(It took me several weeks to write this. First, because I couldn't get the words out. Then, I wanted to document every moment of Prince. But time became so useless when it came to him. All the memories merged into one good feeling. I couldn't cover everything, but I tried my very best to get to the meat. This post is super long, but it's all for him. Prince, you see, is my favorite artist. Even before my beloved Beyonce. There are many moments I have missed, and I'm mad about those, but I had to cut this at some point to share my feelings. I think three weeks is enough.)
My day started out as most do these days--wake up, prep the room for Imani, maybe have a shower/coffee/piece of candy from the jar by the front door. It rained Thursday (April 21st). A steady rain with gloomy skies. A steady rain that seemed to make all the purple and lavender flowers in our yard stand bright and tall. A steady rain that seemed different, but sounded like typical rain--pitter patter. Maybe it was a little heavy. Maybe the Earth didn't quite seem like herself. I wasn't really thinking of the rain. I was building a new chair for Imani that I'd ordered a week ago. She was asleep, I had the TV on ESPN. My mind was trying to get the pink chair together.
Prior to that, I'd read a headline about ambulances at Paisley Park in a Prince group I belong to on Facebook. I didn't think a lot of it. I knew Prince had been ill, had been battling the Flu. I knew he had to stop in Moline because of an emergency. In my mind, I figured this was a precautionary measure. Maybe he'd worked too hard and needed to sit down. Maybe he needed some oxygen. So, again, I'm on the floor with chair parts. I'm listening to some snooty journalist warble about Tiger Woods. I'm thinking to myself that Prince will be fine, and the music will live on. I'm thinking that my hero will always have time, and we'll be seeing him soon.
So when I complete the chair, my phone vibrates. I ignore it. I get texts and messages all day. I can't pay attention to every single one, because I've got a baby to watch and stuff to do. I sit down at my desk, and suddenly the words start popping up. The mentions from friends. My timeline explodes and #3 on my list of things that will crush me is staring back at me--Prince Rogers Nelson, my musical idol, is dead.
Okay, yeah right. What funked up viral hoax is this? Who's bored today, trying to kill off the greatest entertainer and composer of the modern-day world? THIS. CANNOT. BE. TRUE.
But it is.
In my head, this is far too soon. In my head, this can't be correct. This is a new dimension, and I've been sucked into a world without Prince. I'm dreaming super hard, and everything is a concentrated copy of the reality I experience every waking moment. Prince cannot be dead.
But he is.
Rushing out of the room to call my dad, hands shaking, tears pouring, I have to face the facts. I don't want to, but there they are all over my timeline, confirmed by Chanhassen,MN authorities. He's really gone, and the shockwave of mourning is instant. Mine was anticipated. My dad assures me that all will be well, and that even our heroes are mortal beings destined to enter and depart. I realize this, but I cannot accept it. Isn't he still supposed to be here, well into his 70s? Isn't he supposed to be here to finally open the vault? Isn't he supposed to still be making music with his glorious afro and kaleidoscope stage setup?
My day started out as most do these days--wake up, prep the room for Imani, maybe have a shower/coffee/piece of candy from the jar by the front door. It rained Thursday (April 21st). A steady rain with gloomy skies. A steady rain that seemed to make all the purple and lavender flowers in our yard stand bright and tall. A steady rain that seemed different, but sounded like typical rain--pitter patter. Maybe it was a little heavy. Maybe the Earth didn't quite seem like herself. I wasn't really thinking of the rain. I was building a new chair for Imani that I'd ordered a week ago. She was asleep, I had the TV on ESPN. My mind was trying to get the pink chair together.
Prior to that, I'd read a headline about ambulances at Paisley Park in a Prince group I belong to on Facebook. I didn't think a lot of it. I knew Prince had been ill, had been battling the Flu. I knew he had to stop in Moline because of an emergency. In my mind, I figured this was a precautionary measure. Maybe he'd worked too hard and needed to sit down. Maybe he needed some oxygen. So, again, I'm on the floor with chair parts. I'm listening to some snooty journalist warble about Tiger Woods. I'm thinking to myself that Prince will be fine, and the music will live on. I'm thinking that my hero will always have time, and we'll be seeing him soon.
So when I complete the chair, my phone vibrates. I ignore it. I get texts and messages all day. I can't pay attention to every single one, because I've got a baby to watch and stuff to do. I sit down at my desk, and suddenly the words start popping up. The mentions from friends. My timeline explodes and #3 on my list of things that will crush me is staring back at me--Prince Rogers Nelson, my musical idol, is dead.
Okay, yeah right. What funked up viral hoax is this? Who's bored today, trying to kill off the greatest entertainer and composer of the modern-day world? THIS. CANNOT. BE. TRUE.
But it is.
In my head, this is far too soon. In my head, this can't be correct. This is a new dimension, and I've been sucked into a world without Prince. I'm dreaming super hard, and everything is a concentrated copy of the reality I experience every waking moment. Prince cannot be dead.
But he is.
Rushing out of the room to call my dad, hands shaking, tears pouring, I have to face the facts. I don't want to, but there they are all over my timeline, confirmed by Chanhassen,MN authorities. He's really gone, and the shockwave of mourning is instant. Mine was anticipated. My dad assures me that all will be well, and that even our heroes are mortal beings destined to enter and depart. I realize this, but I cannot accept it. Isn't he still supposed to be here, well into his 70s? Isn't he supposed to be here to finally open the vault? Isn't he supposed to still be making music with his glorious afro and kaleidoscope stage setup?
"Talent such as his doesn't stay in one place.
Once the purpose is satisfied, it goes somewhere else."--My Dad
Words of metaphysical wisdom. I know nothing lasts forever. I know people die. I know that time isn't sitting in a chair with coffee, waiting for us to get it together. I realize all of these things, but still could not accept Prince died. There was something about him that made me feel like he'd be here for another thirty years. I quietly sang some of his more appropriate songs to Imani. She fell right asleep in my lap, seeming to appreciate my off-key singing. Perhaps the sorrow and pain filtered my voice into something beautiful. Perhaps the tears rolling down my face fueled my ability to harmonize a lot better. I didn't want to fall apart completely while around her, so I decided to celebrate his life. I decided that even though I was sad, had crying spells here and there, and was pretty much feeling ripped out of my own body that I wasn't going to melt into a mess. I'd....still be a mess, but I'd find outlets for it.
Bet, VH1, and Tumblr came through. Pictures, gifs, videos, discussions. I can admit that I lost it a few times when I realized he wouldn't be around anymore to Tweet/'gram/LiveStream, but I was a lot more composed than that morning/afternoon. However, I don't know if this wound will ever heal. I don't feel like I can face the fact that he's gone, despite all the news coverage, conspiracies, and updates. I can't really face those facts, as people have vigils in the streets. I can't accept it, because it feels so wrong. It feels so un-natural NOT to have Prince alive and well in this moment.
I know a lot of people get testy and ask why fans act like they've known an artist all their lives. Or, why we get so weepy and sad like this was blood or something. How do I explain that Prince gave me hope when my ex ghosted me? How do I talk about how his music helped me get through boring chores and lonely woman feelings? How do I map out how he helped me feel good about being different (and sometimes a little lotta naughty. Ahem!) How can I explain to the cynics that his lyrics touched my soul and moved my body time after time?
It wasn't just his looks that turned me on. His talent is what reeled me in. His versatility kept me going. His style was something to marvel. HE was a true artist. He collabed with a lot of artists I love to this day, but as the dapper musical genius cheese he is--Prince stands alone. (The cheese stands alone, my friends.) Just as Stevie (Wonder), James (Brown), and Michael (Jackson) can stand on their own for their respective talents and abilities. Prince was one of a kind, and had a song for every mood possible. From the darkness of There is Lonely, to the happiness of Starfish & Coffee--there was a song for any mood you had in your emotional bank. He gave the world hundreds of songs, so there will never be a lack of material. Still--there's a lack of Prince.
Sure, we will have tributes. Sure, we can scrape the Internet for archives and stories. Someday, we might even get to partake of the mysterious vault full of nuggets of talent hidden from the world. But alas--Prince will not be in the audience. (Physically, anyway.) Prince will not be Tweeting/'Graming anymore. It will always be someone else from his estate. This was the heaviest part to deal with--we would be celebrating his legacy, not newness. There would be no more concerts, but plenty of discussions. Plenty of "was". "Was".
As celebrities paid their respects, locations became purple, and fans shed oceans of tears, I decided to take to the Internet to get my feelings out. It's hard to write this post, trying to compile the burning passion I have for his body of work. It's hard to face the media and get tagged over and over about reports and what they think he overdosed on. It's hard, but touching, to see all his videos on my TV screen. It's also hard to try and get used to any part of my beloved Purple Yoda ascending to heaven, and "having a concert in another dimension." I want to smile, I want to laugh. Although the tears have stopped (for the moment), the aching in my music-loving soul is ripping and scraping, and my heart bleeds and bleeds.
So, let me reflect on what I loved about Prince. Let me celebrate his life and open iTunes to groove to him. A strong spirit has broken the chains of life, and is now something greater than all of us. He is the wind, he is the cosmos. He is the purple in the sky, and the rainbow over Paisley Park. He is the flutter in my stomach when his power chord strikes my eardrum. He is the funk in my twist-out when I rock out to Uptown over and over. He is the mirth in Imani's smile when I sing his songs to her. More than anything else, he is a reminder that our lives on Earth are precious. We always say "time waits for no one", but do we live like it? Do we really believe it? Prince lived a million lives, and I was able to be there for about 30 years of it.
So...here goes.
I considered Prince to be glamorous and good and what he did. I wanted to meet him, kiss him (*blush!*), and dress like the pretty women in his videos.
When MTV couldn't supply the Purple funk, BET gave everything I ever needed. Two words--VIDEO. SOUL. For a Black child in the 90s, in Chicago, with access to Cable from 2PM to 8 Monday to Friday, BET was the Motherland for all things Soul and R&B. Obviously Prince was there with Anita, Stevie, and Luther. On top of seeing Gett Off and Cream, I was introduced to the infamous Kiss.
Cue the hormones. Cue the raging lust. Cue the confusion, because I was still a kid. I didn't know who was hotter--the woman in her panties, heels, and the veil w/the moves....or shirtless and taut Prince hitting a honey-thick falsetto about attitude, shoe sizes, and wanting that juicy kiss I'm sure any woman (or man, or agender person) would love to give up. I also got a taste of him during car rides with my dad. Letitgo--with it's funky riff and hip-hop tempo bumped from the speakers of my dad's car, and I had no idea. Yet there it is as clear as day in my memory, as we cruised down some Chicago street. There was always room for Prince on Chicago airwaves...
Prince was always cool to me. Always. He mentored Tevin Campbell, who gave us "Round and Round". He also gave us the SUPER DUPER campy Graffiti Bridge around the same time. Now, even though by the mid 90s I was into TLC (And their super cool cover of If Eye Was Ur Girlfriend), Brandy, and Boyz II Men, I still liked him. I didn't really gravitate toward the Hip-Hop scene at the time, but knew most of the popular songs and feuds and key folks. I was in my own little world, but I also had a father who was a fan. Enter...Purple Rain.
Most of our parents are Baby Boomers, and are therefore the root source of our musical tastes. I can admit that being raised by Boomers and a grandmother from the Greatest Generation. His copy of Purple Rain was a must for long car trips. He sang, I watched. He clapped his hands hard to Take Me With U. His passion blazed as he barked out When Doves Cry. He was the reason my interest sparked again.
This was my soundtrack to poorly drawn art I'd slapped together in MS Paint. It was my cleaning music to the abyss I occupied as my personal eccentric girl sanctuary. There's something about cleaning to Baby I'm a Star that makes vacuuming cool. Something supercool about organizing papers to Computer Blue. At that time, you couldn't keep me away from that album. I sang duets with Prince, I belted powerful lyrics that snapped to my brain quickly, and I just submerged myself in his music. It was so easy to do. It just felt good.
When I was sad, The Beautiful Ones lulled me to sleep with its slow New Wave tempo. By the end of the year, I was scrambling to find tapes to record his best guitar solos on songs whenever they made a rare appearance on the radio. When the advertisements for Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic came out, that was IT. This was my chance to own my very own CD. This was my chance to learn an album front to back, and annoy the ever-lovin' crap outta my nuclear family. In typical teen fashion, I did just that.
I rushed the TV and made smoochy-smoochy with the screen whenever the promos popped up. I screamed in high-pitched tones as the super groove Greatest Romance soothed my fangirl flames. I openly devoured Prince, and had the worst moves to Baby Knows and Undisputed that only my dearly departed Parakeets know about.
Rave was my favorite album at the time. The only one I technically owned, but now the sacred trio to run along with Greatest Hits and my father's copy of Purple Rain. Every Friday night, every Saturday morning--these three albums were a part of my musical rotation. This is, in fact, one of my favorite 90's albums. It was a period of transition for Prince, reflected in his music--divorce, coping, finding himself again. Also, this re-submergence into the music scene. I mean....he never really left, but it's more like people tend to only pay attention to him here and there. Or they'll remember him for 1999, Let's Go Crazy, and Purple Rain. I have always felt like (Despite The Vault being released in August of the same year), this album re-introduced him into the scene. Since I was already aware, it was simply a refresher in what he was all about.
My greatest surprise--So Far, So Pleased. My NEXT greatest surprise--Hot Wit U. Wait, hold on. Did he just sing a duet with Gwen Stefani? Did he just let Eve rap on his track? He even took Sheryl Crow's Everyday Is A Winding Road--one of my favorite songs, and turned it into this funky and hip jigglin' affair! Yes, that was super-impressive to a young Veronica Rochelle! These prominent artist that I've been watching for a little while are in collab and cover mode with a musical great that I've been admiring since childhood--and even Seventeen magazine says it's all good. What's there not to like? Then there was Prettyman. Talent meets ego meets Prince being Prince. Years before I was able to see Under The Cherry Moon, I guess you could say this was my introduction to his humor. "I wrote a check, and the bank bounced?" COME ON. Comedy gold brought to you by the letters P, R, and N.
Greatest Hits is an essential to any Prince collection. For a teenager just getting into her personal fandom with Prince, it was an introduction to his greatness. It was also the reason why my first stereo was constantly on 11. (Rest in peace, hearing.) Yet another CD "borrowed" from my dad, I can easily recall hours and hours of singing along to Uptown like I lived the life, and feeling all the lyrics of Pop Life like all 14 years of my life were so terribly difficult. I played this album at night, mostly. Went to bed every weekday with this in my CD Player. Every night, I'd wake up around 2 AM to hear Pink Cashmere playing. It would either be right before the gorgeous string solo, or right at the ending. It was comforting to sleep by Prince. 7 was already my jam, but it didn't stop me from playing it over...and over...and over... and over again. (Sorry fam!)
I wasn't really thinking about getting all his albums back then. I was satisfied with Rave, Purple Rain, and Greatest Hits. I sang the lyrics I could hear with all my heart. I had flashbacks to my childhood, recalling hearing bits and pieces of certain songs--and NOW had full access to complete them on my own time. Prince had indeed been there all my life. For the record Nothing Compares 2 U is only the best when Prince and Rosie sing it. Sinead can kick rocks!
In my Freshman music class, I decided I wanted to do my report on Prince. So when my teacher comes around to collect our info cards, she laughs as she sees my poorly drawn symbol for him on the card. Impressed? Maybe. I wrote a stilted little review warbling about his naughty past, straight from somebody's encyclopedia. I wrote--in pencil--about how he makes me feel as a person, and how great he has been thus far. I mean..she knows. Still, I felt like I was doing something different than writing about all the other artists I loved so much. Trust me when I say this--I loved a lot of different artists, and had/have a somewhat diverse listening catalog.
Granted I was a part of a lot of different scenes--Nu Metal, Alternative, 2kSoul, R&B, and maaaybe a few rappers here and there--Prince was always a part. Whenever I could see him on TV, it was a celebration. It was usually a time when my TV was turned up as loud as possible. Despite the fact that I was sort of gravitating toward people like Nikka Costa, Nelly Furtado, Gorillaz, and Linkin Park, Prince was still in my heart. I was still singing Tangerine like I knew what it meant to carry strong feelings for someone I'd been with. (Maybe I did? I had been rejected twice by two guys I had a crush on....) Point being--I was still excited to hear from him. I think he has been the one artist I have yet to grow away from. He's a musical staple!
2001-2002 was an awesome time for me, and probably the most memorable time for a young girl with a thing for Prince. I've heard him on the radio, one of my favorite artists (Alicia Keys) has covered a classic song of his (How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?) I've seen him on TV, but what about live? I figured it was something grown folks did. I knew he was in town for the One Nite Alone tour, but I wasn't expecting to go. I sure as crap wasn't expecting my benevolent father to get TICKETS to see Prince.
