So glad I chose to browse NYT.com this morning. I found a beautiful surprise: The backstory to one of my favorite Prince songs.

‘Sign o’ the Times’: How Prince Wrote and Recorded a Classic Song https://nyti.ms/2JIOzx3

Of many great interview clips included, this observation from his longtime sound engineer Susan Roger’s stands out: “He had a watchmaker’s knack for understanding how music worked and how to get it to work with the fewest possible parts.”

The bass and other instruments (Prince played them all on the song Sign O’ the Times) were created on a digital super tool called a Fairlight, Rogers explained.

Prince took a cassette of the song’s digital foundation to his car and wrote lyrics and melody. Rogers prepared his mics and left the room so Prince could record his vocals alone.

“You’d hear those soul preacher screams (while waiting for him in the hall) and you’d know: this will be one of those that has me on my knees,” she said.

Then the guitar would enter and echo the vocals in shorter melodies. And voilà: an innovative use of music to engage us in our environment while amplifying the soundtrack of our lives.