

Prince Johnny you're kind but do be careful
By now I know just when to stand clear
When all your friends and acolytes
Holding quiet in bathroom stalls
Where you pray to, oh oh oh oh oh, to make you a real boy
Saw you pray to oh oh oh oh oh, to make you a real boy

But honey, don't mistake my affection
For another spit in penny style redemption.
Cause we're all sons of someone's
We're all sons of someone's
I'll mean more than I mean to you
I'll mean more than I meant to him

So I pray to, oh oh oh oh oh, to make me a real girl
So I pray to, oh oh oh oh oh, to make me a real girl
So I pray to, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh
Oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

Writer/s: ANNE ERIN CLARK
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Prince Johnny

St. Vincent's Annie Clark hopes against hope to make the poor, precocious subject matter of this song, "a real boy." She told NME that the tune is a, "love letter to a tragic character and the New York downtown freak, weirdo, queer scene."

The titular character hangs out in bathroom stalls and tries to affirm himself through having sex with famous people, but is safe in the city's embrace. "It's that kind of story you don't get from New York City when you're still clutching your purse on the subway," Clark told NME. "It's the kind you get when you've proven your devotion to the city. Then she lets you in her arms."

The best known song about New York's queer scene is undoubtedly Lou Reed's, "Walk On The Wild Side," which introduced us to Holly, Candy, Little Joe, Sugar Plum Fairy, and Jackie.

Clark told HMV.com that this song began with the lyrics, "then I just had to sort of step back and go 'OK, well, what does this short story sound like? What could this possibly be in a musical sense?'"

Clark described this to Q magazine as "a fairly literal story." She added: "We all have friends, we love dearly, who are charming and hopelessly self-destructive and you intersect at some point. Prince Johnny is a friend. It's about those fabulous New York nights you only get with the kind of people flee their home towns and come to this place and reinvent themselves."