SURPRISE! I am 16 years into this thing called life, and my dad has snagged three tickets to his show. This is the moment all fans have been waiting for--a chance to see Prince, live. I shook my dad every single song. "OHMIGAWD DAD HE'S PLAYING..." like he'd never heard it before in his life, hahaha. My dad just smiled as his heavy-handed child shook him and acted a slight fool in the balcony row. I truly regret not taking pictures of myself that night. I was dressed to the funky nines with dark purple lipstick, a long purple scarf, biker boots, and a cool pair of flared jeans (shut up, we all wore them! O_o ). I put on my leather jacket, and thought I was so grown up riding to the Chicago Theater with my dad and his girlfriend.
Saturday, March 2, 2002.
I was introduced to grooves from Rainbow Children, lost my hearing to a super hardcore drum intro to When U Were Mine, and screamed my you-know-what off when he freakin' did a cover of Didn't Cha Know. (This was pre-Twitter days a few weeks ago when Erykah ran her mouth. I funked heavily with her prior to this noted moment...)
The entire concert is a blur. There were songs I knew, songs I did not know but absorbed them any dang way. And after it all ended, I came out with a tour book and a ticket stub. I got to say I saw the apple of my musical eye. Even though it was my one and only concert seeing him, it would not be the last time I got to connect with him. I was touched that my dad thought so much of me to spend SO MUCH money. I was happy that his girlfriend, our beloved Jeanette, got to go with us. There are memories that just stick with you all the days of your living life. One Nite Alone was one of them.
It was Jazz, R&B, a little Funk--all the things I already loved about Prince. Above all else, it had a message. Every song, to me, was this sophisticated intricacy of The Bible and commentary on Blackness in America. The Jazz-Funk of the title track oozed of Prince's diverse talent that I'd only been tasting here and there. I knew him as an R&B artist. A producer of Funk. Now, here he is giving me iced tea lounge vibes, and I'm barely 16! I wasn't ready for the gift! I took it, though. I absorbed it. Last December, this heavily Gospel-infused examination of life itself grabbed me the most:
"If ur Last December came
What would u do'
Would anybody remember
2 remember u'
Did u stand tall'
Or did u fall'
Did u give ur all'
Did u ever find a reason
Y u had 2 die'
Or did u just plan on leaving
Without wondering y"
The heat of the room, soothed by my white fan spinning overhead, the guy of my (young) dreams promising a meet-up, and She Loves Me For Me purring overhead from my speakers was all I needed that Summer. During the nights, I would load my stereo disc player with Sade, Prince, and Remy and farm all night long with Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Those were good times. Rainbow Children was THICK with Prince's talent and spirituality.
The BEST part about this time is that Prince is also online. I had a 56k connection at the time, which was slow as molasses, but not as painfully slow as the old school modems of the mid and late 90s. THOSE took thirty freaking minutes. Anyway, anyway. When I wasn't in the throes of e-passion, I was on Prince's website, NPG.com. I wanted to join the music club, but didn't have the scratch until much later when the price dropped to $25. However, I DID enjoy the full fruits of the interactive rooms. The luxurious office, the ultra cool music room/pool room, and the gorgeous entryway full of color, flowers, and his eyes. This was the place where I heard Elephants and Flowers for the very first time.
Free from the chains of high school, I...guess in the groove of college (I just remember it was warm.) and finally entering my young adult years. At this point, I don't consider myself a "seasoned" fan, but I DO consider myself a lover of his work. There are still years and years of albums and singles for me to absorb. But alas--MUSICOLOGY.
Yes, that requires obnoxious Internet yelling. This is one of my favorite albums. Although I loathed the paper CD cover (when it gets wet, it warrrrpsssssssss gawd it warps and it looks so weird now...), this was yet another album where the tracks were played over and over, and all the lyrics sung with all the power in the world. Let me just discuss this one. MY favorite songs, especially. This album is VERY important to me.
Yeah, it's kind of a "Prince made an album when I was an adult" kind of thing. You know, I'm this well-seasoned 19 year old playing Mozaki Blocks and listening to A Million Days and grooving with such conviction like I have somebody I love like that. When in all honesty, it was just the composition of the song. The drumbeat that sounds like a pounding heart, the flawless guitar, and the emotional lyrics--"I'd crawl on my belly and beg you, but you're so far away..."
I mean, the rest of the world had years ahead of me with the knowledge of Prince's ability to cultivate beautiful sadness about lost love. In 2004, I was still understanding it. STILL, it was this song and Call My Name which gave me personal understanding as to how much power and greatness resided in his lyrics. Call My Name ripped me wide open, okay? Musicology, the title track, had this super cool video (included on the CD. WHAAT.) that had me dancing with a broom in my room. Had me wishing I'd gone to those parties in the 60's that my dad used to tell me about. Musicology was LIT. "Don't you hear this ol' school joint? Don't you evah touch my stereo!"
Then, there was Cinnamon Girl. In a post-9/11 world where people STILL to this day profile Middle Eastern people, this song was very important and VERY introspective. "Cinnamon girl of mixed heritage, never knew the meaning of color lines. 9-11 turned that all around, when she got accused of this crime..." It speaks on the struggles of our Muslim, Sikh, and Islamic brothers and sisters who have NOTHING to do with terrorist crimes, but get profiled, assaulted, and sometimes KILLED because of their beliefs and appearance. It's a heart-wrenching song because it touches on everything going on in 2004: War in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War On Terror as a whole. I also just found it amazing how almost 12 years later, not much has changed with the profiling. I ended up with two copies of the song. One from Musicology, and one that's just a single with the video.
Dear Mr. Man. Any man, pick a man. Reagan, Bush Sr. , Bush Jr. Pick a tycoon, pick a CEO of any company screwing up things for the middle-class. Now, this is another political song that's nothing new to the seasoned Prince fan, but I'M sitting there with my mouth agape and head bobbing to this straight up and direct musical protest! Keep in mind--This is before I'd heard Ronnie Talk to Russia. Before I took a good listen to America, Money Don't Matter 2Nite, or Sign 'O' The Times.
"Listen, ain't no sense in voting, same song with a different name
Might not be in the back of the bus but it sure feel just the same
Ain't nothing fair about welfare, ain't no assistance in aids
We ain't that affirmative about your actions till the people get paid"
Read more: Prince - Dear Mr. Man Lyrics | MetroLyrics
I was red-hot and heated with "Dubya", as a lot of people were at the time. The "values" he believed in didn't seem to benefit all the people. The policies he was behind (with all his cronies in seats of power pulling the strings...) seemed to cause the nation to take a huge nosedive. And well, I dunno--as a kid in high school, there was something about the way he handled 9/11 that never sat right with me. From going to war, to his "composure" during storytime with the kids. Alas--Dear Mr. Man wasn't just about presidents. Yet most of the lyrics at the time made me think of Dubya front and center.
I always wondered WHY this song never got as much airplay as Cinnamon Girl. Both were these bold political statements worthy of airplay. It wasn't until about last year that I actually heard a local station playing this song. I sat there in awe, wondering if the moment was even real. Moving on.
Reflection. I have to sit and pause with a smile for the title alone. Prince makes grooves that just stick to you. There's always one--if you listen to enough of his music--that sticks to your bones and your soul like a good home-cooked meal. For me, it's usually a romantic song. Reflection is the warmth of a Summer evening's wind kissing your face and legs as you sit on the stoop. It's the perfect darkness accompanied by an open window bringing in a breeze I can only describe as soothing blues and purples blended together, dancing like dim Northern Lights into thin air. Reflection, at three minutes and five seconds, reminds me of the very first good kiss I shared with this ultra fine dude I was with many moons ago.
It's a serenade. It's...some guy trying to rap to a girl he likes. It's a seasoned couple doing mundane stuff on a day off. It's all-around good feelings when things are just going RIGHT. It's very mellow. Not that I've had the chance to woo a beau with the song, or anything woo adjacent--but I'd like to think that at some point in my fractured lifetime, I'll be able to share it over a glass of wine and Chicago Mix Popcorn with somebody special. Maybe I'll get a mirror and put on some fancy lingerie? Har har.
Sometime later, I get the gift of 1999 from an online friend. For years, I've heard 1999 and know it like the back of my hand. It's a popular song. At the END of 1999, I heard it. At the START of 1999, and pretty much all frick-frackin' year, it was the theme song. However, there are other gems on this super-popular album that only solidify my love for Prince. DMSR, Free, Lady Cab Driver, Something In The Water..., Let's Pretend We're Married, and International Lover. For the record, do I HAVE to mention Little Red Corvette? I'd think by now that we'd all agree that's a given. It goes without obvious literary saying. It simply is, and we thank naught-master Prince for providing it.
Even as a young adult, I am just as campy, sad, and annoying with THIS album as I was with....well...any of them. MSN Messenger statuses full of confusing sadness and pointed lyric quotes aimed at crushes and depressions over a lack of a social life. Annoying Adult Swim Message Board signatures riddled with funky and defensive quotes from Something... that rival the most angsty emo or scene kid at the time. Honey, I had it bad and Prince had an album for all my little young adult feels.
Let's Pretend We're Married probably pissed off Tipper Gore something fierce. In the modern day and age I was living in, it was a Grinch-like grin that curled upon my face as I listened to naughty ol' 1982 Prince pre-Purple Rain talkin' about filthy, filthy relations of a certain variety. This isn't new. Soft and Wet anyone? Still, this is my first time hearing this song. So I listen over and over. I have a dirty dance for it in my head. I am internally reciting gender-neutral lyrics to a crush in my head. All the hippies sing together!
DMSR. Can I just make up a genre? OKAY. New Wave Funk. That's what it sounded like to me. That's what I loved about Prince--he tripped genres, but never dropped the initial soul of himself. He maintained his Blackness and wore it with pride in his music. So here we are, singing along about freedom and wearing lingerie to a restaurant, and I'm FEELIN this. This is post-Greatest Hits. I'm already here for Uptown, so DMSR is like it's funkier and cooler older sister who wears shiny raspberry gloss, and has the body for those shiny 80's teddies with the neon tights.
DMSR just sticks to me like freedom glue. Be wild, be free. Be young, have some sex or something. I dunno. Smoke a cigarette and rebel. Of COURSE this is right up my alley. I just graduated high school a while ago, and a part of my mousey self just wants to romp around Chicago and ac' a fool! (I really didn't, though. I had my moments....but....we became chill quickly.)
As usual, it's the tempo and the lyrics that have me.
"Loosen up your hair"?
"It ain't no sin to strip right down to your underwear"?
"Screw the masses"?
YES. WHERE DOES RONI SIGN UP? This song is a staple groove for all Prince lists ever. A must have, point blank period. Essential groove material for your butt. Then, there was Free. A slow, touching, political-esque song reminding us to be glad for all we have, versus those many who haven't anything at all. A good message. An interesting one. I considered this my "reminder song" as I proceeded to go through broken crushes, exes returning to cause high school level trouble, and the usual bummers of being a Roni. The softness of Prince's voice, the gentle piano, and the quiet rain at the beginning lulled me into a trance as the lyrics whirled around in my head. Where was his head when he was writing this? Composing? It has a bit of a Gospel feel to it. The theme of thankfulness and whatnot.
Something In The Water... became my passionate single girl tune. After the rise and fall of two super crappy, super embarrassing Internet whatsits, a lack friendly attention in school, and well....Friday nights spent at home with my PS2 and laptop, I was feeling pretty dang salty. There must be something in the water they all drank. I sang with tears in my eyes, I sang with the kind of broken-hearted passion best reserved for karaoke night. I heard it in my head and carried it on my first media player--a tiny Rio MP3 Player. (I had a silver flavor, and she was my baby!) I too was convinced that it was the same with every man I had. Was it really them, or was it sorta me as well? At the time, youthful Roni didn't know. She was still a baby, dig? The synth tones and electronic sound aided the hybrid of sadness-anger rolling within my soul.
International Lover is basically Prince being Prince, when our talented man is wooing a fine lady. I don't know just what kind of date we're talking about, here. "Date"--as in the sex worker kind, or "date"--as in let's go out, then let's go home and do the kinds of things adults do. In either case, the end result is satisfaction (maybe) for all. What I know is this--if I'M flying Prince Airlines, I'm here for a bumpy ride. Z-Formation snap, baby.
So there's this lonely woman, a sexy kind of mellow ballad vibe, and Prince crooning to the point where your undergarments remove themselves. You're already naked. Prince owns the panties. It's the kind of jam made for that grindy-type of slow dancing that the guidance counselor fought to prevent at prom. It's what we in the Black community refer to as "baby-makin' music". With synth sounds at the end that sound like eerie, feminine moans, International Lover is the theme for all one night frolics requiring trench coats and big glasses.
The...er..."flight captain's lines" are my favorite.
Lady Cab Driver just makes me laugh. Not in a mean way, but in a way that says "only Prince". Only Prince, sad from lost love, can find his loins temporary pleasure with a taxicab driver who's probably just trying to do her job and get some scratch for rent in the process. She wasn't expecting to hook up with Prince! She wasn't expecting a sad story, followed by thrusts and a squeaky bed dedicated to...well...everything from kissing in designer jeans to the beautiful complexity of women.
Keep in mind that Prince is a lyrical, metaphorical genius. So therefore, this "cab driver" might just be some random lady he kept in his little black book when the seas of romance get choppy. She might not even be an actual cab driver. In any case, the lucky dame who got to spend a night with Prince seemed to be in the kind of ecstasy his fans can only dream of.
Once I got my first paycheck, I decided to start collecting the firsts of his discography. HOW could I possibly call myself a fan if I'd only listened to his Greatest Hits? Sure, I listened over and over to the point of knowing the words. Sure, I'd lived a life where I heard some other songs in passing. But this was a time when I needed to know and love them all for myself. So, at a time when Border's still existed, and the Columbia Music House was foolish enough to let me get some CDs for a dollar each, I obtained For You, Dirty Mind, and Prince. I graduated from recording missing songs on the radio to having actual copies for my own personal listening and ripping-to-computer enjoyment.
(I also fell victim to the super messed up CD ROM virus that disabled your drive if you kept ripping music. But the blame lies with Windows Media Player? How is it a crime to rip music to your computer, if you didn't want to pull out a CD every time you wanted to listen to a track? I wasn't torrenting them. I wasn't even making mixes for anyone but myself. Anyway...)
Playing catch up with the rest of the world and going beyond the few CDs I had turned into this amazing musical trip. I compiled sensual CD mixes in my head, plotting to woo future lovers with sensual lyrics and a dark room. I slow danced with myself to When We're Dancing...., savoring Prince's whispers and getting hot and bothered by the lyrics. I channeled my inner rocker to Bambi, acting like I had the chops and talent to stand beside him and play guitar. With other tracks (It's Gonna Be Lonely, With You, I Feel For You) I felt an instant connection with the super cool and familiar 80's R&B/Soul sound of the time. With You gave me chills. It reminds me of the minty shampoo I used to use when I went natural, and how it tingled and refreshed me. It's essential chill time music.
Sexy Dancer made me feel like I had all the power and confidence in the world, dancing across my hardwood bedroom floor like I was owning somebody's disco. As "I want'cho body, want'cho body" boomed from my speakers, I was shaking pretty much everything I had, swinging a silk scarf in the air. I was feelin' myself as that piano riff started, gyrating like I was at Studio 54. Let's keep it real--my computer monitor and Final Fantasy 9 wall scrolls were watching me dance...LOL.
How can I explain these feelings that rolled, blossomed, and boiled inside of me as I listened to the early albums? Here was his rawness, his passion, his desire to show us his talent. His tracks had all the typical sounds of the late 70's/early 80's--drums, bass, guitar, finger cymbals, piano, and those chimey-whatsits--but the kicker was that he was behind all of them. HE produced. HE wrote the lyrics. His afro before and during the For You era was pretty slick, too. I wish I could get mine to poof like that. When he emerged with that feathered hair, was Farrah threatened? His was so perfect, so fly upon that white horse.
For You and Prince were on constant repeat for a minute. By this time, I'd evolved from my three CD changer to this adorable silver six CD thing that had the tendency to get stuck, but it played with a crystal sound. Who could complain? (Me, when the door wouldn't open anymore, and my frick frackin' Prince jams were STUCK IN THE FRICK FRACKIN' TRAY.) It goes without saying that I Wanna Be Your Lover is a jam. The extended jam was being able to listen to the rest of the song. With its funky synth and bass guitar, you bet my rhythm-less behind was wiggling all over the room. That's the one thing I can testify--Prince has made/collabed some body movin' grooves.
When the question "what's your favorite Prince song?" comes up, an overwhelming feeling washes over me. Just one? It's always one, always ten--yet I have entire albums and possibly entire CD sets full of songs and outtakes of his that I adore. Songs that help me work, songs that help me get through whatever it is I'm feeling that day. For You was a part of that "I like entire albums" group. All of the songs are my favorites. There are some that are favorites because they're just mellow grooves I can get with. They're songs--like Crazy You and My Love Is Forever that have lyrics and a tempo that remind me of the kind of love I've always wanted. They take me back to a time when I was with someone special to me, and the world was ours for a minute. Above all else--it was just plain good music.
