"Hollywood conjures images of the past".

I mean here's Skipper, the album just started a few seconds ago, and he says to WB Music, AND WB pictures : "you're phony", right to their faces, and he gets away with that? It gets printed and sold?

And that goes up to #1, and no one hears it? He's talking about "Batman" the movie, and the whole merchandising around it, including himself.
Bashing them (and himself) with Lovesexy Prince.

There's a deep sadness that never surfaces on the rest album, which is pretty poppy everywhere else. A bleaker SOTT the song.


Could this lyrics be the beginning of Prince demanding for more creativity and risk-taking in show-business (and at WB)? The premice of the conflict?
When he started the WB wars, because he has a big ego, people thought he was fighting only for himself. All artists jumped in the wagon since then, but he's the only one who dared.

Makes me think about how he asked to Madonna, to join him in his crusade...
Darn Madge, thou got chicken.

"New world needs spirituality that will last".
Well, it ain't gonna happen soon, son.



There's also the importance of "Yellow Smiley offers me X like he's drinking Seven Up", which are way more potent lyrics about drugs than the ones about the ecstasy incident in "Anna Stesia"...

It's worth mentioning, if I'm not mistaken, that this is the only clear reference to the ecstasy incident in his entire discography (but specialists will probably prove me wrong), "Anna Stesia" aside.



"Would our rap be different, if we only knew"
This one is great, he sounds like some Jiminy Cricket of the Capitol,
I hear "we" as "we, the repented politicians".
And there's this feeling that The Doom is already upon us, a fatality in "if we only knew".

Clare Fischer phrases are incredible, but it could be strings lines composed for something entirely different, I don't know. It's a fact that Clare and Prince shared a lot of multi-tracks recordings, and Skipper just picked here and there during the years.


William Orbit nailed it, when he turned it into Dance Floor Apocalypse.



Could "The Future" be Skipper's most depressed/ing song ever?

[Edited 8/7/15 10:39am]

We need more threads like that

.

I don't read the xtc sentence as a reference to the Blue Tuesday incident at all, more a general constatation/siocial comment. The "Yellow Smiley" was the symbol of house music/acid house, a genre closely associated with the explosion of ecstasy as an entertaining drug at the time (clubbers would take it every week-end, therefore "drinking it like 7-up"). It's interesting however that the song would be on an album with Batdance, Prince's own take on house music.

.

However I'd never paid attention to the fact that the Hollywood line was a critic of Hollywood on the OST of that year's biggest Hollywood blockbuster, thanks for pointing it out

.

The strings are sampled from Crystal Ball, at the time unreleased, you'll recognize them if u pay attention.

.

It's a great track anyway, and a wonderful album opener

Odd how he puts in those kind of lyrics in a movie about a man bat.

databank said:

We need more threads like that

.

I don't read the xtc sentence as a reference to the Blue Tuesday incident at all, more a general constatation/siocial comment. The "Yellow Smiley" was the symbol of house music/acid house, a genre closely associated with the explosion of ecstasy as an entertaining drug at the time (clubbers would take it every week-end, therefore "drinking it like 7-up"). It's interesting however that the song would be on an album with Batdance, Prince's own take on house music.

.

However I'd never paid attention to the fact that the Hollywood line was a critic of Hollywood on the OST of that year's biggest Hollywood blockbuster, thanks for pointing it out

.

The strings are sampled from Crystal Ball, at the time unreleased, you'll recognize them if u pay attention.

.

It's a great track anyway, and a wonderful album opener

Ow man, I knew that!
I'm getting either tired, or old.
Fuck, could be both

And the chorus... "I've seen the Future and it will be".
Some kind of "Apocalypse according to St. John".
And at the same time, there's this ambivalence, the beauty of the strings above urban machinery, so you can never really tell if he's talking about a bright or a bleak future.
But boy, it's rough.

Will the New Power Generation prevail, Ladies and Gentlemen?
Will our hero get out of WB claws?
Don't miss our next episode : "Graffiti Bridge"!

databank said:

We need more threads like that

.

