“Prodigal Blues” by Billy Idol

"Prodigal Blues" closed out the singles run from Charmed Life, Billy Idol's fourth studio album, arriving as its third and last single in December 1990. Idol wrote it alone, and it finds him looking backward and forward at once: he told Sounds that year the song was his father speaking to him and him speaking to his own son, Willem, a lesson about having to leave the safety of what you love to find out who you are, without wrecking yourself along the way.

Keith Forsey produced and arranged it with Idol, who plays acoustic guitar alongside Mark Younger-Smith's guitar, Phil Soussan's bass and Arthur Barrow's keyboards, with Mike Baird and Forsey on drums. Alex Brown, Bunny Hull and Stephanie Spruill sing backup, and Tommy Vicari mixed.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.