I can admit that it took me a while to "get" Soft and Wet. As perverse as my mind already was, I'd never taken the time to read the lyrics well enough. I'd heard the song over and over, listening to Greatest Hits, but I'd never really heard it. Once I gave it a proper listen, I first wondered HOW my dad let me listen to that at age 13. I THEN wondered how I didn't realize what I was half-singing. Oh, the things we get away with when we listen to Prince.
Dirty Mind got me through the long rides from home to Downtown on the Red Line in Chicago. Got me through the droll hours as a bag girl at my local Jewel-Osco. The title track was this light-hearted ode to wanting to get busy that stuck in my head at odd hours of the day. When U Were Mine was an old friend, and I sang along like I knew the pain of an unfaithful lover whom I was still obsessed over. Uptown was also an old friend--an ode to the freedom of expression I felt so close to. My clothes? My hair? I didn't care, baby. Head--a song I'd only heard in passing was all mine. I kinda just sat there like....
just grinning and singing along with my young, nasty self. I love a good and grimy Prince jam. The nastier the better. Considering the fact that I grew up in the 90's when he uh...kinda had his fun for a good minute, it was no shock to have access to his erotic roots. Although I was looking to the past, I'd already heard "Break It Down" and saw his perfect little behind in that yellow lace suit thing on the MTV Music Awards. I'd heard Erotic City on the radio 600 times in passing. What was Head? Surely not a total jaw-dropper. I knew what Prince was all about. Then...then there was Sister. Wait what? Let me play that again. She did what to him? Where? Lawd. I just left that track alone.
Let us refer to this time period as "the age of discovery". Or, how about "Roni plays catch up". This is when I finally have access to the NPG Music Club, but don't really use it because I'm a yutz. I use it and think that it will always be there. I'm blissfully unaware that Prince creates websites, and often shuts them down. However, in this case, the NPG site address was under fire by some...science club or something. So all of a sudden, my time is up. I do not get to see more rooms, I do not get to buy any merch, and I foolishly never download songs or use the pre-emptive ticket sales to my advantage. The site closes. With nowhere to go, I decided to join this group known as the .org. YES, THAT place.
I marvel in the history, I absorb the knowledge of the seasoned fans, and I make a home as LadyLuuvSexy. It is also at this time that I've acquired quite a few digital copies of Prince's work. A discography, if you will. I find myself especially in musical like with LoveSexy. I've gone to Border's to purchase this one, and find that there's one sliiiiight problem--the tracks are all in one. One track. Different songs, beautiful transitions, but....one track.
I try my best to separate them, under the half-assed instructions of this guy I had a crush on. Keep in mind that I don't have any software to separate the tracks. I don't have any file conversion applications, either. I have a PC mic and my dad's PC. I have a lot of .WAV files until I find a copy with separated tracks. Yet for the time being, I take my little CD and listen to it religiously. I mute Kingdom Hearts and farm in Hollow Bastion for hours. I scour YouTube for GlamSlam and Eye Wish U Heaven, and watch the videos over and over before the Prince Police come and take each version down. I even devote Geocities pages to the cause.
On my first date/whatever it was with the "guy" I keep mentioning, I sing Eye Wish... to myself, excited to meet this new person. I feel a connection to this album, because it's this super Gospel-infused wonder of positive music, beautiful feelings, and the one track that feels as natural as the blood running through my veins--When 2R In Love. More heartbeat tempos, more body-swaying melodies, and lots of sex. Romantic sex? Intimacy of the flawless variety?
(How does one deny the chance to bathe with Prince and cover themselves in perfume and lotion?!)
LoveSexy is an "on repeat" kind of jam session album. It's also a good album whether you want to heal with loneliness--Anna Stesia:
"Have U ever been so lonely
That U felt like U were the
Only one in this world'
Have U ever wanted 2 play
With someone so much U'd take
Any one boy or girl"
or just find a higher state of being--Positivity:
"In every man's life there will be a hang-up
A whirlwind designed 2 slow U down
It cuts like a knife and tries 2 get in U
This Spooky Electric sound
Give up if U want 2 and all is lost
Spooky Electric will be your boss"
I also have a Gaia Online account dedicated to my favorite song from LoveSexy: LadyGlamSlam. She is always decked out in purple. She used what she had--at that time--to show she loved Prince. It wasn't until much later that she would be able to actually WEAR stuff he wore (The purple jacket!) and played (Purple Symbol guitar!).
Anyway...
I throw myself deep into the album, using Prince's flawless form sitting on a flower bed of purple flowers as my desktop theme, my cell wallpaper, and the theme for living a good life. It was a pretty decent time in my life, full of suggestions, lists, and songs to listen to. Around this same time, a few more albums came to be--3121, Planet Earth, and Lotusflow3r. Not only was there new music, but new shows, websites, and new merchandise to purchase. There were the new proteges--Tamar and Bria Valente, and my funky favorites: Chelsea Rodgers, Guitar, and 3121. Prince not only put his FOOT into each song, but he worked that guitar magic all over again.
Prince was also on Myspace, which was a huge thrill for this young Millennial at that particular time. As I'm listening to some of his older stuff, I take a break and indulge in this newness that is 3121. This album is a JAM. We get this smooth cut by the name of Te Amo, Corazon that oozes with the smoke and sensuality we've come to associate with Prince. Then, Black Sweat. Baby. Here I come, about to break my entire hip trying to come up with some funky moves to Black Sweat. Here I come, about to lose it because Prince has once again brought the funk, and it stank sooo gewwwd baby. He was in rare form, with pure soul oozing from the track.
3121 was also this super-spiritual trip that I could dig. Even as a Buddhist now (I was a Christian then), I can appreciate the way he was able to bring spirituality into tracks like Beautiful, Loved, and Blessed, Love, and Get On The Boat. GOTB is SO heavily Gospel-inspired that I'm shocked no church has tried to cover it yet. BLB is this positive affirmation of a person (or deity of choice) helping this woman grow "from clay" into this happy and redeemed beautiful human being. I even wrote a long-gone poem about it for a church function years ago.
Love is my favorite song from 3121.
"Like a bird flyin' over the hilltops
Love is like the sky, U know it never stops
From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
Love is whatever... whatever... U want it 2 b"
We all have these visions and ideas of what love is. Love...love simply is. One man's definition of the word could be different for another. I'm so appreciative of the song because it speaks of how love cannot be restricted by book definition or rules. Love is as free as a bird flying in the sky. Love is sans-score, sans-worries. For an aspiring writer, it's a gold mine of thoughts about the subject many have tried to define. I think it gave me hope even after my endless string of dying relations. There's more than one way to love, and there's so many different kinds of love.
It took me forever to get some of his 3121 Perfume, but I jumped on the chance to found/back up his Lotusflow3r site. I got a cool shirt for my efforts. I also had the chance to access his latest digital opus. It was an interactive site with all kinds of stuff to strum and touch on three islands of music, representing the 3 CDs Elixer, Lotusflow3r, and MPLSound. I have to be honest--I was a lot more partial to Elixer than the other two albums. Although a lot of fans take issue with Bria Valente, I liked her voice. I was fond of Crimson and Clover, and sorta liked Chocolate Box from Lotusflow3r....but I really didn't give the other two albums the listen they deserved. During the 'flow3r era, I think the graphics and the hype of the website full of his music videos had me more hyped than anything else.
Yes, I was one of the backers for the website, and eventually got super cool shirt for the effort. Official merch, and second after the ticket and my One Nite Alone book. Since I didn't have much merch at the time, I leapt at the opportunity to spend $77 bucks to not only back Prince up, but to get such a nice memento in the process.
Planet Earth, another paper CD case (you know this drives me crazy.)-- but it was full of music that was EVERYTHING to me. This is the one thing I like about Prince--a lot of his singles are these lit selections that let you know the album is gonna have something good for you. A lot of these singles are either so funky, so addictive, or so soulful that you simply cannot help yourself. Enter--Chelsea Rodgers.
At the time, I'm thinking this is some long-lost daughter of his. I know. Foolish! In fact, she's this gorgeous model who has been lucky enough to have a song written about her. A funky....no...FONKY song full of strong horns, serious bass, and gorgeous guitar. In the video, here's Prince at a daggone fashion show, being Prince and I'm lost in the moment as usual--hips shaking and lines rolling off my tongue like I'VE got an ounce of talent. I'm also quoting lyrics on Yahoo Messenger and pretending that I'm her. (I can admit it.)
The title track, Planet Earth, is this cryptic, yet thought-provoking piece with the kind of lyrics that most fans know Prince for at this point.
"50 years from now what will they say about us here?
Did we care for the water and the fragile atmosphere?
There are only two kinds of folk and the difference they make
The ones that give and the ones that take."
As he lays down what humanity needs to consider about the future, there's this flawless, GORGEOUS break in the middle of the song that takes your breath away. I remember the first time I heard it. I closed my eyes, letting the music fill me up. I replayed the track several times, imagining myself walking on moist soil with a flower crown in my hair. Then, he's back to rock mode with "Guitar". Now, there's two versions of Guitar. One that's like this sample demo that's catchy. It's got a polished Dirty Mind or Controversy Era vibe to it. Not so much New Wave or completely synth-heavy, but rather it just reminds me of that era.
The album version is worthy of your best stereo system you own. When Prince lays down the licks and pops from that guitar, you can feel it. I also think it's kinda funny--he's letting any girl know that he loves 'em, "but not like I love my guitar." Not to mention the Verizon commercial that made me want to drop my little crummy Razr just to say I had the latest phone Prince was advertising.
Somewhere Here on Earth. I've spoken about this song before in my Songs To Snuggle To post. You know, at this time I was on and off with this dude, and I would have loved to slow dance with him to this song. As a fan, I was already appreciating it just for the value of the content alone. A smooth, mellow groove full of the romance and class Prince has been polishing and giving us for years and years. It's somewhere Between Scandalous and takes five with Venus De Milo, while having coffee with Arms of Orion and Damn U.
Somewhere... is that kind of music I see myself enjoying with a glass of wine, a bowl of fruit, and a stunning landscape twinkling through my windows. I don't have to be with someone to enjoy it. How can I explain how it makes me feel? Something about it just holds me tight. Something about it just feels right. Not just because it's Prince, but because it's just a wonderful song with a straightforward message of love. Because this song just feels like every moment of peace I've been looking for, perhaps.
Before I go through ALL these songs, I can pretty much say this about Planet Earth--there were no songs I did not like. No matter what the most critical critics had to say about his work at this time, I was impressed. Not to kiss anyone's butt, either. There are songs of his I don't like as much as other fans. I have skipped over entire albums just to listen to singles I like. PE is not one of them.
I promise it's getting closer to the end. I can't cover every album, or else we''ll be here all day. I'm sure some of you have already left the building, and this post is pretty much me, myself, and I. I'm okay with that. I have always wanted to blog about Prince in an extended expression, and had that chance some time ago--but not like THIS. Not like this grand and wide piece full of my feelings and thoughts. There's only a few more sections after this point.
Graffiti Bridge--the movie was an interesting camp-fest that I actually love! People hate it so much, and I feel like I'm in the minority for enjoying it! Whenever I see it on TV, I watch it. I own the DVD, and my sweet ol' ex even slow danced with me to my favorite song--The Question of U.
I even tried to do my hair like Prince from that era, and failed pitifully, ha ha ha.
Still, the Bridge has quite a few songs I like. They are:
Elephants & Flowers-- I played this one to death, because I'd heard it previously on the NPG Music Club before it closed. I thought it was interesting. Very hippie-like, which was right up my 2k-flower child alley. Very God-based, but honestly not really a problem with me. The message is very positive, and the song...just....dig the lyrics.
"Elephants and flowers. Strip down. Think I'm gonna fall in love tonight.
When I do, there won't be no more (confusion)
There won't be no more (no tears)
there won't be no more enemies, so that eliminates all the fear
and there won't be no sorrow, (sorrow)
there won't be no pain, (no pain)
there won't be no ball and no chain
strip down, strip down. Elephants and flowers."
"love the one who is love, (well) the one who gives us the power, (power)
the one who made everything, (everything) elephants and flowers (oh, yeah)
the one who will listen when all others will not. (all others will not)
there will be peace 4 those who love god a lot.
Here we go."
Nothing wrong with love and peace. We all could use some.
Melody Cool--Mavis. Staples. Don't know who she is? Google her. Hit up YouTube. I liked this song because of the soulful and gospel-like vibe. I adore female singers with deep singing voices. I can't sing all that well, but it's like this refreshing and cool thing to be able to sing along with them to a good song. Melody Cool is right on that list. Obviously I'm here for any woman who can cross any bridge she comes across "wit no problem at'all!"
Round & Round--YOU KNOW YOU KNOW THIS SONG. STOP PLAYING. At the time. I wasn't putting two and two together when it came out. I was what... 5 or 6? I thought Tevin Campbell was CUTE. I liked this song, and I can remember seeing a few older kids dance at talent shows to the tune. So listening to it again was a throwback to the days of barrettes, braids, and Isoplus hair grease.
We Can Funk--Any time you can get George Clinton to provide you with some funk for your album, give thanks. No explanation needed for what this song is all about. Baby. If you want funk and erotica, this is your jam. Play it LOUD. Break some speakers. This song is a jam to me just because it's so jam-packed with the sound my parents and aunt used to listen to back in the day. Thanks, guys.
Years later, Prince's Protege comes out with this acoustic version (Oui Can Luv) that's just as equally sexy. She turns it into this sensual coffeehouse blend that's amazing. Her voice is so soft, but a little scratchy at the same time. She's awesome.
Joy In Repetition--Prince is responsible for a lot of people who exist right now. Can we just all agree to that fact RIGHT NOW? It's songs like this one providing the atmosphere. Joy... is as sensual as The Question of U, with that sexy and slow tempo that might get you in trouble if you don't slow down. Perhaps...you don't want to?
The Question of U-- This song. Phew. How do I explain how wonderful it is, without writing dollar store erotica? I really don't want to start writing smut on this blog, but this song is EROTIC. It's sexy, it's romantic. It's slow. It's got this sick guitar solo that just rocks your body like a lover slow dancing in your arms. And that's exactly what I did when he and I listened to it together. Everyone was clothed, but the moment was intense. The song itself can take you places-single or not. It's a tasteful striptease. It's a sensual journey on a humid night. It's fancy, and perfectly packaged as the kind of intimacy that your mother fought to cover your eyes so you wouldn't get any ideas before your time.
"All of the questions in my life will be answered
when I decide which road 2 choose
what is the answer 2 the question of u"
[For added measure, the Nude Tour version is even better. The instrumental remixes are a series of waltzes perfect for a white ballroom floor. For some reason, it sounded like he made it during the LoveSexy period...]
New Power Generation--Any song with a theme looking for change:
"Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor
making love and music's the only things worth fighting 4.
We r the new power generation, we want 2 change the world.
The only thing that's in our way is u.
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas,
we're sick and tired of u telling us what 2 do."
Or looking to question the same ol' same ol':
"Pardon me 4 living, but this is my world 2
I can't help that what's cool to us might be strange to u
Pardon me 4 breathing, can we borrow some of your air'
the problem with u and your kind is that u don't know love is there"
Is all right with me.
Love Machine--Morris and Jerome being Morris and Jerome. But I mainly like the song for this line:
"I've got the toys, 2 turn your body out
I've got the noise, 2 make u scream and shout
The love machine will take your body higher
'cause if it don't then I know u're a liar"
Oh hush. I'm always in the naughty chair for a Prince lyric I've recited.
Thieves In The Temple--No explanation needed, aside from the fact that it was like listening to an old friend. It's amazing how many times Prince has been in my life as a child, but it took watching Purple Rain over and over to REALLY start enjoying his music.
Still Would Stand All Time--CONFESSION TIME. This was the second video that got me a strike on YouTube back in the day. Why? Because I posted a tribute video to my boyfriend at the time. We were having argument number....600 over something stupid and dumb (probably both of us annoying the other one...) and I decided to turn to this song to post all the sickening close ups of us kissing and pictures of him I could possibly find. He was honored, YouTube was like...."uh....you gotta remove this yesterday."
Listen, I was a sad girl who didn't want to lose her guy. Do you know how hard it is to find a Blerd who's as equally awkward and introverted as you are? He was a rare one, and my first boyfriend! I made a lot of mistakes with him, not really knowing what to do with him half the time. As I had done in the past, I went to my sadness music list for advice and healing. Since he and I had just seen Graffiti Bridge, the song was fresh on my mind. I already thought the song was touching.
"It's just around the corner, it's just around the block
I felt the inspiration in Prince's voice. I felt like he was consoling my poor little broken heart. My ex liked it, of course. Honored (probably freaked out) that I made a video about him. All redemption videos aside, Still Would Stand All Time was more than just a healing song--it was a message reminding the world that love and peace were just around the corner, and we had to work to get there.
