When Prince & the Revolution released “Around the World in a Day” as the opening title track of their 1985 album, they invited listeners into a sonic landscape that transcended the evolving Minneapolis sound of Prince’s earlier work. This presentation examines this pivotal moment in Prince’s artistry, where his thematic focus expanded from earlier personal, romantic, and political themes to embrace spiritual exploration and global consciousness while maintaining a powerful countercultural stance.

Focusing on the title track as a gateway to the album’s world, I explore how Prince interwove traditional African cosmological concepts—particularly the fluidity between material and spiritual realms—creating a musical experience that functioned simultaneously as artistic expression and resistance. “Around the World in a Day” marks a critical turning point that introduced spiritual pilgrimage themes that would become hallmarks of Prince’s later catalog.

Jonathan H. Harwell is Associate Director for Collection & Resource Services at Georgia College & State University’s Russell Library, and was previously a librarian at Rollins College, Georgia Southern University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Berry College. He holds an MLIS from The University of Alabama, an MA in Social Science from Georgia Southern University, and a BA in English from the University of Southern Mississippi; and is currently working on an EdD in Educational Leadership from Georgia Southern University. In his former life, he was a teacher in Albania for two years. His passions include researching the cultural history of Quakers in the American South. He is co-editor of Theology and Prince (2020) and Theology and Protest Music (2023) from Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, and a DJ on WGUR-FM in Milledgeville, Georgia.