I don't read the xtc sentence as a reference to the Blue Tuesday incident at all, more a general constatation/siocial comment. The "Yellow Smiley" was the symbol of house music/acid house, a genre closely associated with the explosion of ecstasy as an entertaining drug at the time (clubbers would take it every week-end, therefore "drinking it like 7-up"). It's interesting however that the song would be on an album with Batdance, Prince's own take on house music.

.

However I'd never paid attention to the fact that the Hollywood line was a critic of Hollywood on the OST of that year's biggest Hollywood blockbuster, thanks for pointing it out

.

The strings are sampled from Crystal Ball, at the time unreleased, you'll recognize them if u pay attention.

.

It's a great track anyway, and a wonderful album opener

It is? Brett Fischer pointed out in an interview that the strings were arranged for a different song, and stressed that the song it was arranged for was even in a different key to The Future. Didn't know it was Crystal ball. Anyway - I think it's an example of Prince's great ability to hear were everything fits. The strings works wonderfully on this track as well.

I think Prince deserves co-credit for the arrangements attributed to Fischer. He rarely used what was given to him by Fischer without changing it.

In the Batman film, the stuff Joker was poisoning people with was called Smilex. It is interesting that Prince weaves his own life in with the movie in the song The Future: "Yellow Smiley offers me X(short for Ecstasy), like he's drinking Seven Up....I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup."

So I guess Prince is saying that he never did take the Ecstasy that he was rumored to have taken.

williamb610 said:

In the Batman film, the stuff Joker was poisoning people with was called Smilex. It is interesting that Prince weaves his own life in with the movie in the song The Future: "Yellow Smiley offers me X(short for Ecstasy), like he's drinking Seven Up....I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup."

So I guess Prince is saying that he never did take the Ecstasy that he was rumored to have taken.

I think the Blue Tuesday story was totally unknown at the time, the first time I heard of it was years later thanks to Per Nilsen/Uptown's research (unsure if it was already told in the Uptown article on TBA in 94 or if it only surfaced in DMSR in 99) and I think it was they who revealed it (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).

It's extremely unlikely that this line has anything to do with P's own story, just a social comment as I explained above.

But thx for pointing out the parallel between the Joker's drug and the song, it makes even more sense particularly since Yellow Smiley, at the same time as being house music's symbol, could also be read as a mataphor for the Joket himself (the man who smiles).

williamb610 said:

In the Batman film, the stuff Joker was poisoning people with was called Smilex. It is interesting that Prince weaves his own life in with the movie in the song The Future: "Yellow Smiley offers me X(short for Ecstasy), like he's drinking Seven Up....I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup."

So I guess Prince is saying that he never did take the Ecstasy that he was rumored to have taken.

I think the Blue Tuesday story was totally unknown at the time, the first time I heard of it was years later thanks to Per Nilsen/Uptown's research (unsure if it was already told in the Uptown article on TBA in 94 or if it only surfaced in DMSR in 99) and I think it was they who revealed it (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).

It's extremely unlikely that this line has anything to do with P's own story, just a social comment as I explained above.

But thx for pointing out the parallel between the Joker's drug and the song, it makes even more sense particularly since Yellow Smiley, at the same time as being house music's symbol, could also be read as a mataphor for the Joket himself (the man who smiles).

It's quite a good track but the way his mispronounces 'spirituality' to fit with the rhythm, is rather awkward.....

Link to the mentioned William Orbit song please.

williamb610 said:

In the Batman film, the stuff Joker was poisoning people with was called Smilex. It is interesting that Prince weaves his own life in with the movie in the song The Future: "Yellow Smiley offers me X(short for Ecstasy), like he's drinking Seven Up....I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup."

So I guess Prince is saying that he never did take the Ecstasy that he was rumored to have taken.

Or.... now that he knows what it's like, he kindly refuses.

By the way, would it make any difference if he drank the razor blades from a glass cup? Or just ate them? Sometimes rhymes for rhymes' sake can make one sound pretty dumb.

aaroncanderson said:

Link to the mentioned William Orbit song please.