Graffiti Bridge--Who doesn't like a good title track song? "The love of a boy, the love of a girl"!
"Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
I LOVE THIS SONG. LOVE IT. It embodies all the things in life I am personally looking for. From my days as a Christian, to my current walk as a Nichiren Buddhist. As a human being. And the strings intro is so lovely. Everything about this song is lovely. I want to sing it with a choir right now. It's such a pure song. This guy in a leotard went on YouTube and covered it, trying to be silly. Thanks to that video, all I can think of is his hairy, thin butt dancing around under a disco light while he mimes the song.
YouTube, of course, removed it years ago.
Sigh. You know how that goes.
In any case, clap your hands and sing along to this positive jam. The first time I heard it, I was rocking in my chair. I replayed it about 100 times in one sitting. Honestly. It's just that wonderful.
Basically almost every song on the album, but not quite. I think all of them are awesome, but these particular songs really resonated within my music lovin' soul. Especially the love songs. You'll notice a sickening theme here--I was very taken, and was VERY into trying to relate my own relationship around Prince's music. Even after the fact, I was relating the breakup to his music. I know, I know. I'm shaking my head about it too.
Before I even get to the present day, I can't go anywhere without talking about Batman and Scandalous Sex Suite. I will not be long. I promise. I was already in love with Scandalous as a child. As an adult, it takes on this whole new meaning. It's a sensual groove that is indeed for the grown folks! When somebody tells you to "come closer" to "feel what you've been dying for", you know what time it is. That understanding comes with age, dig? So I loved the song as a child, but came to appreciate it as a woman. If I'm trying to woo somebody, Scandalous is on my list.
So is the the dreamy duet song Arms of Orion. First, I thought it was campy. Next thing I know, I'm giving it another listen while opening a generic Photoshop knockoff I got with a webcam, and making a giant swirl heart while listening. I'm adding pictures of my boo at the time, and really starting to feel this song.
'Orion's arms are wide enough'
'2 hold us both together'
'Although we're worlds apart'
'I'd cross the stars 4 U'
Okay this is backwards, right? I wasn't born until August of 1985. What memory could I possibly have, incubating in the womb? What could I possibly remember, fresh out of that sacred space? Uh, nothing! But alas, this was the year of my birth. This was the release of the album Around The World In A Day. This is the greatest claim I can make--Prince released an album the year I was born. Pre-1978, that's impossible to say for a lot of people. Yes, he had bands he was in. He had a demo--but I have an official album post Purple Rain. That feels....pretty dang special.
Coined as "the weirdness after PR", and the "Sgt. Pepper creation hardly anyone knew about", it has a lot of jams EVERYONE still sings to this day. My problem is with fair weather fans who expect everything to be as good as or above Purple Rain. This is where a lot of them claim that they fell off/he fell off, and I'm like...really? REALLY? I feel like he continued to evolve. Yet I'm sure they all turned their heads when he had singles out. But let Roni hush.
AWTWIAD. Open your heart, open your mind.
My favorite songs are the title track, Pop Life, Paisley Park, Condition of The Heart, The Ladder, America, and Raspberry Beret. Almost every song, but not so much. The rest of the songs are all right, but just not my cup of tea. It happens. (It also brings up debates by purists that I'm not a true fan, and honestly I really don't care. Liking everything all the time that somebody makes is just not how things work. You know there's a thing you don't like, too.)
It's more than just knowing there's an album released the year of my birth. My particular list of songs mean something to me. This is Psychedelic Soul, people. Not only is Paisley Park a real place, but it's a space in your heart as well. America speaks on the economy in such a timeless fashion that 30 years later, it still stands as commentary on what's real in our world today. The same applies to Pop Life! Condition of The Heart is this haunting, beautiful piece about love that's a little sad, a little flighty...and The Ladder is a spiritual piece about salvation, souls--all beautiful.
Raspberry Beret is solid Prince material. A song about some fine young thing, a barn, and the fabulous hat that started it all. My head is too big for a secondhand store hat, but oh to be a fly on the wall of that barn as the storm raged, and the lovin' began. ATWIAD is a classic just for the fact that it's almost like taking a trip and visiting different points of view in the lives of other people. Sure, it makes me want to roll around in a field of flowers and sit on purple paisley pillows (HA, say that three times fast.), but it just goes to show that Prince had so much to give this world. A lot of it--a message of peace through music.
"We will, we will...."
(ARE YOU GOIN 2 LIVE 4 US....)
I can feel my heart fluttering as I pound out the most familiar beat known to any music junkie since Queen graced us with it years ago.
POOF!
*PYROKINETICS AND WHAT NOT!*
*GIANT PURPLE PRINCE SYMBOL!*
My screams. My throat. Oh my goodness it burns it burns. He somehow finds a way to combine his songs, DYLAN, FOO FIGHTERS, Florida A&M, and even makes being wet in the rain look right. Only Prince. Only. Prince. It lays such an impact on me that I scramble to find a live recording, and save it on a USB stick I'm STILL using to this day. It has traveled from computer to computer, iPod to iPod, and home to train to home again.
And yes, my heart stopped when he played Purple Rain--IN the rain. None of us were ready.
So let me get to the point here. I could recall every album, every moment. I honestly tried until I realized something--my feelings, my love, my fandom transcends all of these moments. Transcends collectibles I have in my possession. Prince's music--all of it--simply touches my soul. I only got to see him live and in person once, but I was blessed some years ago to catch him live on Livestream when money was tight. I was touched by his comedy in a short exchange on Twitter. I was on the same timeline as Prince Rogers Nelson, and have about 20+ years of good ass music under my belt to celebrate his life. I have outtakes, and possibly a vault of undiscovered gems showcasing the wonder of his talent, his spirit, and his person.
I have shed tears off and on for him, because there will be no more concerts and shows. There will be no more flawless passport photos, and interesting Instagram posts. No more Tweets with his quirkiness. I'm sad (and possibly crazy to those who don't get it), because the man who helped me figure out a lot about myself has moved on to the next plane--we're still the fools trying to figure out what it means to be human on this mortal coil. Prince? He lived three million lives and finally his time was up.
Allow me to wrap up this post with some more thoughts on Prince. In the time of my "discovery", I stuffed my first iPod full of his music, grooving all over Chicagoland with earbuds stuck in my ears. I re-connected with old classics from my childhood, found new anthems for the emotions rolling around in my heart, and got my grubby mitts on outtakes and remixes that could entertain everything from painting rooms to washing the thick layers of my hair. His music was always there for me. It was embedded in my heart.
Somebody's Somebody expressed my woes as a single woman. Starfish and Coffee was a carefree sing-along. Adore...well...Adore was just special for obvious reasons. Aside from being a powerful ballad of intense love and well....adoration, it reminded me of how much joy I had from loving another human being. It's an amazing feeling.
"I'll give U my heart
I'll give U my mind
I'll give U my body (until the end of time)
I'll give U my time (until the end of time)
(until the end of time)"
Sure, we will have tributes. Sure, we can scrape the Internet for archives and stories. Someday, we might even get to partake of the mysterious vault full of nuggets of talent hidden from the world. But alas--Prince will not be in the audience. (Physically, anyway.) Prince will not be Tweeting/'Graming anymore. It will always be someone else from his estate. This was the heaviest part to deal with--we would be celebrating his legacy, not newness. There would be no more concerts, but plenty of discussions. Plenty of "was". "Was".
As celebrities paid their respects, locations became purple, and fans shed oceans of tears, I decided to take to the Internet to get my feelings out. It's hard to write this post, trying to compile the burning passion I have for his body of work. It's hard to face the media and get tagged over and over about reports and what they think he overdosed on. It's hard, but touching, to see all his videos on my TV screen. It's also hard to try and get used to any part of my beloved Purple Yoda ascending to heaven, and "having a concert in another dimension." I want to smile, I want to laugh. Although the tears have stopped (for the moment), the aching in my music-loving soul is ripping and scraping, and my heart bleeds and bleeds.
So, let me reflect on what I loved about Prince. Let me celebrate his life and open iTunes to groove to him. A strong spirit has broken the chains of life, and is now something greater than all of us. He is the wind, he is the cosmos. He is the purple in the sky, and the rainbow over Paisley Park. He is the flutter in my stomach when his power chord strikes my eardrum. He is the funk in my twist-out when I rock out to Uptown over and over. He is the mirth in Imani's smile when I sing his songs to her. More than anything else, he is a reminder that our lives on Earth are precious. We always say "time waits for no one", but do we live like it? Do we really believe it? Prince lived a million lives, and I was able to be there for about 30 years of it.
So...here goes.
1989
A sufficient place to start. We'd just seen the new Batman movie, and Prince's song Scandalous was the hottest ticket on the radio at the time. Keep in mind that in 1989, I was four. Nooot exactly the prime moment for a kid to be singing about an erotic encounter, but there I was with the chorus on my little tongue just singin' along like I knew something. My classmates in Chicago State's pre-school program were singing too. I just remember thinking the eerie music was so interesting. I loved the tempo, the beat. I thought Prince was beautiful. Then, Batdance. First of all, every cheer group and their MOTHER had a routine to freakin' Batdance. Flips, perfectly timed transitions, claps on beat, superultrafunkyfresh moves that had me locked to TV screens and college auditoriums for a good minute. Although I'll talk about Batman a little more in another section, I just want to say this about the era--Awesome video for Batdance, Even funkier remixes. What a way to be introduced to Prince!
The 90's.
Peak Prince time. Prime Prince time. Also the moment where I got in HUGE trouble for watching him on MTV at that infamous performance with the...er...yellow pants. A time when The Box was a thing, and for the hefty price of 75 cents and a good memory of three numbers, a kid could watch Gett Off and Cream over and over. I was wild about Gett Off. It was like the guilty pleasure of eating all the chocolate while grandma was distracted in the other room. All that gold, grinding, and dirty talk was an eye-popping adventure for a kid. Again, nooot the best time for a minor to be clockin' Prince, but alas--your folks couldn't watch you all the time.I considered Prince to be glamorous and good and what he did. I wanted to meet him, kiss him (*blush!*), and dress like the pretty women in his videos.
When MTV couldn't supply the Purple funk, BET gave everything I ever needed. Two words--VIDEO. SOUL. For a Black child in the 90s, in Chicago, with access to Cable from 2PM to 8 Monday to Friday, BET was the Motherland for all things Soul and R&B. Obviously Prince was there with Anita, Stevie, and Luther. On top of seeing Gett Off and Cream, I was introduced to the infamous Kiss.
Cue the hormones. Cue the raging lust. Cue the confusion, because I was still a kid. I didn't know who was hotter--the woman in her panties, heels, and the veil w/the moves....or shirtless and taut Prince hitting a honey-thick falsetto about attitude, shoe sizes, and wanting that juicy kiss I'm sure any woman (or man, or agender person) would love to give up. I also got a taste of him during car rides with my dad. Letitgo--with it's funky riff and hip-hop tempo bumped from the speakers of my dad's car, and I had no idea. Yet there it is as clear as day in my memory, as we cruised down some Chicago street. There was always room for Prince on Chicago airwaves...
Prince was always cool to me. Always. He mentored Tevin Campbell, who gave us "Round and Round". He also gave us the SUPER DUPER campy Graffiti Bridge around the same time. Now, even though by the mid 90s I was into TLC (And their super cool cover of If Eye Was Ur Girlfriend), Brandy, and Boyz II Men, I still liked him. I didn't really gravitate toward the Hip-Hop scene at the time, but knew most of the popular songs and feuds and key folks. I was in my own little world, but I also had a father who was a fan. Enter...Purple Rain.
Most of our parents are Baby Boomers, and are therefore the root source of our musical tastes. I can admit that being raised by Boomers and a grandmother from the Greatest Generation. His copy of Purple Rain was a must for long car trips. He sang, I watched. He clapped his hands hard to Take Me With U. His passion blazed as he barked out When Doves Cry. He was the reason my interest sparked again.
1997-1999
At some point, I think VH1 ran out of ideas for stuff to air on the weekends. So, one Summer in the late 90's, they showed Purple Rain every single weekend. So, without fail, I could chill in my room during Summer vacation with something to watch. Long story short, your girl was hooked. Your girl was feelin' the musical numbers from said movie. Your girl--a 13/14 year old bundle of hormones and emotion--jacked her dad's Purple Rain CD and made it her own.
This was my soundtrack to poorly drawn art I'd slapped together in MS Paint. It was my cleaning music to the abyss I occupied as my personal eccentric girl sanctuary. There's something about cleaning to Baby I'm a Star that makes vacuuming cool. Something supercool about organizing papers to Computer Blue. At that time, you couldn't keep me away from that album. I sang duets with Prince, I belted powerful lyrics that snapped to my brain quickly, and I just submerged myself in his music. It was so easy to do. It just felt good.
When I was sad, The Beautiful Ones lulled me to sleep with its slow New Wave tempo. By the end of the year, I was scrambling to find tapes to record his best guitar solos on songs whenever they made a rare appearance on the radio. When the advertisements for Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic came out, that was IT. This was my chance to own my very own CD. This was my chance to learn an album front to back, and annoy the ever-lovin' crap outta my nuclear family. In typical teen fashion, I did just that.
I rushed the TV and made smoochy-smoochy with the screen whenever the promos popped up. I screamed in high-pitched tones as the super groove Greatest Romance soothed my fangirl flames. I openly devoured Prince, and had the worst moves to Baby Knows and Undisputed that only my dearly departed Parakeets know about.
Rave was my favorite album at the time. The only one I technically owned, but now the sacred trio to run along with Greatest Hits and my father's copy of Purple Rain. Every Friday night, every Saturday morning--these three albums were a part of my musical rotation. This is, in fact, one of my favorite 90's albums. It was a period of transition for Prince, reflected in his music--divorce, coping, finding himself again. Also, this re-submergence into the music scene. I mean....he never really left, but it's more like people tend to only pay attention to him here and there. Or they'll remember him for 1999, Let's Go Crazy, and Purple Rain. I have always felt like (Despite The Vault being released in August of the same year), this album re-introduced him into the scene. Since I was already aware, it was simply a refresher in what he was all about.
My greatest surprise--So Far, So Pleased. My NEXT greatest surprise--Hot Wit U. Wait, hold on. Did he just sing a duet with Gwen Stefani? Did he just let Eve rap on his track? He even took Sheryl Crow's Everyday Is A Winding Road--one of my favorite songs, and turned it into this funky and hip jigglin' affair! Yes, that was super-impressive to a young Veronica Rochelle! These prominent artist that I've been watching for a little while are in collab and cover mode with a musical great that I've been admiring since childhood--and even Seventeen magazine says it's all good. What's there not to like? Then there was Prettyman. Talent meets ego meets Prince being Prince. Years before I was able to see Under The Cherry Moon, I guess you could say this was my introduction to his humor. "I wrote a check, and the bank bounced?" COME ON. Comedy gold brought to you by the letters P, R, and N.
Greatest Hits is an essential to any Prince collection. For a teenager just getting into her personal fandom with Prince, it was an introduction to his greatness. It was also the reason why my first stereo was constantly on 11. (Rest in peace, hearing.) Yet another CD "borrowed" from my dad, I can easily recall hours and hours of singing along to Uptown like I lived the life, and feeling all the lyrics of Pop Life like all 14 years of my life were so terribly difficult. I played this album at night, mostly. Went to bed every weekday with this in my CD Player. Every night, I'd wake up around 2 AM to hear Pink Cashmere playing. It would either be right before the gorgeous string solo, or right at the ending. It was comforting to sleep by Prince. 7 was already my jam, but it didn't stop me from playing it over...and over...and over... and over again. (Sorry fam!)
I wasn't really thinking about getting all his albums back then. I was satisfied with Rave, Purple Rain, and Greatest Hits. I sang the lyrics I could hear with all my heart. I had flashbacks to my childhood, recalling hearing bits and pieces of certain songs--and NOW had full access to complete them on my own time. Prince had indeed been there all my life. For the record Nothing Compares 2 U is only the best when Prince and Rosie sing it. Sinead can kick rocks!
2000-2004
Granted I was a part of a lot of different scenes--Nu Metal, Alternative, 2kSoul, R&B, and maaaybe a few rappers here and there--Prince was always a part. Whenever I could see him on TV, it was a celebration. It was usually a time when my TV was turned up as loud as possible. Despite the fact that I was sort of gravitating toward people like Nikka Costa, Nelly Furtado, Gorillaz, and Linkin Park, Prince was still in my heart. I was still singing Tangerine like I knew what it meant to carry strong feelings for someone I'd been with. (Maybe I did? I had been rejected twice by two guys I had a crush on....) Point being--I was still excited to hear from him. I think he has been the one artist I have yet to grow away from. He's a musical staple!
2001-2002 was an awesome time for me, and probably the most memorable time for a young girl with a thing for Prince. I've heard him on the radio, one of my favorite artists (Alicia Keys) has covered a classic song of his (How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?) I've seen him on TV, but what about live? I figured it was something grown folks did. I knew he was in town for the One Nite Alone tour, but I wasn't expecting to go. I sure as crap wasn't expecting my benevolent father to get TICKETS to see Prince.
