Prince

The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker is the fourth track on the first disc of Prince’s ninth album Sign O’ The Times. Basic tracking took place on 13 March 1986 at Prince’s Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (six days before And How and Power Fantastic). It was the first track he recorded in his newly installed home studio. The whole song sounds somewhat dull and murky because of a technical problem. The console for the newly built home studio arrived from Los Angeles as a skeleton, with the wires hanging out and all the parts in boxes. Everything was hooked up, but no music was run through the console before recording commenced. While installing there was a loss of power in the house. The console had one power supply for the positive side and another for the negative side and, unbeknown to technician Susan Rogers, one of the power supplies didn’t come back up. Rogers noticed the music sounding flat, but didn’t want to ask Prince to stop recording. It was only after the day long recording session that Rogers discovered the cause of the problem. However Prince professed to like the recording. There are no accidents, and if there are, it’s up to us to look at them as something else. —Prince The song also references Joni Mitchell’s Help Me ("Help me, I think I’m falling in love again") from her 1974 album Court And Spark (also released as a single in 1974). Credits: Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted Susannah Melvoin - background vocals Engineered by Susan Rogers.