Possibly the best known Corvette song is Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”, the Corvette song that’s not really about a Corvette. The story goes that the song comes from a trip in a band member’s car, a 1964 pink Mercury Montclair Marauder, after being in the recording studio all night. The clever lyrics came to him in bursts as he fell in and out of sleep. He reportedly finished the remainder of the song without sleeping.
Little Red Corvette was released in 1983 and became Prince’s highest charting single to that point of his career. It was his first entry into the Top 10 in the US, which helped him on his way to becoming a superstar. The song has been ranked by Rolling Stone as #108 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It reached a peak position of #8 on the Australian Singles Chart.
Although the song is not really about a Corvette, it does convey the image of the Corvette being a beautiful, sleek, and fast car. GM was to use the advertising line “They don’t write songs about Volvos.” GM also made a billboard from this song for the Corvette, with the lyric “Little Red Corvette, baby ur much 2 fast” over the picture of a Corvette. The billboard, which also featured Prince’s logo was displayed at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 2003.
The song is actually about a one-night stand with a beautiful, but promiscuous girl he met on a Saturday night. Prince uses the metaphor of the little red Corvette for how fast this woman picks up and then discards her men after taking them home for the night. Prince tells the woman that “Baby you’re much too fast” and suggests she slows down and “move over baby, gimme the keys / I’m gonna try and tame your little red love machine”. Although the song was about sex, the lyrics were ambiguous enough to avoid offending most listeners and radio stations.
LITTLE RED CORVETTE LYRICS
I guess I should of known
By the way you parked your car sideways
That it wouldn’t last
See you’re the kinda person
That believes in makin’ out once
Love ’em and leave ’em fast
I guess I must be dumb
‘Cause you had a pocket full of horses
Trojan and some of them used
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say what have I got to lose?
And honey I say
Little red Corvette
Baby you’re much too fast
Little red Corvette
You need a love that’s gonna last
I guess I should of closed my eyes
When you drove me to the place
Where your horses run free
‘Cause I felt a little ill
When I saw all the pictures
Of the jockeys that were there before me
Believe it or not
I started to worry
I wondered if I had enough class
But it was Saturday night
I guess that makes it all right
And you say, “Baby, have you got enough gas?”
Oh yeah
Little red Corvette
Baby you’re much to fast, yes you are
Little red Corvette
You need to find a love that’s gonna last, ah huh
A body like yours
Oughta be in jail
‘Cause it’s on the verge of bein’ obscene
Move over baby
Gimme the keys
I’m gonna try to tame your little red love machine
Little red Corvette
Baby you’re much to fast
Little red Corvette
You need to find a love that’s gonna last
Little red Corvette
Honey you got to slow down (Got to slow down)
Little red Corvette
‘Cause if you don’t you gonna run your
Little red Corvette right in the ground