SURPRISE! I am 16 years into this thing called life, and my dad has snagged three tickets to his show. This is the moment all fans have been waiting for--a chance to see Prince, live. I shook my dad every single song. "OHMIGAWD DAD HE'S PLAYING..." like he'd never heard it before in his life, hahaha. My dad just smiled as his heavy-handed child shook him and acted a slight fool in the balcony row. I truly regret not taking pictures of myself that night. I was dressed to the funky nines with dark purple lipstick, a long purple scarf, biker boots, and a cool pair of flared jeans (shut up, we all wore them! O_o ). I put on my leather jacket, and thought I was so grown up riding to the Chicago Theater with my dad and his girlfriend.
Saturday, March 2, 2002.
I was introduced to grooves from Rainbow Children, lost my hearing to a super hardcore drum intro to When U Were Mine, and screamed my you-know-what off when he freakin' did a cover of Didn't Cha Know. (This was pre-Twitter days a few weeks ago when Erykah ran her mouth. I funked heavily with her prior to this noted moment...)
The entire concert is a blur. There were songs I knew, songs I did not know but absorbed them any dang way. And after it all ended, I came out with a tour book and a ticket stub. I got to say I saw the apple of my musical eye. Even though it was my one and only concert seeing him, it would not be the last time I got to connect with him. I was touched that my dad thought so much of me to spend SO MUCH money. I was happy that his girlfriend, our beloved Jeanette, got to go with us. There are memories that just stick with you all the days of your living life. One Nite Alone was one of them.
Summer 2002
To be perfectly honest, I don't even remember when I got the Rainbow Children CD post-ONA Tour. But it had to be around the same time I purchased my Remy Shand CD. So knowing myself at the time, I saw it at Best Buy, grabbed it, and quietly slipped it into the cart when dad found whatever he needed. What I DO remember is playing both CDs all Summer long. I had a regimen. Shower, get dressed, get online, cue the tunes. At the time, I was in super-duper heavy puppy love with some young dude from Georgia. We talked, we did ridiculous Catgirl RPs on MSN Messenger, and I wouldn't shut the heck up about Rainbow Children. I was excited that it appeared to be this Genesis to Revelations-type album with all these jams on every single track.
It was Jazz, R&B, a little Funk--all the things I already loved about Prince. Above all else, it had a message. Every song, to me, was this sophisticated intricacy of The Bible and commentary on Blackness in America. The Jazz-Funk of the title track oozed of Prince's diverse talent that I'd only been tasting here and there. I knew him as an R&B artist. A producer of Funk. Now, here he is giving me iced tea lounge vibes, and I'm barely 16! I wasn't ready for the gift! I took it, though. I absorbed it. Last December, this heavily Gospel-infused examination of life itself grabbed me the most:
"If ur Last December came
What would u do'
Would anybody remember
2 remember u'
Did u stand tall'
Or did u fall'
Did u give ur all'
Did u ever find a reason
Y u had 2 die'
Or did u just plan on leaving
Without wondering y"
The heat of the room, soothed by my white fan spinning overhead, the guy of my (young) dreams promising a meet-up, and She Loves Me For Me purring overhead from my speakers was all I needed that Summer. During the nights, I would load my stereo disc player with Sade, Prince, and Remy and farm all night long with Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Those were good times. Rainbow Children was THICK with Prince's talent and spirituality.
The BEST part about this time is that Prince is also online. I had a 56k connection at the time, which was slow as molasses, but not as painfully slow as the old school modems of the mid and late 90s. THOSE took thirty freaking minutes. Anyway, anyway. When I wasn't in the throes of e-passion, I was on Prince's website, NPG.com. I wanted to join the music club, but didn't have the scratch until much later when the price dropped to $25. However, I DID enjoy the full fruits of the interactive rooms. The luxurious office, the ultra cool music room/pool room, and the gorgeous entryway full of color, flowers, and his eyes. This was the place where I heard Elephants and Flowers for the very first time.
2004
Free from the chains of high school, I...guess in the groove of college (I just remember it was warm.) and finally entering my young adult years. At this point, I don't consider myself a "seasoned" fan, but I DO consider myself a lover of his work. There are still years and years of albums and singles for me to absorb. But alas--MUSICOLOGY.
Yes, that requires obnoxious Internet yelling. This is one of my favorite albums. Although I loathed the paper CD cover (when it gets wet, it warrrrpsssssssss gawd it warps and it looks so weird now...), this was yet another album where the tracks were played over and over, and all the lyrics sung with all the power in the world. Let me just discuss this one. MY favorite songs, especially. This album is VERY important to me.
Yeah, it's kind of a "Prince made an album when I was an adult" kind of thing. You know, I'm this well-seasoned 19 year old playing Mozaki Blocks and listening to A Million Days and grooving with such conviction like I have somebody I love like that. When in all honesty, it was just the composition of the song. The drumbeat that sounds like a pounding heart, the flawless guitar, and the emotional lyrics--"I'd crawl on my belly and beg you, but you're so far away..."
I mean, the rest of the world had years ahead of me with the knowledge of Prince's ability to cultivate beautiful sadness about lost love. In 2004, I was still understanding it. STILL, it was this song and Call My Name which gave me personal understanding as to how much power and greatness resided in his lyrics. Call My Name ripped me wide open, okay? Musicology, the title track, had this super cool video (included on the CD. WHAAT.) that had me dancing with a broom in my room. Had me wishing I'd gone to those parties in the 60's that my dad used to tell me about. Musicology was LIT. "Don't you hear this ol' school joint? Don't you evah touch my stereo!"
Then, there was Cinnamon Girl. In a post-9/11 world where people STILL to this day profile Middle Eastern people, this song was very important and VERY introspective. "Cinnamon girl of mixed heritage, never knew the meaning of color lines. 9-11 turned that all around, when she got accused of this crime..." It speaks on the struggles of our Muslim, Sikh, and Islamic brothers and sisters who have NOTHING to do with terrorist crimes, but get profiled, assaulted, and sometimes KILLED because of their beliefs and appearance. It's a heart-wrenching song because it touches on everything going on in 2004: War in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the War On Terror as a whole. I also just found it amazing how almost 12 years later, not much has changed with the profiling. I ended up with two copies of the song. One from Musicology, and one that's just a single with the video.
Dear Mr. Man. Any man, pick a man. Reagan, Bush Sr. , Bush Jr. Pick a tycoon, pick a CEO of any company screwing up things for the middle-class. Now, this is another political song that's nothing new to the seasoned Prince fan, but I'M sitting there with my mouth agape and head bobbing to this straight up and direct musical protest! Keep in mind--This is before I'd heard Ronnie Talk to Russia. Before I took a good listen to America, Money Don't Matter 2Nite, or Sign 'O' The Times.
"Listen, ain't no sense in voting, same song with a different name
Might not be in the back of the bus but it sure feel just the same
Ain't nothing fair about welfare, ain't no assistance in aids
We ain't that affirmative about your actions till the people get paid"
Read more: Prince - Dear Mr. Man Lyrics | MetroLyrics
I was red-hot and heated with "Dubya", as a lot of people were at the time. The "values" he believed in didn't seem to benefit all the people. The policies he was behind (with all his cronies in seats of power pulling the strings...) seemed to cause the nation to take a huge nosedive. And well, I dunno--as a kid in high school, there was something about the way he handled 9/11 that never sat right with me. From going to war, to his "composure" during storytime with the kids. Alas--Dear Mr. Man wasn't just about presidents. Yet most of the lyrics at the time made me think of Dubya front and center.
I always wondered WHY this song never got as much airplay as Cinnamon Girl. Both were these bold political statements worthy of airplay. It wasn't until about last year that I actually heard a local station playing this song. I sat there in awe, wondering if the moment was even real. Moving on.
Reflection. I have to sit and pause with a smile for the title alone. Prince makes grooves that just stick to you. There's always one--if you listen to enough of his music--that sticks to your bones and your soul like a good home-cooked meal. For me, it's usually a romantic song. Reflection is the warmth of a Summer evening's wind kissing your face and legs as you sit on the stoop. It's the perfect darkness accompanied by an open window bringing in a breeze I can only describe as soothing blues and purples blended together, dancing like dim Northern Lights into thin air. Reflection, at three minutes and five seconds, reminds me of the very first good kiss I shared with this ultra fine dude I was with many moons ago.
It's a serenade. It's...some guy trying to rap to a girl he likes. It's a seasoned couple doing mundane stuff on a day off. It's all-around good feelings when things are just going RIGHT. It's very mellow. Not that I've had the chance to woo a beau with the song, or anything woo adjacent--but I'd like to think that at some point in my fractured lifetime, I'll be able to share it over a glass of wine and Chicago Mix Popcorn with somebody special. Maybe I'll get a mirror and put on some fancy lingerie? Har har.
Sometime later, I get the gift of 1999 from an online friend. For years, I've heard 1999 and know it like the back of my hand. It's a popular song. At the END of 1999, I heard it. At the START of 1999, and pretty much all frick-frackin' year, it was the theme song. However, there are other gems on this super-popular album that only solidify my love for Prince. DMSR, Free, Lady Cab Driver, Something In The Water..., Let's Pretend We're Married, and International Lover. For the record, do I HAVE to mention Little Red Corvette? I'd think by now that we'd all agree that's a given. It goes without obvious literary saying. It simply is, and we thank naught-master Prince for providing it.
Even as a young adult, I am just as campy, sad, and annoying with THIS album as I was with....well...any of them. MSN Messenger statuses full of confusing sadness and pointed lyric quotes aimed at crushes and depressions over a lack of a social life. Annoying Adult Swim Message Board signatures riddled with funky and defensive quotes from Something... that rival the most angsty emo or scene kid at the time. Honey, I had it bad and Prince had an album for all my little young adult feels.
Let's Pretend We're Married probably pissed off Tipper Gore something fierce. In the modern day and age I was living in, it was a Grinch-like grin that curled upon my face as I listened to naughty ol' 1982 Prince pre-Purple Rain talkin' about filthy, filthy relations of a certain variety. This isn't new. Soft and Wet anyone? Still, this is my first time hearing this song. So I listen over and over. I have a dirty dance for it in my head. I am internally reciting gender-neutral lyrics to a crush in my head. All the hippies sing together!
DMSR. Can I just make up a genre? OKAY. New Wave Funk. That's what it sounded like to me. That's what I loved about Prince--he tripped genres, but never dropped the initial soul of himself. He maintained his Blackness and wore it with pride in his music. So here we are, singing along about freedom and wearing lingerie to a restaurant, and I'm FEELIN this. This is post-Greatest Hits. I'm already here for Uptown, so DMSR is like it's funkier and cooler older sister who wears shiny raspberry gloss, and has the body for those shiny 80's teddies with the neon tights.
DMSR just sticks to me like freedom glue. Be wild, be free. Be young, have some sex or something. I dunno. Smoke a cigarette and rebel. Of COURSE this is right up my alley. I just graduated high school a while ago, and a part of my mousey self just wants to romp around Chicago and ac' a fool! (I really didn't, though. I had my moments....but....we became chill quickly.)
As usual, it's the tempo and the lyrics that have me.
"Loosen up your hair"?
"It ain't no sin to strip right down to your underwear"?
"Screw the masses"?
YES. WHERE DOES RONI SIGN UP? This song is a staple groove for all Prince lists ever. A must have, point blank period. Essential groove material for your butt. Then, there was Free. A slow, touching, political-esque song reminding us to be glad for all we have, versus those many who haven't anything at all. A good message. An interesting one. I considered this my "reminder song" as I proceeded to go through broken crushes, exes returning to cause high school level trouble, and the usual bummers of being a Roni. The softness of Prince's voice, the gentle piano, and the quiet rain at the beginning lulled me into a trance as the lyrics whirled around in my head. Where was his head when he was writing this? Composing? It has a bit of a Gospel feel to it. The theme of thankfulness and whatnot.
Something In The Water... became my passionate single girl tune. After the rise and fall of two super crappy, super embarrassing Internet whatsits, a lack friendly attention in school, and well....Friday nights spent at home with my PS2 and laptop, I was feeling pretty dang salty. There must be something in the water they all drank. I sang with tears in my eyes, I sang with the kind of broken-hearted passion best reserved for karaoke night. I heard it in my head and carried it on my first media player--a tiny Rio MP3 Player. (I had a silver flavor, and she was my baby!) I too was convinced that it was the same with every man I had. Was it really them, or was it sorta me as well? At the time, youthful Roni didn't know. She was still a baby, dig? The synth tones and electronic sound aided the hybrid of sadness-anger rolling within my soul.
International Lover is basically Prince being Prince, when our talented man is wooing a fine lady. I don't know just what kind of date we're talking about, here. "Date"--as in the sex worker kind, or "date"--as in let's go out, then let's go home and do the kinds of things adults do. In either case, the end result is satisfaction (maybe) for all. What I know is this--if I'M flying Prince Airlines, I'm here for a bumpy ride. Z-Formation snap, baby.
So there's this lonely woman, a sexy kind of mellow ballad vibe, and Prince crooning to the point where your undergarments remove themselves. You're already naked. Prince owns the panties. It's the kind of jam made for that grindy-type of slow dancing that the guidance counselor fought to prevent at prom. It's what we in the Black community refer to as "baby-makin' music". With synth sounds at the end that sound like eerie, feminine moans, International Lover is the theme for all one night frolics requiring trench coats and big glasses.
The...er..."flight captain's lines" are my favorite.
Good evening
This is your pilot Prince speaking
You are flying aboard the Seduction 747
And this plane is fully equipped with anything your body desires
This is your pilot Prince speaking
You are flying aboard the Seduction 747
And this plane is fully equipped with anything your body desires
If for any reason there is a loss in cabin pressure
I will automatically drop down to apply more
To activate the flow of excitement
Extinguish all clothing materials and pull my body close to yours
Place my lips over your mouth, and kiss, kiss, normally
In the event there is over excitement
Your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device
I will automatically drop down to apply more
To activate the flow of excitement
Extinguish all clothing materials and pull my body close to yours
Place my lips over your mouth, and kiss, kiss, normally
In the event there is over excitement
Your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device
Lady Cab Driver just makes me laugh. Not in a mean way, but in a way that says "only Prince". Only Prince, sad from lost love, can find his loins temporary pleasure with a taxicab driver who's probably just trying to do her job and get some scratch for rent in the process. She wasn't expecting to hook up with Prince! She wasn't expecting a sad story, followed by thrusts and a squeaky bed dedicated to...well...everything from kissing in designer jeans to the beautiful complexity of women.
Keep in mind that Prince is a lyrical, metaphorical genius. So therefore, this "cab driver" might just be some random lady he kept in his little black book when the seas of romance get choppy. She might not even be an actual cab driver. In any case, the lucky dame who got to spend a night with Prince seemed to be in the kind of ecstasy his fans can only dream of.
Once I got my first paycheck, I decided to start collecting the firsts of his discography. HOW could I possibly call myself a fan if I'd only listened to his Greatest Hits? Sure, I listened over and over to the point of knowing the words. Sure, I'd lived a life where I heard some other songs in passing. But this was a time when I needed to know and love them all for myself. So, at a time when Border's still existed, and the Columbia Music House was foolish enough to let me get some CDs for a dollar each, I obtained For You, Dirty Mind, and Prince. I graduated from recording missing songs on the radio to having actual copies for my own personal listening and ripping-to-computer enjoyment.
(I also fell victim to the super messed up CD ROM virus that disabled your drive if you kept ripping music. But the blame lies with Windows Media Player? How is it a crime to rip music to your computer, if you didn't want to pull out a CD every time you wanted to listen to a track? I wasn't torrenting them. I wasn't even making mixes for anyone but myself. Anyway...)
Playing catch up with the rest of the world and going beyond the few CDs I had turned into this amazing musical trip. I compiled sensual CD mixes in my head, plotting to woo future lovers with sensual lyrics and a dark room. I slow danced with myself to When We're Dancing...., savoring Prince's whispers and getting hot and bothered by the lyrics. I channeled my inner rocker to Bambi, acting like I had the chops and talent to stand beside him and play guitar. With other tracks (It's Gonna Be Lonely, With You, I Feel For You) I felt an instant connection with the super cool and familiar 80's R&B/Soul sound of the time. With You gave me chills. It reminds me of the minty shampoo I used to use when I went natural, and how it tingled and refreshed me. It's essential chill time music.
Sexy Dancer made me feel like I had all the power and confidence in the world, dancing across my hardwood bedroom floor like I was owning somebody's disco. As "I want'cho body, want'cho body" boomed from my speakers, I was shaking pretty much everything I had, swinging a silk scarf in the air. I was feelin' myself as that piano riff started, gyrating like I was at Studio 54. Let's keep it real--my computer monitor and Final Fantasy 9 wall scrolls were watching me dance...LOL.
