Music Blog

Prince Charming

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

This week’s challenge at Song Lyric Sunday
is all about nursery rhymes and fairy tales
suggested by Di at pensitivity101.
Let’s go, kids! Pull up a chair.

© Ghost of the Doll

This week at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday, the theme is Heroes and Villains, Magic and Violence, Revenge and Redemption. The challenge is to write about a song based on a nursery rhyme or fairy tale as suggested by our friend Di at pensitivity101. This is going to be fun!

Stuart Leslie Goddard was born on November 3, 1954; he is better know as Adam Ant … a name he gave himself in the mid-70s after suffering serious bouts of depression. Ant is bipolar and the name is an embodiment of the word “adamant”. He is an English musician who rose to fame with his band, Adam and the Ants in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The group blended post-punk, New Wave, and pop with a unique visual style. Adam Ant achieved significant success with the hits “Antmusic” and the #1 album Kings of the Wild Frontier before launching a successful solo career in the 1980s with hits such as “Goody Two Shoes”. Known for his distinctive, changing “highwayman” and “pirate” personas, Ant also branched into acting and has continued to tour and release new music.

In 1981, Adam Ant wrote “Prince Charming” for the album of the same name with his guitarist, Marco Pirroni, who Ant credits with giving his music a commercial appeal. The group’s previous single, “Stand and Deliver”, was a #1 UK hit and when “Prince Charming” followed it to the top of the charts, Adam and the Ants were the hottest act in England. Their tribal sound, based on the Burundi beats from Africa, was the basis for what they called Antmusic for Sexpeople”. Legions of fans related to the warrior mentality, joining forces to rebel against authority and conformity. The song was a rallying cry, letting the youth of England know that “ridicule is nothing to be scared of.” The message of the song is Prince Charming doesn’t have to be a tall, handsome fellow in royal garb.

Adam and the Ants had little success in the US until MTV picked up steam in the early ‘80s. Much of their fame was a result of their charismatic videos around Europe, and the “Prince Charming” clip was wildly popular. The designs were inspired by the French Revolution, and Adam Ant’s look was based on a French dandy of that era, strutting for attention among the masses. Ant was a student of graphic art and felt that visuals were a huge part of his presentation. He came up with this theme after researching historic fashions in a London library.

I had such a crush on Adam Ant at that time. He looked fabulous wearing his high leather boots, I had to get a pair for myself!

The “Prince Charming” video uses a Cinderella theme with Adam Ant getting a visit from a fairy godmother so he can attend a royal ball. The fairy in the video was played by Diana Dors who was a British starlet popular in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Ant made a personal appeal to Dors who, in accepting his offer, became the first film star to appear in a music video.

Adam Ant said about the inspiration for this song: “I was very interested in going back. I’d been reading the early Brothers Grimm fairytales which had always fascinated me. ‘Prince Charming’ is based on Beau Brummel, the British dandy leader of fashion in the 18ty century. That and the French Revolution when fashion for men was just exceedingly outrageous and everything was exaggerated which was something I could relate to.”

This is “Prince Charming” by Adam and the Ants


LYRICS

Don′t you ever, don’t you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you′re handsome
Don’t you ever, don’t you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you′re handsome

Prince Charming, Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of
Don′t you ever, don’t you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you′re handsome

Don’t you ever, don′t you ever
Lower yourself, forgetting all your standards
Don’t you ever, don′t you ever
Lower yourself, forgetting all your standards

Prince Charming, Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of
Don’t you ever, don’t you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you′re handsome

Silk or leather or a feather
Respect yourself and all of those around you
Silk or leather or a feather
Respect yourself and all of those around you

Prince Charming, Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of
Don′t you ever, don’t you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you′re handsome

Don’t you ever, don’t you ever,
Lower yourself, forgetting all your standards
Don’t you ever, don’t you ever,
Lower yourself, forgetting all your standards

Prince Charming, Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of
Prince Charming, Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of……..

Writer(s): Adam Ant, Marco Pirroni

Heroes and Villains, Magic and Violence, Revenge and Redemption

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday every week and to Di at pensitivity101 for recommending this week’s theme. Be sure to follow the links and check out Jim and Di’s sites.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some tunes.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.










69 thoughts on “Prince Charming”

  4. Thank you for this share, DJ Nancy! Yay! Adam Ant was my first concert when I was in middle school. INXS opened for them, and they performed at an outdoor amphitheater in my hometown. I got in so much trouble for going with my friend, but it was worth it! 🙌🏻 I actually wrote a post about this years ago. 😂 I love that you got a pair of boots for yourself. 👢🤩🎶

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    1. Wow! You’re the first person I know who has seen Adam Ant in concert and I’m so in awe of you at this moment! The fact that you went without permission makes it even better. What an outrageous event that must have been. 🤩 I’ve always been a bit of a fashionista and had an impressive shoe & boot collection. These were by far my favorites, worn over my jeans in every season except summer. Those boots served me well. 👢😎

      Thanks very much, Michele. Great comment. 😁

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      1. You’re very welcome and thank you for appreciating. I sure did!🕺🏻😍👏 I snuck out thru a window to go. 🤭 No way I was missing that show! 🤣 A few years later I saw INXS at a small club in Denver before they blew up. So close to Michael Hutchence yet so far. I did see him get on the bus. 🤩 Sad ending with that one…

        Boots are the best!! 👢 Sounds like you had a beautiful pair- I’m sure you looked smashing! 🔥

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      1. Talking about pulling down the shades…Last night my husband was listening to a podcast about AI issued music, or music from an AI bot that someone made. I don’t really understand it all but the songs were foul and atrocious! I mean the sexual content and the way it was sung was disgusting. He found it funny but I was repulsed. Guys……😵‍💫

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        1. Yikes! Totally unnecessary! We love all music but draw the line at that garbage. Freedom of Speech be damned when it comes to this trash. We have 4 grandkids, 3 old enough to know what’s filth and what’s not but the youngest can’t be hearing this awful stuff so we need to be careful with her. Honestly, as much as I can’t stand it, my husband hates it more. He has to be in a rage to bad mouth and that hardly ever happens.

