Emancipation (1996)
Concealed within the liner notes of Emancipation is a mirror-written message revealing this song’s dedication “2 Wendy and Lisa and Susannah” and it’s certainly full of Revolution-era imagery, namely beds, screams and rain. Apologising for losing communication, Prince sings about wanting to make amends but Wendy later revealed that he never got back to them after initially sending it to her and Lisa for their input. Maybe he just needed the lyrics to fall on their ears first. In This Bed Eye Scream is intricately constructed and there’s a lot of crowded jostling until the lights go down to signal the track’s natural ending, leaving a screaming, abandoned guitar and a bullish bass to fight to the death on a lightning-strobed mountain top. A battleground of raw emotion turning the melodic and upbeat song into the cathartic release of a long suppressed war cry.
