Speaking of Laydown, what do you think these lines mean (especially, but not exclusively, the last two)?:

To say this name borders on blasphemy

Everybody wanna be me

If your girlfriend didn't have the surgery

Maybe she could see what I see.

The first two lines are about Prince himself.

I'm not sure about the latter two. But given that Laydown is a response to fan complaints about the Lotusflower website, I have wondered if these lines referred to the person Prince called a "shim" back at the Paisley Park concert. There were a lot of complaints about it here on the org. So maybe he's saying if the complainers' girlfriend didn't have the surgery, she could see what he sees (a penis).

That's just pure speculation on my part. I have no idea, really, what he's talking about.

Efan,

can you elaborate on this?:

"So maybe he's saying if the complainers' girlfriend didn't have the surgery, she could see what he sees (a penis)."

How did you get to this point from the point about fan complaints?

Probably just him shit-talking to/about someone he was (is?) pissed at , I really don't think it's that complex.

armpit said:

Probably just him shit-talking to/about someone he was (is?) pissed at , I really don't think it's that complex.

I don't think he's just "shit-talking". I have an idea in mind of what he's talking about here, but I'd like to read some other interpretations before I say what I think.

strmn said:

Efan,

can you elaborate on this?:

"So maybe he's saying if the complainers' girlfriend didn't have the surgery, she could see what he sees (a penis)."

How did you get to this point from the point about fan complaints?

It was just a contentious time. People were complaining about the website a LOT (I was one of them) and there were tons of heated topics on the org about it. The Paisley Park concert was one of the bones (maybe the only bone) that Prince threw out to try to satisfy the site's members. But it didn't go over well--nothing with that website ever did--and while the concert itself was good (or so I've heard), people criticized several aspects of the show. The "shim" callout was one of them that got a lot of attention.

Anyway, I might be totally offbase on this. What I am sure of is that Laydown is a response to the complaints about the website, so I view the lyrics through that lens.

Efan said:

strmn said:

Efan,

can you elaborate on this?:

"So maybe he's saying if the complainers' girlfriend didn't have the surgery, she could see what he sees (a penis)."

How did you get to this point from the point about fan complaints?

It was just a contentious time. People were complaining about the website a LOT (I was one of them) and there were tons of heated topics on the org about it. The Paisley Park concert was one of the bones (maybe the only bone) that Prince threw out to try to satisfy the site's members. But it didn't go over well--nothing with that website ever did--and while the concert itself was good (or so I've heard), people criticized several aspects of the show. The "shim" callout was one of them that got a lot of attention.

Anyway, I might be totally offbase on this. What I am sure of is that Laydown is a response to the complaints about the website, so I view the lyrics through that lens.

OK, I was with you to that point, but I don't understand how you're tying that to your remark about the complainer's girlfriend having surgery and him seeing a penis.

[Edited 4/14/11 15:31pm]

it's obviously a personal dig at someone who gave him grief.. he's insulting the guy by saying his gf tits are sooooo huge & obviously false she can't see past them at whatever prince disaproves of

or he's suggesting she has a dick, hence insulting the guy.

maybe prince had just been out on the lash when he wrote these lyrics, maybe smoked a fat joint. we know when he sang this on lopez the gen public were thinking what theee fuckity?

i dont get the connection to the song & the lotuslower site at all. and awhile ago someone suggested the surgery meant a boob job that has the girlfrnds breasts so big that they're in her face, blinding her. but all speculative so none of us can be dogmatic

This is exactly why I don't like the song. The lyrics are useless to anyone not named Prince. Even if you try to imagine what ithe lyrics are about, it's nothing compelling. Just some vague insult at the fanbase to a fairly whack beat.

Where's the beef aka what is your beef as in I have no problem with you.

strmn said:

Speaking of Laydown, what do you think these lines mean (especially, but not exclusively, the last two)?:

To say this name borders on blasphemy

Everybody wanna be me

If your girlfriend didn't have the surgery

Maybe she could see what I see.

I get the sense that he's talking about his own gender in the last 2 lines.

