X/Z Song Trader: "Starfish And Coffee"
A Gen X Rocker Discusses Music With His Gen Z Daughter
About X/Z Song Trader: Steve is a music journalist, author and musician. Lucy is a diehard music fan and college student. They have always enjoyed a father/daughter bond over music. Each week one of them picks a song and they both share their perspectives. These are casual conversations based on musical connections. Opinions are their own. Keeping it positive.
Check out the whole X/Z Song Trader series.
Steve’s Perspective
My high school bandmates and I went crazy for Minneapolis music in the late ‘80s.
The big bands for us were The Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Hüsker Dü. That trio of acts entered our awareness with their early punk albums, but we happily followed along as their distinct sounds evolved to help lay the groundwork for ‘90s alt rock.
Prince and The Revolution were also from Minneapolis, although we didn’t think of that group as connected to the other three. We grew up with the 1984 album/film Purple Rain—like almost everybody else our age—and we fell hard for his 1986 psych/funk/soul album Parade, soundtrack to the film Under The Cherry Moon.
We flipped our wigs for Prince’s 1987 solo debut Sign o’ The Times.
A magnum opus on par with the work of other musical geniuses such as Brian Wilson and Stevie Wonder, at least to our ears, this expansive double album pushed in multiple stylistic directions all at once while somehow holding together as a cohesive masterpiece. I was instantly drawn to tracks such as “Housequake,” “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man,” and “The Cross.”
My absolute favorite Sign o’ The Times track has always been “Starfish and Coffee.” You probably already knew this because I put it on almost every playlist I created for you and your various elementary school fundraiser events over the years (the name “Lucy” does appear in the lyrics, after all…).
From the opening old school alarm clock and piano to the off-kilter percussion and backward drum loop, I’ve always loved the dreamy, Beatles-y (“the mates?”) feel of the music, as well as the fantastic lyrics and outlandish storyline:
Cynthia wore the prettiest dress
With different color socks
Sometimes I wondered if the mates were in her lunchbox
Me and Lucy opened it when Cynthia wasn't around
Lucy cried, I almost died, you know what we found?
I didn’t realize at the time that the song was based on a true story shared with Prince by co-writer Susannah Melvoin.
“Cynthia would also reveal what she had for breakfast. Consistently it was STARFISH AND PEE PEE. I never understood the combo meal. Furthermore, as a consequence nobody else could. Here it seemed like the deal breaker for most kids. Above all, the kids in our class had no interest in how Cynthia came to get her morning breakfast. I considered it tender and funny, and listened to her tell me anything she wanted to say whether it was firmly planted on earth, or from her planet of tender hearted people who love numbers and draw smiley faces,” Melvoin writes on her merch website.
Prince took many of the specific details from Melvoin’s memories, turning them into a truly timeless track (wisely swapping “pee pee” for “coffee”). Discovering Melvoin’s website and dedicated “Starfish And Coffee” merch made me realize I wasn’t alone in my love for this song. I’m not sure I could pull off a purple “Starfish & Coffee, Maple Syrup & Jam” T-shirt at this point in life, but I might give it a try anyway!
Beyond my own teens, I definitely associate this song with your elementary school years. I wonder if you feel the same? And whether or not you even like this track.
Lucy’s Perspective
This song holds such specific memories for me.
Listening to it transports me back to the “June Jubilee” school fundraisers, running around the park with snow cones and face paint on. Not only because it often served as the background noise in those memories, but also because of the youthful reminders tied into each and every lyric. Like you pointed out, it does have my name in it, which only adds to the overwhelming nostalgia.
Prince paints a magical picture for his listeners, lined with bright oranges and purples, and emphasized by sweet flavors like butterscotch, tangerine, and jam. There is something about the lyrics to this song that can only be described as silly. Moving from starfish to coffee to ham and back again while the melody moves in rhythm with the lyrics, bouncing up and down and all around creating a mystical experience.
One of my favorite things about Prince’s music is how unique it is.
Typically, in these conversations I try to think of one or two songs that I listen to more regularly to compare and contrast to the song we’re discussing, but in this case I’m coming up blank.
Not because there aren’t songs out there that, like this one, represent nostalgia and true fun, but because they don’t feel comparable to how this song makes me feel. Prince’s most famous songs, such as “Raspberry Beret” and “Kiss,” still make it into my rotation when I am looking for something fun and seemingly lighthearted.
One of the “Starfish and Coffee” lines that I find most impactful is when he sings, “If you set your mind free baby, maybe you’d understand.” It’s a simple phrase that holds some of the greatest significance. The act of telling the listeners that in order to feel the magic of starfish, coffee, maple syrup, and jam (…and ham), the only important step is opening your mind and allowing yourself to experience everything.
It’s fascinating and only builds on the silly, youthful nature of this track.
Although I haven’t kept up much with this track over the years, I was excited to see it pop up in this round of X/Z Song Trader.
It not only reminds me of a very positive time in my life, but also of you and your excitement to share music with me from a young age. Plus, it’s always exciting to hear a song with my name in it.
I think this will definitely make it back into my rotation now, maybe even with new memories attached to it!
Great stuff. I loved this record when it first came out — although my signature track was “U Got the Look” (and the video cemented my teenage crush on Sheena Easton).
Love this. Prince was the one celebrity death that hit me hard because he figured so heavily into my musical development. Starfish is such a great song and there are layers to it I think. On the surface it's simple, almost like a nursery rhyme that could be nonsense, but the idea that unusual people are going to be the ones that tell us what's on the other side of the coin we don't always see is a really great message. Reading into it (probably too much lol,)I always thought the Cynthia character was a stand in for Prince himself.