How can I explain these feelings that rolled, blossomed, and boiled inside of me as I listened to the early albums? Here was his rawness, his passion, his desire to show us his talent. His tracks had all the typical sounds of the late 70's/early 80's--drums, bass, guitar, finger cymbals, piano, and those chimey-whatsits--but the kicker was that he was behind all of them. HE produced. HE wrote the lyrics. His afro before and during the For You era was pretty slick, too. I wish I could get mine to poof like that. When he emerged with that feathered hair, was Farrah threatened? His was so perfect, so fly upon that white horse.
For You and Prince were on constant repeat for a minute. By this time, I'd evolved from my three CD changer to this adorable silver six CD thing that had the tendency to get stuck, but it played with a crystal sound. Who could complain? (Me, when the door wouldn't open anymore, and my frick frackin' Prince jams were STUCK IN THE FRICK FRACKIN' TRAY.) It goes without saying that I Wanna Be Your Lover is a jam. The extended jam was being able to listen to the rest of the song. With its funky synth and bass guitar, you bet my rhythm-less behind was wiggling all over the room. That's the one thing I can testify--Prince has made/collabed some body movin' grooves.
When the question "what's your favorite Prince song?" comes up, an overwhelming feeling washes over me. Just one? It's always one, always ten--yet I have entire albums and possibly entire CD sets full of songs and outtakes of his that I adore. Songs that help me work, songs that help me get through whatever it is I'm feeling that day. For You was a part of that "I like entire albums" group. All of the songs are my favorites. There are some that are favorites because they're just mellow grooves I can get with. They're songs--like Crazy You and My Love Is Forever that have lyrics and a tempo that remind me of the kind of love I've always wanted. They take me back to a time when I was with someone special to me, and the world was ours for a minute. Above all else--it was just plain good music.
I can admit that it took me a while to "get" Soft and Wet. As perverse as my mind already was, I'd never taken the time to read the lyrics well enough. I'd heard the song over and over, listening to Greatest Hits, but I'd never really heard it. Once I gave it a proper listen, I first wondered HOW my dad let me listen to that at age 13. I THEN wondered how I didn't realize what I was half-singing. Oh, the things we get away with when we listen to Prince.
Dirty Mind got me through the long rides from home to Downtown on the Red Line in Chicago. Got me through the droll hours as a bag girl at my local Jewel-Osco. The title track was this light-hearted ode to wanting to get busy that stuck in my head at odd hours of the day. When U Were Mine was an old friend, and I sang along like I knew the pain of an unfaithful lover whom I was still obsessed over. Uptown was also an old friend--an ode to the freedom of expression I felt so close to. My clothes? My hair? I didn't care, baby. Head--a song I'd only heard in passing was all mine. I kinda just sat there like....
just grinning and singing along with my young, nasty self. I love a good and grimy Prince jam. The nastier the better. Considering the fact that I grew up in the 90's when he uh...kinda had his fun for a good minute, it was no shock to have access to his erotic roots. Although I was looking to the past, I'd already heard "Break It Down" and saw his perfect little behind in that yellow lace suit thing on the MTV Music Awards. I'd heard Erotic City on the radio 600 times in passing. What was Head? Surely not a total jaw-dropper. I knew what Prince was all about. Then...then there was Sister. Wait what? Let me play that again. She did what to him? Where? Lawd. I just left that track alone.
2005 & Beyond
Let us refer to this time period as "the age of discovery". Or, how about "Roni plays catch up". This is when I finally have access to the NPG Music Club, but don't really use it because I'm a yutz. I use it and think that it will always be there. I'm blissfully unaware that Prince creates websites, and often shuts them down. However, in this case, the NPG site address was under fire by some...science club or something. So all of a sudden, my time is up. I do not get to see more rooms, I do not get to buy any merch, and I foolishly never download songs or use the pre-emptive ticket sales to my advantage. The site closes. With nowhere to go, I decided to join this group known as the .org. YES, THAT place.
I marvel in the history, I absorb the knowledge of the seasoned fans, and I make a home as LadyLuuvSexy. It is also at this time that I've acquired quite a few digital copies of Prince's work. A discography, if you will. I find myself especially in musical like with LoveSexy. I've gone to Border's to purchase this one, and find that there's one sliiiiight problem--the tracks are all in one. One track. Different songs, beautiful transitions, but....one track.
I try my best to separate them, under the half-assed instructions of this guy I had a crush on. Keep in mind that I don't have any software to separate the tracks. I don't have any file conversion applications, either. I have a PC mic and my dad's PC. I have a lot of .WAV files until I find a copy with separated tracks. Yet for the time being, I take my little CD and listen to it religiously. I mute Kingdom Hearts and farm in Hollow Bastion for hours. I scour YouTube for GlamSlam and Eye Wish U Heaven, and watch the videos over and over before the Prince Police come and take each version down. I even devote Geocities pages to the cause.
On my first date/whatever it was with the "guy" I keep mentioning, I sing Eye Wish... to myself, excited to meet this new person. I feel a connection to this album, because it's this super Gospel-infused wonder of positive music, beautiful feelings, and the one track that feels as natural as the blood running through my veins--When 2R In Love. More heartbeat tempos, more body-swaying melodies, and lots of sex. Romantic sex? Intimacy of the flawless variety?
(How does one deny the chance to bathe with Prince and cover themselves in perfume and lotion?!)
LoveSexy is an "on repeat" kind of jam session album. It's also a good album whether you want to heal with loneliness--Anna Stesia:
"Have U ever been so lonely
That U felt like U were the
Only one in this world'
Have U ever wanted 2 play
With someone so much U'd take
Any one boy or girl"
or just find a higher state of being--Positivity:
"In every man's life there will be a hang-up
A whirlwind designed 2 slow U down
It cuts like a knife and tries 2 get in U
This Spooky Electric sound
Give up if U want 2 and all is lost
Spooky Electric will be your boss"
I also have a Gaia Online account dedicated to my favorite song from LoveSexy: LadyGlamSlam. She is always decked out in purple. She used what she had--at that time--to show she loved Prince. It wasn't until much later that she would be able to actually WEAR stuff he wore (The purple jacket!) and played (Purple Symbol guitar!).
Anyway...
I throw myself deep into the album, using Prince's flawless form sitting on a flower bed of purple flowers as my desktop theme, my cell wallpaper, and the theme for living a good life. It was a pretty decent time in my life, full of suggestions, lists, and songs to listen to. Around this same time, a few more albums came to be--3121, Planet Earth, and Lotusflow3r. Not only was there new music, but new shows, websites, and new merchandise to purchase. There were the new proteges--Tamar and Bria Valente, and my funky favorites: Chelsea Rodgers, Guitar, and 3121. Prince not only put his FOOT into each song, but he worked that guitar magic all over again.
Prince was also on Myspace, which was a huge thrill for this young Millennial at that particular time. As I'm listening to some of his older stuff, I take a break and indulge in this newness that is 3121. This album is a JAM. We get this smooth cut by the name of Te Amo, Corazon that oozes with the smoke and sensuality we've come to associate with Prince. Then, Black Sweat. Baby. Here I come, about to break my entire hip trying to come up with some funky moves to Black Sweat. Here I come, about to lose it because Prince has once again brought the funk, and it stank sooo gewwwd baby. He was in rare form, with pure soul oozing from the track.
3121 was also this super-spiritual trip that I could dig. Even as a Buddhist now (I was a Christian then), I can appreciate the way he was able to bring spirituality into tracks like Beautiful, Loved, and Blessed, Love, and Get On The Boat. GOTB is SO heavily Gospel-inspired that I'm shocked no church has tried to cover it yet. BLB is this positive affirmation of a person (or deity of choice) helping this woman grow "from clay" into this happy and redeemed beautiful human being. I even wrote a long-gone poem about it for a church function years ago.
Love is my favorite song from 3121.
"Like a bird flyin' over the hilltops
Love is like the sky, U know it never stops
From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
Love is whatever... whatever... U want it 2 b"
We all have these visions and ideas of what love is. Love...love simply is. One man's definition of the word could be different for another. I'm so appreciative of the song because it speaks of how love cannot be restricted by book definition or rules. Love is as free as a bird flying in the sky. Love is sans-score, sans-worries. For an aspiring writer, it's a gold mine of thoughts about the subject many have tried to define. I think it gave me hope even after my endless string of dying relations. There's more than one way to love, and there's so many different kinds of love.
It took me forever to get some of his 3121 Perfume, but I jumped on the chance to found/back up his Lotusflow3r site. I got a cool shirt for my efforts. I also had the chance to access his latest digital opus. It was an interactive site with all kinds of stuff to strum and touch on three islands of music, representing the 3 CDs Elixer, Lotusflow3r, and MPLSound. I have to be honest--I was a lot more partial to Elixer than the other two albums. Although a lot of fans take issue with Bria Valente, I liked her voice. I was fond of Crimson and Clover, and sorta liked Chocolate Box from Lotusflow3r....but I really didn't give the other two albums the listen they deserved. During the 'flow3r era, I think the graphics and the hype of the website full of his music videos had me more hyped than anything else.
Yes, I was one of the backers for the website, and eventually got super cool shirt for the effort. Official merch, and second after the ticket and my One Nite Alone book. Since I didn't have much merch at the time, I leapt at the opportunity to spend $77 bucks to not only back Prince up, but to get such a nice memento in the process.
Planet Earth, another paper CD case (you know this drives me crazy.)-- but it was full of music that was EVERYTHING to me. This is the one thing I like about Prince--a lot of his singles are these lit selections that let you know the album is gonna have something good for you. A lot of these singles are either so funky, so addictive, or so soulful that you simply cannot help yourself. Enter--Chelsea Rodgers.
At the time, I'm thinking this is some long-lost daughter of his. I know. Foolish! In fact, she's this gorgeous model who has been lucky enough to have a song written about her. A funky....no...FONKY song full of strong horns, serious bass, and gorgeous guitar. In the video, here's Prince at a daggone fashion show, being Prince and I'm lost in the moment as usual--hips shaking and lines rolling off my tongue like I'VE got an ounce of talent. I'm also quoting lyrics on Yahoo Messenger and pretending that I'm her. (I can admit it.)
The title track, Planet Earth, is this cryptic, yet thought-provoking piece with the kind of lyrics that most fans know Prince for at this point.
"50 years from now what will they say about us here?
Did we care for the water and the fragile atmosphere?
There are only two kinds of folk and the difference they make
The ones that give and the ones that take."
As he lays down what humanity needs to consider about the future, there's this flawless, GORGEOUS break in the middle of the song that takes your breath away. I remember the first time I heard it. I closed my eyes, letting the music fill me up. I replayed the track several times, imagining myself walking on moist soil with a flower crown in my hair. Then, he's back to rock mode with "Guitar". Now, there's two versions of Guitar. One that's like this sample demo that's catchy. It's got a polished Dirty Mind or Controversy Era vibe to it. Not so much New Wave or completely synth-heavy, but rather it just reminds me of that era.
The album version is worthy of your best stereo system you own. When Prince lays down the licks and pops from that guitar, you can feel it. I also think it's kinda funny--he's letting any girl know that he loves 'em, "but not like I love my guitar." Not to mention the Verizon commercial that made me want to drop my little crummy Razr just to say I had the latest phone Prince was advertising.
Somewhere Here on Earth. I've spoken about this song before in my Songs To Snuggle To post. You know, at this time I was on and off with this dude, and I would have loved to slow dance with him to this song. As a fan, I was already appreciating it just for the value of the content alone. A smooth, mellow groove full of the romance and class Prince has been polishing and giving us for years and years. It's somewhere Between Scandalous and takes five with Venus De Milo, while having coffee with Arms of Orion and Damn U.
Somewhere... is that kind of music I see myself enjoying with a glass of wine, a bowl of fruit, and a stunning landscape twinkling through my windows. I don't have to be with someone to enjoy it. How can I explain how it makes me feel? Something about it just holds me tight. Something about it just feels right. Not just because it's Prince, but because it's just a wonderful song with a straightforward message of love. Because this song just feels like every moment of peace I've been looking for, perhaps.
Before I go through ALL these songs, I can pretty much say this about Planet Earth--there were no songs I did not like. No matter what the most critical critics had to say about his work at this time, I was impressed. Not to kiss anyone's butt, either. There are songs of his I don't like as much as other fans. I have skipped over entire albums just to listen to singles I like. PE is not one of them.
I promise it's getting closer to the end. I can't cover every album, or else we''ll be here all day. I'm sure some of you have already left the building, and this post is pretty much me, myself, and I. I'm okay with that. I have always wanted to blog about Prince in an extended expression, and had that chance some time ago--but not like THIS. Not like this grand and wide piece full of my feelings and thoughts. There's only a few more sections after this point.
Graffiti Bridge--the movie was an interesting camp-fest that I actually love! People hate it so much, and I feel like I'm in the minority for enjoying it! Whenever I see it on TV, I watch it. I own the DVD, and my sweet ol' ex even slow danced with me to my favorite song--The Question of U.
I even tried to do my hair like Prince from that era, and failed pitifully, ha ha ha.
Still, the Bridge has quite a few songs I like. They are:
Elephants & Flowers-- I played this one to death, because I'd heard it previously on the NPG Music Club before it closed. I thought it was interesting. Very hippie-like, which was right up my 2k-flower child alley. Very God-based, but honestly not really a problem with me. The message is very positive, and the song...just....dig the lyrics.
"Elephants and flowers. Strip down. Think I'm gonna fall in love tonight.
When I do, there won't be no more (confusion)
There won't be no more (no tears)
there won't be no more enemies, so that eliminates all the fear
and there won't be no sorrow, (sorrow)
there won't be no pain, (no pain)
there won't be no ball and no chain
strip down, strip down. Elephants and flowers."
"love the one who is love, (well) the one who gives us the power, (power)
the one who made everything, (everything) elephants and flowers (oh, yeah)
the one who will listen when all others will not. (all others will not)
there will be peace 4 those who love god a lot.
Here we go."
Nothing wrong with love and peace. We all could use some.
Melody Cool--Mavis. Staples. Don't know who she is? Google her. Hit up YouTube. I liked this song because of the soulful and gospel-like vibe. I adore female singers with deep singing voices. I can't sing all that well, but it's like this refreshing and cool thing to be able to sing along with them to a good song. Melody Cool is right on that list. Obviously I'm here for any woman who can cross any bridge she comes across "wit no problem at'all!"
Round & Round--YOU KNOW YOU KNOW THIS SONG. STOP PLAYING. At the time. I wasn't putting two and two together when it came out. I was what... 5 or 6? I thought Tevin Campbell was CUTE. I liked this song, and I can remember seeing a few older kids dance at talent shows to the tune. So listening to it again was a throwback to the days of barrettes, braids, and Isoplus hair grease.
We Can Funk--Any time you can get George Clinton to provide you with some funk for your album, give thanks. No explanation needed for what this song is all about. Baby. If you want funk and erotica, this is your jam. Play it LOUD. Break some speakers. This song is a jam to me just because it's so jam-packed with the sound my parents and aunt used to listen to back in the day. Thanks, guys.
Years later, Prince's Protege comes out with this acoustic version (Oui Can Luv) that's just as equally sexy. She turns it into this sensual coffeehouse blend that's amazing. Her voice is so soft, but a little scratchy at the same time. She's awesome.
Joy In Repetition--Prince is responsible for a lot of people who exist right now. Can we just all agree to that fact RIGHT NOW? It's songs like this one providing the atmosphere. Joy... is as sensual as The Question of U, with that sexy and slow tempo that might get you in trouble if you don't slow down. Perhaps...you don't want to?
"Holding someone is truly believing....there's joy in repetition...."
"All of the questions in my life will be answered
when I decide which road 2 choose
what is the answer 2 the question of u"
[For added measure, the Nude Tour version is even better. The instrumental remixes are a series of waltzes perfect for a white ballroom floor. For some reason, it sounded like he made it during the LoveSexy period...]
New Power Generation--Any song with a theme looking for change:
"Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor
making love and music's the only things worth fighting 4.
We r the new power generation, we want 2 change the world.
The only thing that's in our way is u.
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas,
we're sick and tired of u telling us what 2 do."
Or looking to question the same ol' same ol':
"Pardon me 4 living, but this is my world 2
I can't help that what's cool to us might be strange to u
Pardon me 4 breathing, can we borrow some of your air'
the problem with u and your kind is that u don't know love is there"
Is all right with me.
Love Machine--Morris and Jerome being Morris and Jerome. But I mainly like the song for this line:
"I've got the toys, 2 turn your body out
I've got the noise, 2 make u scream and shout
The love machine will take your body higher
'cause if it don't then I know u're a liar"
Oh hush. I'm always in the naughty chair for a Prince lyric I've recited.
Thieves In The Temple--No explanation needed, aside from the fact that it was like listening to an old friend. It's amazing how many times Prince has been in my life as a child, but it took watching Purple Rain over and over to REALLY start enjoying his music.
