Exclusive: Hear an Anthemic New Cold War Kids Song

The Cold War Kids — whose third album, Mine Is Yours, will arrive in January — have given Rolling Stone an exclusive stream of the new track "Royal Blue," along with video footage from recording sessions in Nashville. "We wanted to do something more epic," says singer Nate Willett of the disc. The Long Beach, California band enlisted Jacquire King, who co-produced Kings of Leon's Only by the Night and new Come Around Sundown, who helped the band achieve a more layered sound. "On our last records, there are a lot of really kinky, out-of-tune vocal parts that are emotionally good — but this record was really about getting it right." "Royal Blue" is an anthemic, echoing statement of the band's grand ambitions, with Willett wailing, "From now on / Fly high as I want / From now on, I'll show my weak spots."

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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