Darling Nikki

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"Darling Nikki" is a song produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and originally released on his Grammy Award-winning 1984 album, Purple Rain. Though the song was not released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics. Partly because of the lyrical content of "Darling Nikki," Tipper Gore founded the Parents Music Resource Center, which eventually led to the use of "Parental Advisory" stickers and imprints on album covers. Trinity Broadcasting Network and Jimmy Swaggart both attacked the song as being "pornographic" and "satanic."^{[citation needed]}

The song tells the story of a "sex fiend" named Nikki who seduces the singer. In the film Purple Rain, the song is directed toward Apollonia Kotero's character when she decides to work with Prince's character's rival, played by Morris Day.

Near the end of the song, the music changes. There is singing, but played in reverse. The vocals, unreversed, are Prince singing,

"Hello, how are you?

I'm fine 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon

Coming, coming soon."^[1]

During the Purple Rain tour performances of "Darling Nikki", the recording at the end was played forward. This can be heard in the live video Prince and the Revolution Live.

Outtake

A circulating outtake of "Darling Nikki" contains an instrumental subdued section in the middle of keyboard onslaught at the end of the song. Also, it does not have the backmasking segment tacked on to the end; instead, Prince performs an extended hard guitar solo devoid of any other instruments.

Cover and other versions

• In 1995, Whale released a cover on the "Pay for Me" single.
• In 1998, as part of the compilation Do Me Baby: Austin Does Prince, the Asylum Street Spankers released an acoustic version of this song.
• Chicago punk-band Apocalypse Hoboken recorded a cover of the song, which appeared on their 2000 album Microstars.
• In 2003, the alternative rock band Foo Fighters recorded a cover of the song, which they included as a B-side on their 2004 single "Have It All". Though their version of "Darling Nikki" was never officially released as a single, it surprisingly found success at American Modern Rock radio, peaking at #15. This version was performed on the MTV Video Music Awards with Cee-lo guesting on vocals. On 4 February 2007 Prince covered their song "Best of You" at Super Bowl XLI. This may have been in retaliation as Prince objected to having "Darling Nikki" covered by the Foo Fighters, and he would not allow them to release it as a single in the US.^{[citation needed]}
• Tech N9ne's song "Freaky," on his 2005 album Vintage Tech, interpolates "Darling Nikki."
• While not normally known as a singer, model/actress Rebecca Romijn recorded a cover of "Darling Nikki" for the 2006 compilation album, Electro Goth Tribute to Prince.
• A cover by electro music group Chairlift was included on the 2009 tribute compilation Purplish Rain. A free download of the song was offered by Spin magazine.^[2]
• In the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Did the Earth Move for You?", Will Smith does his own version of the song with his lyrics saying "I'm stuck in a basement, sittin' on a tricycle, girl gettin' on my nerves/Goin' outta my mind, I thought she was fine, don't know if her body is hers."
• West Coast rapper 2Pac used a sample of "Darling Nikki" for the song "Heartz of Men" on his 1996 album All Eyez on Me.

References