Still Would Stand All Time--CONFESSION TIME. This was the second video that got me a strike on YouTube back in the day. Why? Because I posted a tribute video to my boyfriend at the time. We were having argument number....600 over something stupid and dumb (probably both of us annoying the other one...) and I decided to turn to this song to post all the sickening close ups of us kissing and pictures of him I could possibly find. He was honored, YouTube was like...."uh....you gotta remove this yesterday."
Listen, I was a sad girl who didn't want to lose her guy. Do you know how hard it is to find a Blerd who's as equally awkward and introverted as you are? He was a rare one, and my first boyfriend! I made a lot of mistakes with him, not really knowing what to do with him half the time. As I had done in the past, I went to my sadness music list for advice and healing. Since he and I had just seen Graffiti Bridge, the song was fresh on my mind. I already thought the song was touching.
"It's just around the corner, it's just around the block
this love that I've been waiting for, a Love solid as rock
A Love that reaffirms that we R not alone
A Love so bright inside U it glows
and night and day would run together, and all things would b fine
still would stand all hate around us
still would stand all time
still would stand all time
A Love that reaffirms that we R not alone
A Love so bright inside U it glows
and night and day would run together, and all things would b fine
still would stand all hate around us
still would stand all time
still would stand all time
it's not a thousand years away, it's not that far my brother
when men will fight injustice instead of one another
its not that far if we all say yes and only try
then Heaven on Earth we will find"when men will fight injustice instead of one another
its not that far if we all say yes and only try
I felt the inspiration in Prince's voice. I felt like he was consoling my poor little broken heart. My ex liked it, of course. Honored (probably freaked out) that I made a video about him. All redemption videos aside, Still Would Stand All Time was more than just a healing song--it was a message reminding the world that love and peace were just around the corner, and we had to work to get there.
Graffiti Bridge--Who doesn't like a good title track song? "The love of a boy, the love of a girl"!
"Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
Something 2 believe in, a reason 2 believe that there's a heaven above
Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4 love
Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4 love
Everybody wants 2 find the perfect 1
Someone that makes u happy, someone that makes u laugh when u want 2 cry
Everybody wants to find the perfect 1
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4 love
Someone that makes u happy, someone that makes u laugh when u want 2 cry
Everybody wants to find the perfect 1
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4 love
The love of a boy, the love of a girl
The love that comes from a warm heart in a cold cold world
Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
Something 2 believe in, a reason 2 believe that there's a heaven above
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4 love"The love that comes from a warm heart in a cold cold world
Everybody wants 2 find Graffiti Bridge
Something 2 believe in, a reason 2 believe that there's a heaven above
Everybody's looking 4
Everybody's looking 4
I LOVE THIS SONG. LOVE IT. It embodies all the things in life I am personally looking for. From my days as a Christian, to my current walk as a Nichiren Buddhist. As a human being. And the strings intro is so lovely. Everything about this song is lovely. I want to sing it with a choir right now. It's such a pure song. This guy in a leotard went on YouTube and covered it, trying to be silly. Thanks to that video, all I can think of is his hairy, thin butt dancing around under a disco light while he mimes the song.
YouTube, of course, removed it years ago.
Sigh. You know how that goes.
In any case, clap your hands and sing along to this positive jam. The first time I heard it, I was rocking in my chair. I replayed it about 100 times in one sitting. Honestly. It's just that wonderful.
Basically almost every song on the album, but not quite. I think all of them are awesome, but these particular songs really resonated within my music lovin' soul. Especially the love songs. You'll notice a sickening theme here--I was very taken, and was VERY into trying to relate my own relationship around Prince's music. Even after the fact, I was relating the breakup to his music. I know, I know. I'm shaking my head about it too.
Before I even get to the present day, I can't go anywhere without talking about Batman and Scandalous Sex Suite. I will not be long. I promise. I was already in love with Scandalous as a child. As an adult, it takes on this whole new meaning. It's a sensual groove that is indeed for the grown folks! When somebody tells you to "come closer" to "feel what you've been dying for", you know what time it is. That understanding comes with age, dig? So I loved the song as a child, but came to appreciate it as a woman. If I'm trying to woo somebody, Scandalous is on my list.
So is the the dreamy duet song Arms of Orion. First, I thought it was campy. Next thing I know, I'm giving it another listen while opening a generic Photoshop knockoff I got with a webcam, and making a giant swirl heart while listening. I'm adding pictures of my boo at the time, and really starting to feel this song.
'Orion's arms are wide enough'
'2 hold us both together'
'Although we're worlds apart'
'I'd cross the stars 4 U'
I know it's as campy as campy can get, but it's not that bad of a song. It has endearing qualities.
Then, Vicki Waiting and Trust. You know those background songs that you hear, but don't really hear? These two became my favorites after rewatching Batman, and then having a listen during a long session of Blue Dragon. Vicki Waiting was nestled in a scene with Vicki Vale at Bruce Wayne's party. Trust was a part of the infamous scene with Joker tossing money and gassing the people at a parade he put together.
Vicki Waiting is not only my Xbox Live username (Okay it's VickiWaiting083 and there's not much on there but me playing two games at a time because I'm an RPG fanatic and the 360 doesn't have that many....), but a late night jam that I just...like. There's no concrete reason, aside from the fact that it's from an era of Prince's career that I just like.
Trust is my jam. The horns, the drums. The guitar, and the beat. I painted half of a basement to this song. Churned out many a paper and a few novels-in-waiting to it. It's also pretty good workout music. Hearing it separately from the movie sort of took me back to a more simple time. Taco Bell was edible, the price of a movie ticket didn't hurt your wallet, and it was appropriate for me to wear white high top sneakers with gems all over them. Goood times, man.
Scandalous Sex Suite should not be within earshot of yo' kids. Listen to me when I say this. It makes you feel things. The first time I heard it, I already had a plan for it. I was gonna seduce somebody with it, and they were going to get caught in my web of Prince and grapes. (GRAPES ARE VERY SENSUAL.)
So I tried it.
It worked.
Then the phone rang, for frack's sake.
Nothing....happened. It was just a lot of good kissin'. That was enough. Basically each track is the same, except a little slower, longer than the original song. There are three sections with lots of Kim Bassinger yak yak yakking, and Prince being all Princely and sensual. It's not half bad, actually. You just get...lost. The room gets darker. It's like sensual soul space music. It's still Scandalous, but....longer.
1985
Okay this is backwards, right? I wasn't born until August of 1985. What memory could I possibly have, incubating in the womb? What could I possibly remember, fresh out of that sacred space? Uh, nothing! But alas, this was the year of my birth. This was the release of the album Around The World In A Day. This is the greatest claim I can make--Prince released an album the year I was born. Pre-1978, that's impossible to say for a lot of people. Yes, he had bands he was in. He had a demo--but I have an official album post Purple Rain. That feels....pretty dang special.
Coined as "the weirdness after PR", and the "Sgt. Pepper creation hardly anyone knew about", it has a lot of jams EVERYONE still sings to this day. My problem is with fair weather fans who expect everything to be as good as or above Purple Rain. This is where a lot of them claim that they fell off/he fell off, and I'm like...really? REALLY? I feel like he continued to evolve. Yet I'm sure they all turned their heads when he had singles out. But let Roni hush.
AWTWIAD. Open your heart, open your mind.
My favorite songs are the title track, Pop Life, Paisley Park, Condition of The Heart, The Ladder, America, and Raspberry Beret. Almost every song, but not so much. The rest of the songs are all right, but just not my cup of tea. It happens. (It also brings up debates by purists that I'm not a true fan, and honestly I really don't care. Liking everything all the time that somebody makes is just not how things work. You know there's a thing you don't like, too.)
It's more than just knowing there's an album released the year of my birth. My particular list of songs mean something to me. This is Psychedelic Soul, people. Not only is Paisley Park a real place, but it's a space in your heart as well. America speaks on the economy in such a timeless fashion that 30 years later, it still stands as commentary on what's real in our world today. The same applies to Pop Life! Condition of The Heart is this haunting, beautiful piece about love that's a little sad, a little flighty...and The Ladder is a spiritual piece about salvation, souls--all beautiful.
Raspberry Beret is solid Prince material. A song about some fine young thing, a barn, and the fabulous hat that started it all. My head is too big for a secondhand store hat, but oh to be a fly on the wall of that barn as the storm raged, and the lovin' began. ATWIAD is a classic just for the fact that it's almost like taking a trip and visiting different points of view in the lives of other people. Sure, it makes me want to roll around in a field of flowers and sit on purple paisley pillows (HA, say that three times fast.), but it just goes to show that Prince had so much to give this world. A lot of it--a message of peace through music.
Superbowl XLI
Wouldn't it be nuts to completely forget one of the most wonderful moment in a Prince fan's life? I'm nuts, and that's for sure--but I will never forget the most amazing show I've ever seen. Listen--I love Beyonce, was was 100% here for her performances, but nobody will top Prince. Not in MY heart, anyway. I will always remember screaming for him. I will never forget shaking the entire house stomping for him like a stark raving lunatic.
"We will, we will...."
(ARE YOU GOIN 2 LIVE 4 US....)
I can feel my heart fluttering as I pound out the most familiar beat known to any music junkie since Queen graced us with it years ago.
POOF!
*PYROKINETICS AND WHAT NOT!*
*GIANT PURPLE PRINCE SYMBOL!*
My screams. My throat. Oh my goodness it burns it burns. He somehow finds a way to combine his songs, DYLAN, FOO FIGHTERS, Florida A&M, and even makes being wet in the rain look right. Only Prince. Only. Prince. It lays such an impact on me that I scramble to find a live recording, and save it on a USB stick I'm STILL using to this day. It has traveled from computer to computer, iPod to iPod, and home to train to home again.
And yes, my heart stopped when he played Purple Rain--IN the rain. None of us were ready.
So let me get to the point here. I could recall every album, every moment. I honestly tried until I realized something--my feelings, my love, my fandom transcends all of these moments. Transcends collectibles I have in my possession. Prince's music--all of it--simply touches my soul. I only got to see him live and in person once, but I was blessed some years ago to catch him live on Livestream when money was tight. I was touched by his comedy in a short exchange on Twitter. I was on the same timeline as Prince Rogers Nelson, and have about 20+ years of good ass music under my belt to celebrate his life. I have outtakes, and possibly a vault of undiscovered gems showcasing the wonder of his talent, his spirit, and his person.
I have shed tears off and on for him, because there will be no more concerts and shows. There will be no more flawless passport photos, and interesting Instagram posts. No more Tweets with his quirkiness. I'm sad (and possibly crazy to those who don't get it), because the man who helped me figure out a lot about myself has moved on to the next plane--we're still the fools trying to figure out what it means to be human on this mortal coil. Prince? He lived three million lives and finally his time was up.
Allow me to wrap up this post with some more thoughts on Prince. In the time of my "discovery", I stuffed my first iPod full of his music, grooving all over Chicagoland with earbuds stuck in my ears. I re-connected with old classics from my childhood, found new anthems for the emotions rolling around in my heart, and got my grubby mitts on outtakes and remixes that could entertain everything from painting rooms to washing the thick layers of my hair. His music was always there for me. It was embedded in my heart.
Somebody's Somebody expressed my woes as a single woman. Starfish and Coffee was a carefree sing-along. Adore...well...Adore was just special for obvious reasons. Aside from being a powerful ballad of intense love and well....adoration, it reminded me of how much joy I had from loving another human being. It's an amazing feeling.
"I'll give U my heart
I'll give U my mind
I'll give U my body (until the end of time)
I'll give U my time (until the end of time)
(until the end of time)"
When I had the chance to listen to all of these albums, I kept finding out about new parts of Prince. How he could easily trip genres to bring us Fusion Jazz with Madhouse, or how he didn't have to say anything at all, but could bring the power with albums like N.E.W.S. Honey, how he could set the mood with Scandalous Sex Suite, and almost make you a parent with a kiss and a tune alone. He was a very special, very talented musician who could tell you a story in more ways than one.
There was one album I almost forgot--Parade. You know, after three weeks of trying to write every moment down, it became this thick cloud of purple smoke. I had it all in my head, but got so excited when it was time to execute. I was afraid that none of it would come out right. I felt that same excitement when I sat down to listen to Parade. I'd already ordered Under the Cherry Moon, but I was caught on the album. I replayed it over and over, never skipping any of the tracks. Because this album means so much, this will be the only one in the post where every track is discussed.
Christopher Tracy's Parade. Yes, it sounds like marching music. That's exactly what I wanted to do the first time I heard it. I saw myself in Under The Cherry Moon black and white, marching down the street in some fancy, lacy get-up with stick in hand, leading children down the street. I saw myself having a good time with that song, and closed my eyes to absorb the wonderfulness. Once I saw the movie, it all became crystal clear--the beauty, the mirth, the....actual introduction into Christopher Tracy's wild life.
It's bouncy, funky, and has this amazing beat that sticks to your soul. Perfect driving song. Hit those corners flawlessly, sing along.
New Position. More funk. Interesting song. Double entendre, perhaps? A "new position", meaning trying something new than the same ol', same ol'? Or, a "new position" like.....you know....
Heh heh heh. Isn't Prince the best? His songs often make you think. With him, it's usually deeper than what's presented. A "shot of new spunk" can mean a lot of things. Please consult your Internet website of choice to find out more, because I'm not going down that second road. "Spunk"--can also mean spirit on the first half. Leaving it riiiight at that. Interpretation shall be left up to you.
I Wonder U. I love the guitar intro. Kind of reminds me of when people see somebody who looks good, and say "mmm mmm mmm". It's technically an instrumental, but there's some lyrics tossed betwixt the funk. It's short, but it's just got this....cool funk. Very 80's with the synth tones, cool bass line. I Wonder U is kind of like the song you play when you see somebody fine, and you're checking them out. It made me think of how I used to look at my ex when he would be walking down the street to my house. Or, how he looked in his uniform...uh....ahem.
....But I suppose you could also just listen to it and groove.
Under The Cherry Moon. What would a movie be without a theme of romance? Steamy kisses, hopelessly romantic lyrics that drip with the kind of sap that yours truly lives for, and that heartbeat-like tempo that soothes the soul. Somebody woo me already. This was the second ringtone I used for my ex, and rightfully so. I annoyed the ever-lovin' crap outta him, but I was hypnotized. I was gone, darlings. If I could spend all day just sitting with him and listening so soft music, I would have done it. At times, I did do it. Those were some wonderful times.
All memories aside, Under The Cherry Moon has this romantic vibe that's smooth as true silk, and as rich as the fanciest berry and cream cheesecake with a white chocolate drizzle. It is sweet, devoted, and passionate. The entire set of lyrics deserves your attention.
Girls And Boys. My ringtone for an entire Summer. The Id 'tone for my special guy from many moons ago. The jam of jams despite his departure. More funk, some bubbly R&B, and the hottest dance tune to sweat all ya relaxer out. Even if you lack rhythm, you'll soon find it in your hips when it comes to this song. At the time, I SWORE up and down this song was about me and my guy. Oh silly, younger me. I was promised to no man, just tied up with old emotional strings to some guy in NY, while I had a fine piece of sanity and geek-itude from Riverdale in my arms. Foolish younger me.
The song is so addictive. I say that about a lot of Prince songs, but this rings true 100% for this particular one. The video is also this fast-paced whirlwind of glam and funk, full of Prince shaking his perfect behind in those tight dress pants....phew.
"I love u baby, I love u so much,
maybe we can stay in touch
Meet me in another world, space and joy,
vous etes tres belle, mama, girls and boys"
I smile just thinking about that part, just ringing from my little pink Razr as I waited for my sweetheart's call. I sing along with the words just pouring from my lips, so easily memorized with perfect timing. Lay these lines on somebody if you can sing AND speak perfect French. You might get lucky.
Life Can Be So Nice. A declaration of love with a little funk, a little pop, a little R&B is always a win in my book. I'm a sucker for lyrics, so this is probably why LCBSN (I'm so lazy lol) is such a masterpiece to me. When you find somebody special, and they're all you have on the brain, it can be an amazing experience. The rest of the world is boring, but the thought of them is all things wonderful.
"This morning there was joy in my heart 'cause I know that I loved u so
Scrambled eggs, are so boring, 4 u're all, all that I want 2 know
Kisses never lie when delivered with milk from your lips
Morning glories never cry. My love for u, baby, drips"
Can we also be adults for a minute? I know this is a tribute post full of my feelings about albums and songs, but I have always liked how Prince tends to mix roamance with erotica, fearleslly. Sometimes one takes over the other, but the wonderful balance always tickles my fancy. Yes, life can be so nice...
Venus De Milo. One of my favorite instrumentals, brought to you by Prince & The Revolution. I already discussed it on my list of Prince songs to snuggle to, but I don't mind writing about it again. A Prince instrumental is always a journey. I first found this out by listening to The Sensual Everafter. As my collection grew, tracks like North and a majority of the Madhouse tracks let me know something--he means business even when barely a word has been said.
