1999 by A. Van Jordan

1999

by A. Van Jordan

Prince tour, Public Hall, November 21, 1982

By the time I got here, the album            

was already history. 1999 dropped in 1982, 

when I worried about what I’d do with my life

after high school, and as I fretted over 
            

how my hair looked on mornings 


before I left for school; though, sadly,

my worries were not in that order. 
            

But when I faced the end of the century, 


I realized I knew little more then than I did when I sang

along with Prince at the Coliseum in Cleveland.
            

On that night, I didn’t know a concert could be history. 


Me, just living in a moment of not recalling any moment

before this one, which must be what joy
            

was, but what did I know? No one understood 


what a new century would look like,

and I didn’t gather that I’d lose loved
            

ones, soon after the pages of the calendar tore away.


Back then, I didn’t understand what I’d be

if Prince had not been. Now, years later, 
            

“life is just a party, and parties weren’t meant to last.”


His lyrics weigh on me, as I grow older and ill,

and years later I’ll barely remember this moment 
            

of simply remembering, just another day called today.


But this time, even now, I know more:

I know, for instance, even as I hum a tune 
            

and bring forth memories of that night, 


I’ve already become a point in history

before I even finish this song.

This poem can be found here, on the Academy of American Poets site. It was first published on its Poem-a-Day site on February 2, 2026.

I had just led an informal discussion with a high school poetry club and was in my car, on line at a fast food drive-thru, waiting for my drink for the drive home. It was April 21, 2016. I thought for sure I must have misheard when the news came on the radio that Prince had died. Some people seem immortal. Plus, I was still trying to wrap my brain around the death of Natalie Cole, who had died on December 31, 2015. Of course, when we are not close to people, when we are unaware of their health issues, their illnesses and diseases, their struggles with addictions, their risky behavior, their sketchy neighborhood, even the dangerous intersection they go through everyday to work, everyone who dies young is a shock. To those of us in the distance, that person was so full of life, so here in our world. Even after we find out the cause of death, it often does not make sense. Like I said, some people seem immortal.

On a happier note, we have poems like this (and other art) that do keep people immortal, besides, of course, their own work. "I Wanna Be Your Lover" was Prince's first Top Ten hit (1979). "1999" hit number 12 on the Billboard chart, and--after his death--charted again. (It is difficult for me to think of him in 1982, only having had a couple of hits. The following year, "Little Red Corvette" would chart higher. After that, it would be easier to list what songs and albums of Prince's bombed in the 1980s--the answer is none.)

So this poem . . . (sorry for all the non-poem musings!).

First, I love poems that use pop culture to make larger points, as this one does. The speaker reminisces about a Prince concert, and uses that moment to reflect on the nature of time.

He starts by placing himself, not just at the concert, but in high school, and admits to the foolish things he worried about as a teen. We all understand that!

We then jump ahead to 1999--the year, not the song--as the speaker compares what he knew in the two time periods: "I knew little more" he says in the third stanza. He continues to chastize himself for "just living in the moment" although he admits that is the definition of joy. Internal arguments like this can make for great poems!

The poem gets more serious in the 6th tercet--the speaker mentions the loss of loved ones. And he quotes from "1999":

life is just a party and parties aren't meant to last

The speaker tells us these lyrics, which are very profound for a pop song, mean more to him as he ages and struggles with illness. He acknoweledges that this day, this moment of remembering that concert in 1982, and then 1999, the year, will eventually become just another day with its forgotten moments. Even humming "1999" will just become aome vague "point in history."

I love the movement in this poem, how it takes the reader from "Oh, cool, a poem about Prince!" to a meditation on the passage of time in our lives, our understanding of the important moments in our lives, and our understanding--or lack thereof--of ourselves. This is such a moving poem that not only uses pop culture, but would not be as profound without it. This coincides with what the speaker says in stanzas 6-7: "I didn't understand what I'd be/if Prince had not been."