Way back in 2008, Prince performed a version of Radiohead’s “Creep” during his headlining set at Coachella. Ever the control freak about his songs and his shows—Prince and his Purple Gestapo are notorious for taking down any renditions of Prince tunes from YouTube, even local garage-band covers and poorly sung karaoke renditions—his Royal Purpleness blocked all subsequent online videos of the performance. Until this morning, when he tweeted out an officially authorized video of it.
Prince is an enigma immersed in a riddle wrapped up inside assless chaps, so who knows why he chose this week to let the world see his rendition of the Buzz Bin classic. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke wasn’t particularly keen on Prince keeping the track under wraps, though; the frontman wasn’t even able to see or hear the performance of his own song as a result of Prince’s iron grip. “He’s blocked it?” Yorke told Billboard in 2008. “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”
It looks like Prince heeded Yorke’s advice, as the full eight-minute clip is now available on YouTube. It’s something to witness as Prince settles the alternative radio mainstay into a slick, sexy, groove, erupting into that big old chorus before sliding into one of those effortless, Princely solos that fans know and love. The MPLS legend doesn’t necessarily transform the song, just takes in a direction that only Prince would. Prince—who is rumored to compose at least one song a day—certainly doesn’t need to cover anybody else, but this one is a pleasant surprise.
[h/t Consequence Of Sound]