I feel...floaty when I listen to this song. That's the only I personally can describe what Prince's gorgeous instrumental does to me. I see myself chilling while getting some writing done, but I can also see myself relaxing by a warm body of water. In my wildest dreams, I'm just in bed on a lazy day with someone I love. Holding hands, maybe. This song is just absolutely lovely to me. The piano's front and center, the strings are softly accompanying, and my heart and soul are already growing a purple garden full of fragrant flowers and good memories. My advice--single or taken--is to share this song with someone you love. Even if that's yourself. Share it with yourself and get some late night work done.
Mountains. When you're so sure "that guy" is going to be the one, and something happens, yes you need a pick me up. This song has been my pick me up since I heard it. Not only because it makes such a supreme ringtone, but because it reminded me that true love never dies, and new love is always around the corner. It also reminded me that there is more than one kind. I....know I repeated this part at least twice in this post, but it's so important to me. Love does not leave you lonely.
Do you know how much of beautiful affirmation that is? There are nights when, yes, it's hard to read about people with their husbands and partners. It's difficult to wonder what I've done wrong, or if I'll ever love again. When crushes fail, and so-called crushes crumble, sometimes a dame needs a reminder. Above all else, it reminds me that those who are no longer here--my mother especially--are still with me in spirit. That their love--her love--will never die, will never end. Mountains is so important to me. What is distance when true love is so strong and stretches so wide?
Remember what Maya said--"Love liberates".
Do U Lie?. I would be lying if I said I didn't text somebody some of these lyrics. I might have ad-libbed, but somebody in my life got these lyrics in a text. It reminds me of a warm Spring day with it's light, smooth tempo. Obviously the movie Under The Cherry Moon was made in France, so it has this very delicate French vibe that I so deeply dig.
Kiss. At this point, I'd like to think that anyone with access to a television in the past 20+ years has seen or at least heard this song by now. By a force one cannot explain, we all know a part of it. For fans, it's like a homecoming song at the Prince revival. You know it, you've quoted it, and you've probably tried to BURN somebody telling them to act their age, and not their shoe size. In all its familiarity, it was still a groove! A comfortable, word-for-word groove that you can't ignore. If you're lucky, you get to KISS somebody while you're singing it. (Try it, it's fun.)
Recently, as I was listening to the SiriusXM Prince Tribute station, I heard this extended remix part. A comical exchange with Prince and some lady. More of his humor, you know? I'm sitting at my desk laughing through the pain and just wondering how anyone could keep a straight face when he did stuff like that. How many outtakes did it take to get the lines right?
Anotherholeinyohead. Salute a jam when you hear one, dig? Prince is the master of angry songs about lovers who don't do right. See Eye Hate U, The Beautiful Ones, Dinner With Delores, Fury. That's just the tip of the iceberg, readers. The tense tempo and hastily listed "I gave yous" speak all on their own:
"I gave my love, I gave my life, I gave my body and mind
We were inseparable. I guess I gave u all of my time
And now u plead insanity and u don't even know the score"
When a lover starts listing the things, you KNOW you've screwed up. Dude, don't fight Prince's love. Don't find another lover while you're with him. Person who did this, how could you betray Prince like this? When the waters of love got rough, yes I played this song. I sang it with equally fast passion, feeling the fire of every single lyric flick off my tongue. Side note--if you need a good quote for an argument, use this one:
Sometimes It Snows In April. It's funny how a song can both help you heal after a breakup, and also heal when its creator has passed on. This song has been both. The death of a relationship can crush any human being. I can recall playing it over and over, shedding many tears and feeling like life was all over. But alas--the slow tempo, piano, and Prince's gentle voice healed those wounds. In his passing, the song allowed me to express my sorrow properly. It was, in fact, the very first thing I wrote when I made it to tumblr.
My love with...that young man...didn't last. Prince's life ended, and I was at a loss for words with a baby in my care that day. After I got off the phone with my dad, she started to cry. I picked her up, took her into the living room, and sang the entire song to her with help from my iPod. It was a heartbreaking moment, but it was one that allowed me to heal as I hurt at the same time. As his music got me through the breakup, once again there I was seeking solace through his talent.
Sometimes... is a song that I've shared with many people. A song that I've seen being used by fellow mourning fans, and people in general who are familiar with Prince's large body of work. Although it speaks of his character Christopher Tracy, I think that anyone can use it to identify with a "long fought Civil War" in their own lives. In anyone's life. For me, it was the death of a 2 year relationship, and the hardship of learning to be without, again. While it has never been the same, I can say that the song helped me heal.
I think that becoming a Buddhist made me stronger, despite being crushed in those first hours that the news hit. Yes, I cried. I left the room so as not to disturb Imani, and cried a fan's tears. I cried a bit and she saw some tears, but I decided in that moment to introduce her to Prince. I sat in the big chair in the living room, and cried softly while I sang 'Eye Wish U Heaven" to her. I played "Mountains", and found my courage. While my heart aches, while I groove to SiriusXM Station 50 and IHeartRadio's Prince station, I'm finding the strength to celebrate instead of mourn. I'm still in denial of saying "Was", but I know Prince is jamming in heaven with the rest of the gang. Jimi, Whitney, Michael, Luther, and my favorite...Amy.
As I collect this and that, and try to match my digital collection with a physical one, I will celebrate his life. I will find beautiful shades of purple and incorporate them in my life. I have a lot of stuff in my collection for years. I treasure those items, and get geeked over new ones. I will sing my favorite songs with pride, and share them with new loves, family, and friends. I will think of all the singles I've listened to on the Red Line, doing yardwork, and just trying to write the Great American Novel at 4 AM.
I missed a lot of concerts, but I have a lot of other memories in my heart. I got to see him rock out with Third Eye Girl, watched him be fabulous on New Girl, and spent my last year in Chicago with him singing to me about Clouds and breakfasts that could wait. He united generations of people who continue to connect online to this day. He knew that Black lives and books mattered. He gave generously without making a big fuss. He had the most beautiful eyes and heart-warming smile. I will never forget Prince Rogers Nelson as long as I live. I celebrate him as a fan, and I ache not as one who knew him--but as a person who truly loved the craft he wanted to share with the world.
There was one album I almost forgot--Parade. You know, after three weeks of trying to write every moment down, it became this thick cloud of purple smoke. I had it all in my head, but got so excited when it was time to execute. I was afraid that none of it would come out right. I felt that same excitement when I sat down to listen to Parade. I'd already ordered Under the Cherry Moon, but I was caught on the album. I replayed it over and over, never skipping any of the tracks. Because this album means so much, this will be the only one in the post where every track is discussed.
Christopher Tracy's Parade. Yes, it sounds like marching music. That's exactly what I wanted to do the first time I heard it. I saw myself in Under The Cherry Moon black and white, marching down the street in some fancy, lacy get-up with stick in hand, leading children down the street. I saw myself having a good time with that song, and closed my eyes to absorb the wonderfulness. Once I saw the movie, it all became crystal clear--the beauty, the mirth, the....actual introduction into Christopher Tracy's wild life.
It's bouncy, funky, and has this amazing beat that sticks to your soul. Perfect driving song. Hit those corners flawlessly, sing along.
New Position. More funk. Interesting song. Double entendre, perhaps? A "new position", meaning trying something new than the same ol', same ol'? Or, a "new position" like.....you know....
Heh heh heh. Isn't Prince the best? His songs often make you think. With him, it's usually deeper than what's presented. A "shot of new spunk" can mean a lot of things. Please consult your Internet website of choice to find out more, because I'm not going down that second road. "Spunk"--can also mean spirit on the first half. Leaving it riiiight at that. Interpretation shall be left up to you.
I Wonder U. I love the guitar intro. Kind of reminds me of when people see somebody who looks good, and say "mmm mmm mmm". It's technically an instrumental, but there's some lyrics tossed betwixt the funk. It's short, but it's just got this....cool funk. Very 80's with the synth tones, cool bass line. I Wonder U is kind of like the song you play when you see somebody fine, and you're checking them out. It made me think of how I used to look at my ex when he would be walking down the street to my house. Or, how he looked in his uniform...uh....ahem.
....But I suppose you could also just listen to it and groove.
Under The Cherry Moon. What would a movie be without a theme of romance? Steamy kisses, hopelessly romantic lyrics that drip with the kind of sap that yours truly lives for, and that heartbeat-like tempo that soothes the soul. Somebody woo me already. This was the second ringtone I used for my ex, and rightfully so. I annoyed the ever-lovin' crap outta him, but I was hypnotized. I was gone, darlings. If I could spend all day just sitting with him and listening so soft music, I would have done it. At times, I did do it. Those were some wonderful times.
All memories aside, Under The Cherry Moon has this romantic vibe that's smooth as true silk, and as rich as the fanciest berry and cream cheesecake with a white chocolate drizzle. It is sweet, devoted, and passionate. The entire set of lyrics deserves your attention.
"How can I stand 2 stay where I am'
Poor butterfly who don't understand
Why can't I fly away in a special sky'
If I don't find my destiny soon,
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon
Poor butterfly who don't understand
Why can't I fly away in a special sky'
If I don't find my destiny soon,
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon
I want to live life to the ultimate high
Maybe I'll die young like heroes die
Maybe I'll kiss u some wild special way
If nobody kills me or thrills me soon,
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon
Maybe I'll die young like heroes die
Maybe I'll kiss u some wild special way
If nobody kills me or thrills me soon,
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon
If that's alright
Lovers like us dear are born 2 die
If they don't find us what will we do'
I guess we'll make love under the cherry moon
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon"
If they don't find us what will we do'
I guess we'll make love under the cherry moon
I'll die in your arms under the cherry moon"
Girls And Boys. My ringtone for an entire Summer. The Id 'tone for my special guy from many moons ago. The jam of jams despite his departure. More funk, some bubbly R&B, and the hottest dance tune to sweat all ya relaxer out. Even if you lack rhythm, you'll soon find it in your hips when it comes to this song. At the time, I SWORE up and down this song was about me and my guy. Oh silly, younger me. I was promised to no man, just tied up with old emotional strings to some guy in NY, while I had a fine piece of sanity and geek-itude from Riverdale in my arms. Foolish younger me.
The song is so addictive. I say that about a lot of Prince songs, but this rings true 100% for this particular one. The video is also this fast-paced whirlwind of glam and funk, full of Prince shaking his perfect behind in those tight dress pants....phew.
"I love u baby, I love u so much,
maybe we can stay in touch
Meet me in another world, space and joy,
vous etes tres belle, mama, girls and boys"
I smile just thinking about that part, just ringing from my little pink Razr as I waited for my sweetheart's call. I sing along with the words just pouring from my lips, so easily memorized with perfect timing. Lay these lines on somebody if you can sing AND speak perfect French. You might get lucky.
Life Can Be So Nice. A declaration of love with a little funk, a little pop, a little R&B is always a win in my book. I'm a sucker for lyrics, so this is probably why LCBSN (I'm so lazy lol) is such a masterpiece to me. When you find somebody special, and they're all you have on the brain, it can be an amazing experience. The rest of the world is boring, but the thought of them is all things wonderful.
"This morning there was joy in my heart 'cause I know that I loved u so
Scrambled eggs, are so boring, 4 u're all, all that I want 2 know
Kisses never lie when delivered with milk from your lips
Morning glories never cry. My love for u, baby, drips"
Can we also be adults for a minute? I know this is a tribute post full of my feelings about albums and songs, but I have always liked how Prince tends to mix roamance with erotica, fearleslly. Sometimes one takes over the other, but the wonderful balance always tickles my fancy. Yes, life can be so nice...
Venus De Milo. One of my favorite instrumentals, brought to you by Prince & The Revolution. I already discussed it on my list of Prince songs to snuggle to, but I don't mind writing about it again. A Prince instrumental is always a journey. I first found this out by listening to The Sensual Everafter. As my collection grew, tracks like North and a majority of the Madhouse tracks let me know something--he means business even when barely a word has been said.
I feel...floaty when I listen to this song. That's the only I personally can describe what Prince's gorgeous instrumental does to me. I see myself chilling while getting some writing done, but I can also see myself relaxing by a warm body of water. In my wildest dreams, I'm just in bed on a lazy day with someone I love. Holding hands, maybe. This song is just absolutely lovely to me. The piano's front and center, the strings are softly accompanying, and my heart and soul are already growing a purple garden full of fragrant flowers and good memories. My advice--single or taken--is to share this song with someone you love. Even if that's yourself. Share it with yourself and get some late night work done.
Mountains. When you're so sure "that guy" is going to be the one, and something happens, yes you need a pick me up. This song has been my pick me up since I heard it. Not only because it makes such a supreme ringtone, but because it reminded me that true love never dies, and new love is always around the corner. It also reminded me that there is more than one kind. I....know I repeated this part at least twice in this post, but it's so important to me. Love does not leave you lonely.
"Love will conquer, if you just believe."
Remember what Maya said--"Love liberates".
Do U Lie?. I would be lying if I said I didn't text somebody some of these lyrics. I might have ad-libbed, but somebody in my life got these lyrics in a text. It reminds me of a warm Spring day with it's light, smooth tempo. Obviously the movie Under The Cherry Moon was made in France, so it has this very delicate French vibe that I so deeply dig.
Kiss. At this point, I'd like to think that anyone with access to a television in the past 20+ years has seen or at least heard this song by now. By a force one cannot explain, we all know a part of it. For fans, it's like a homecoming song at the Prince revival. You know it, you've quoted it, and you've probably tried to BURN somebody telling them to act their age, and not their shoe size. In all its familiarity, it was still a groove! A comfortable, word-for-word groove that you can't ignore. If you're lucky, you get to KISS somebody while you're singing it. (Try it, it's fun.)
Recently, as I was listening to the SiriusXM Prince Tribute station, I heard this extended remix part. A comical exchange with Prince and some lady. More of his humor, you know? I'm sitting at my desk laughing through the pain and just wondering how anyone could keep a straight face when he did stuff like that. How many outtakes did it take to get the lines right?
Anotherholeinyohead. Salute a jam when you hear one, dig? Prince is the master of angry songs about lovers who don't do right. See Eye Hate U, The Beautiful Ones, Dinner With Delores, Fury. That's just the tip of the iceberg, readers. The tense tempo and hastily listed "I gave yous" speak all on their own:
"I gave my love, I gave my life, I gave my body and mind
We were inseparable. I guess I gave u all of my time
And now u plead insanity and u don't even know the score"
When a lover starts listing the things, you KNOW you've screwed up. Dude, don't fight Prince's love. Don't find another lover while you're with him. Person who did this, how could you betray Prince like this? When the waters of love got rough, yes I played this song. I sang it with equally fast passion, feeling the fire of every single lyric flick off my tongue. Side note--if you need a good quote for an argument, use this one:
"U need another lover, like you need another hole in your head!"
"All good things, they say, never last."
Sometimes... is a song that I've shared with many people. A song that I've seen being used by fellow mourning fans, and people in general who are familiar with Prince's large body of work. Although it speaks of his character Christopher Tracy, I think that anyone can use it to identify with a "long fought Civil War" in their own lives. In anyone's life. For me, it was the death of a 2 year relationship, and the hardship of learning to be without, again. While it has never been the same, I can say that the song helped me heal.
I think that becoming a Buddhist made me stronger, despite being crushed in those first hours that the news hit. Yes, I cried. I left the room so as not to disturb Imani, and cried a fan's tears. I cried a bit and she saw some tears, but I decided in that moment to introduce her to Prince. I sat in the big chair in the living room, and cried softly while I sang 'Eye Wish U Heaven" to her. I played "Mountains", and found my courage. While my heart aches, while I groove to SiriusXM Station 50 and IHeartRadio's Prince station, I'm finding the strength to celebrate instead of mourn. I'm still in denial of saying "Was", but I know Prince is jamming in heaven with the rest of the gang. Jimi, Whitney, Michael, Luther, and my favorite...Amy.
As I collect this and that, and try to match my digital collection with a physical one, I will celebrate his life. I will find beautiful shades of purple and incorporate them in my life. I have a lot of stuff in my collection for years. I treasure those items, and get geeked over new ones. I will sing my favorite songs with pride, and share them with new loves, family, and friends. I will think of all the singles I've listened to on the Red Line, doing yardwork, and just trying to write the Great American Novel at 4 AM.
I missed a lot of concerts, but I have a lot of other memories in my heart. I got to see him rock out with Third Eye Girl, watched him be fabulous on New Girl, and spent my last year in Chicago with him singing to me about Clouds and breakfasts that could wait. He united generations of people who continue to connect online to this day. He knew that Black lives and books mattered. He gave generously without making a big fuss. He had the most beautiful eyes and heart-warming smile. I will never forget Prince Rogers Nelson as long as I live. I celebrate him as a fan, and I ache not as one who knew him--but as a person who truly loved the craft he wanted to share with the world.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Nelson.