Cream – Prince

Prince claims to have written Cream while looking in the mirror.  This version of the song is not as he plays it but we use it like this to make things easy to play and also so that you can see how lyrics fit over a simple rhythm.  When you listen to the song as it was released as a single and on the album Diamonds and Pearls there are no guitar chords to be heard apart from the various funky guitar riffs with loads of effects played mostly as fills throughout the song.

 

 

Structure

This is a classic pop song structure.

Intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, verse 3, chorus to fade.

The harmonic structure couldn’t be simpler.  The verse is 4 lines with just two chords.  The chorus is a ‘ready steady go’ structure – one idea that repeats three times and then has another short idea to finish it all off nicely.

What is a bridge section

This is usually a 4 or 8 bar section somewhere just after the middle of the song that stops the repetition of verses and choruses getting monotonous.

Strum Pattern

There are 4 beats to the bar in this piece.

We’ll upload a video of how to do the strum pattern soon, promise!

MAIN PATTERN
This strum pattern is in quavers and starts on beat 1.
Stroke:  D  (U)  D   U  (D)  U   D  (U)
Count:   1   +   2   +   3   +   4   +

Chords

Lyrics

== VERSE 1
         |G 2 3 4       |C        2       3        4        |G  2  3  4 | 1 2 3       4 |
This  is  it.       It's    time for you to  go to    the wi   -ire              You  will
          hit               Cos you   got the burnin' desi     -ire             It's  your 
          time (Time)   You got the  horn so why don't you blow it              You   are
          fine (Fine) You're filthy   cute and,baby,   you know  it
== CHORUS ==
G    2 3 4 |D          2       3   4
Cream -     Get on     top
Cream -     You   will cop
Cream -     Don't you  stop
Em    2    F     4    |G 2 3        4
Cream - Sh-boogie  bop       You're so good

== VERSE 2 ==
|G  2      3  4 |C        2           3      4    |G  2  3  4 | 1   2  3         4
                 Baby,    there ain't nobody bet -ter                     So     you should
                 Never    ever        go by  the letter                   You're so cool 
     (Cool)      Every   -thing you   do is  suc  -cess (Ooh)             Make   the rules 
     (Rules)     Then break'em all cuz     you are the best.

== CHORUS ==
Bridge
Look up in the air, it's your guitar.. - Guitar solo over vamp

== VERSE 3 ==
         |G 2 3 4       |C          2      3      4      |G     2  3  4 |G 2 3       4     
  Do your dance          Why should you    wait any lon  -ger?                  Take your chance
                         It could   only   make-a you stronger                  I’ts your time
                     You got the    horn so why don't you blow it             You’re so fine
                  You're filthy     cute and, baby, you know it

== CHORUS - without 'You're so good'==

== OUTRO ==
Vamp over chorus progression to fade.W