I think it's just Prince being aggressive since the song calls for it. He's calling someone's girlfriend fake/fragile/inferior to what he gets all the time. Same kind of aggression from the album.

strmn said:

Efan said:

It was just a contentious time. People were complaining about the website a LOT (I was one of them) and there were tons of heated topics on the org about it. The Paisley Park concert was one of the bones (maybe the only bone) that Prince threw out to try to satisfy the site's members. But it didn't go over well--nothing with that website ever did--and while the concert itself was good (or so I've heard), people criticized several aspects of the show. The "shim" callout was one of them that got a lot of attention.

Anyway, I might be totally offbase on this. What I am sure of is that Laydown is a response to the complaints about the website, so I view the lyrics through that lens.

OK, I was with you to that point, but I don't understand how you're tying that to your remark about the complainer's girlfriend having surgery and him seeing a penis.

[Edited 4/14/11 15:31pm]

Say a person starts off life as a guy. Then he "has the surgery" (i.e., gender-reassignment surgery). He no longer has his penis and lives his life as a woman. Prince still has his penis. So the "shim" (to use Prince's word) can no longer see what Prince sees when he looks down.

Once again, I will grant that this interpretation might not be a correct one.

Efan said:

strmn said:

OK, I was with you to that point, but I don't understand how you're tying that to your remark about the complainer's girlfriend having surgery and him seeing a penis.

[Edited 4/14/11 15:31pm]

Say a person starts off life as a guy. Then he "has the surgery" (i.e., gender-reassignment surgery). He no longer has his penis and lives his life as a woman. Prince still has his penis. So the "shim" (to use Prince's word) can no longer see what Prince sees when he looks down.

Once again, I will grant that this interpretation might not be a correct one.

OK. Now I get you. I have never come across the term "shim" before, though it shouldn't have been hard to figure out that it's a derogatory term for someone post-op. But I also wasn't familiar with the incident of him insulting someone that you referred to above.

Nevertheless, I did think that he was referring to gender-reassigment. But I thought he was saying something about his own gender. In my interpretation, the girlfriend has had gender reassigment surgery, but unlike Prince, her gender now fits with her self-image and self-understanding. Since Prince is in a body that doesn't "fit" with social expectations for his gendered self-image, he can understand things about gender confusion that she no longer does. I must admit that even as I type this your interpretation seems more compelling. Or maybe I just need to refine mine.

[Edited 4/14/11 20:29pm]

This song is complete trash, and only appeling to a public who is not familiar with his music. It was rubbish.

This thread is so confusing! I've never heard any of this stuff before, I don't even know what a shim is!

Dare I endure the agonising experience of listening to the track all the way through to check out these lyrics?

NouveauDance said:

This thread is so confusing! I've never heard any of this stuff before, I don't even know what a shim is!

Dare I endure the agonising experience of listening to the track all the way through to check out these lyrics?

A "shim" (if I understand this correctly) is a derogatory term for someone whose gender is "ambiguous". It is a combination of 'she' and 'him'.

strmn said:

NouveauDance said:

This thread is so confusing! I've never heard any of this stuff before, I don't even know what a shim is!

Dare I endure the agonising experience of listening to the track all the way through to check out these lyrics?

A "shim" (if I understand this correctly) is a derogatory term for someone whose gender is "ambiguous". It is a combination of 'she' and 'him'.

Ahhh, I get it. Like my avatar!

NouveauDance said:

strmn said:

A "shim" (if I understand this correctly) is a derogatory term for someone whose gender is "ambiguous". It is a combination of 'she' and 'him'.

Ahhh, I get it. Like my avatar!

This is one of the threads that talked about the shim comment: http://new.prince.org/msg...?&pg=5

Since no one remembers the incident, maybe it's just me.

funksterr said:

This is exactly why I don't like the song. The lyrics are useless to anyone not named Prince. Even if you try to imagine what ithe lyrics are about, it's nothing compelling. Just some vague insult at the fanbase to a fairly whack beat.

Sounds like the tantrum scene in PR- "Nobody understands your music, but yourself".

Although, I didn't listen to the song (didn't appeal to me at all) or had anything to do with the website, yet I agree with the bold comment nonetheless.

Efan said:

This is one of the threads that talked about the shim comment: http://new.prince.org/msg...?&pg=5

Since no one remembers the incident, maybe it's just me.

OK, I looked at the thread. Nasty. I don't remember it because I wasn't on here then nor was I at the concert. I would have been pretty disappointed if I had been at the concert and saw that happen.