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            1. Well we all went through that period of raging hormones when anything even remotely sexual was exciting. What teens see on these videos isn’t “average” sexual activity. Unfortunately horny kids don’t know that. It’s sad for them to think this is “normal” and, in my opinion, makes true and beautiful sex look boring and ordinary. Crazy sex has it’s place; it’s just not sustainable 7 days a week … at least not for me! LOL!

              Sorry, I don’t know your first name.

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  7. I thought I had heard every Adam Ant song. I was a huge fan. But I guess I only saw the commercial AirPlay on MTV. I love this song … the beat of it. And easy to sing along to. Happy Sunday, Nancy, great choice.

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    1. Diana Dors was a brilliant choice. I was just commenting about her with Di. I was very happy to feature the beautiful (inside & out) Adam And and delighted to know my fellow Soulship Sisters adore him as much as I do! Thanks, Sis!

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  11. A fantastic amount of info, Nancy, … and some I had no idea about, … I’ve seen his videos and really enjoyed the music, Prince Charming in particular … what is it about men plus makeup (and sometimes ) tight fitting costumes that looks so appealing?, …(thinking about a young boy George., and David Bowie, and of course JD….hmmm, …sorry, getting off piste’) ….🎶off to ‘talk’ to Alexa!!! 🎶

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  15. I was an Adam Ant Fan too, they were very big down here in Aussieland, Nancy … mean while down here in Aussieland, Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue’s classic song, “Where the Wild Roses Grow”, is basically a gothic fairy tale …

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    1. That’s a fair analogy, Jim. Adam Ant was a refreshing change from the all the wonderful but interchangeable hair nation groups. He was campy and sexy and great fun, almost more like David Lee Roth than Billy Idol whose music had a certain edgy gravitas to it. Billy Idol is definitely theatrical with a certain amount of sex appeal but I much prefer satin sheets to whips and handcuffs. Thanks!

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  18. First of all, I never made the connection between his chosen name and the word Adamant. And second- I had no idea he was such a sex symbol! To me he was always lumped in the same category as Billy Idol for some reason- which I would describe as alter ego type showmanship? Excellent choice, and since I had never heard the song or seen the video- thanks for the intro.

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    1. Adam Ant compared his name to the word “adamant” as a deliberate and witty play on words. His stage name allowed him to communicate a deeper meaning. He saw himself as a pioneer, restarting his musical career with a new identity. He chose “ant” because of the insect’s reputation for being able to survive extreme conditions, such as a nuclear explosion. Adam Ant presented himself as resilient and unbreakable when in reality he suffered from severe bouts of depression and was bi-polar. By the time this video came out, I was already 30 years old …. no innocent school girl (but I never was). And I definitely bought those boots and put them to good use. Thanks, Jodi. Happy to share Adam Ant with you.

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    1. Damn right I did! However, if you read the comment left by Brazannemuse, you’ll see guys also were influenced by Adam Ant. In this song in particular, he’s giving a message to young people not to be bullied into changing the way they look or act which was exactly what the teens of 1981 needed to hear. It became their battlecry. In his videos, Adam Ant was a sexy swashbuckling romantic along the lines of Errol Flynn and Rudolph Valentino. His ‘dandy highwayman’ persona inspired Jack Sparrow. I enjoyed him tremendously and still do. Unlike your ex, I never bought any of Adam’s records; I was content to watch him cavorting on the big screen.

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    1. Thanks, Lisa. I often take the road less traveled and was quite surprised (but pleased) to see Ange featured the same song. There were others I could have easily gone with but I had a feeling Adam Ant would turn out to be someone new and interesting to the WP community. I’m pleased to know you enjoyed my piece. Thank you

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  21. I am loving this morning, glad to hear this again! I also had a massive crush, I said same to Ange, but I went out for a short time with a guy at school who dressed up and danced in this guise, brought me out of myself into a freedom I found from dressing up and acting (I had forgotten this) but I didn’t know about “adamant” how obvious now, and so enjoyed this post – thank you 💞

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    1. You’re a very lucky woman, Suzanne, to have lived the Adam Ant experience! I was already a woman of 30 with two toddlers when this song came out. What a brilliant breath of fresh air edged with derring do sex appeal. And when I say I bought his high leather boots, that’s no lie! I’m so pleased to know Ange and I helped make this a happy day for you! Thanks for the enthusiastic comment.

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    1. When I told my husband I had chosen this song, his reaction was that no one else would go this route. I thought he was right but I’m pleased to see he wasn’t. I am uplifted to know you feel the same way about Adam Ant and this song! Thanks for jumping on the Adam Ant bandwagon, Ange! You’ve made my day.

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