You could tweet Prince and ask if it's going to be on Tidal.

What I want to know is how created that guitar sound you hear at about 2:08. So creative.

dandan said:

What I want to know is how created that guitar sound you hear at about 2:08. So creative.

It's a bit similar to what he did on Hello for example, and I always suspected in those cases the guitar is sped-up in a way similar to Camille's voice. Sheila used that trick on Save The People, too (IDK who plays the guitar on it but apparently not Prince).

Pentacle said:

aaroncanderson said:

Link to the mentioned William Orbit song please.

"Dance Floor Apocalypse" was a figure of speech

I'm referring to his remix, which I just Orgnoted you.

NorthC said:

Oh and I checked Per Nilsens article on the Black Album in Uptown #17 (spring 1995) and there is no mention of XTC there.

Ah cool thanks for clarifying that. It's a common misconception that Blue Tuesday was known to the public from 1988 on, some orgers in past threads even believed it was a PR stunt as part of a TBA conspiracy/hoax, but it seems it was indeed unrevealed before 1999 and DMSR.

Therefore, even if Prince had his 1987 experience with x in mind when he wrote The Future, he couldn't possibly expect anyone to get the hint

NorthC said:

Pentacle said:

It's quite a good track but the way his mispronounces 'spirituality' to fit with the rhythm, is rather awkward.....

Some people really complain about everything...

Yes, something that could be 'easily' fixed and that really puts one off.

But of course there are also Prince fans on this site saying 'well I don't care that he puts down women on Muse 2 The Pharaoh because the music is so great'. Some things one can ignore, some things one can't...

[Edited 8/10/15 10:30am]

databank said:

dandan said:

What I want to know is how created that guitar sound you hear at about 2:08. So creative.

It's a bit similar to what he did on Hello for example, and I always suspected in those cases the guitar is sped-up in a way similar to Camille's voice. Sheila used that trick on Save The People, too (IDK who plays the guitar on it but apparently not Prince).

It's apparently a guitar sample played on the keyboards.
We hear it sped up because of the keyboard phrase he plays.

It seems that almost all parts have been recorded then put into a sampler to be triggered at will.

It's one of the rare cases where Prince uses synth presets without sounding corny. "People Without" is kinda cool, but it sounds like a kid going through all his keyboards programs.

I wonder if some people dig "The Future" but don't like AOA. I mean it's basically the same recipe : stock sounds used the Princey way.

[Edited 8/10/15 15:00pm]

Pentacle said:

williamb610 said:

In the Batman film, the stuff Joker was poisoning people with was called Smilex. It is interesting that Prince weaves his own life in with the movie in the song The Future: "Yellow Smiley offers me X(short for Ecstasy), like he's drinking Seven Up....I would rather drink six razorblades...razorblades from a paper cup."

So I guess Prince is saying that he never did take the Ecstasy that he was rumored to have taken.

Or.... now that he knows what it's like, he kindly refuses.

By the way, would it make any difference if he drank the razor blades from a glass cup? Or just ate them? Sometimes rhymes for rhymes' sake can make one sound pretty dumb.

I've never been much for parties (and certainly not raves), but I assumed it was a paper cup to go with the idea of people distributing things in a crowded out-of-control party atmosphere. This isn't a dinner party with refined passing of glasses--you drink those razorblades right down and toss the cup, cuz you just don't care anymore.

Pentacle said:

NorthC said:

Pentacle said: Some people really complain about everything...

Yes, something that could be 'easily' fixed and that really puts one off.

But of course there are also Prince fans on this site saying 'well I don't care that he puts down women on Muse 2 The Pharaoh because the music is so great'. Some things one can ignore, some things one can't...

[Edited 8/10/15 10:30am]

But as I pointed out in another thread, "trippy picture SHOE" is the worse example of Prince mispronouncing something on the Batman album.

the razor blade is a cocktail. he'd rather drink a 6 servings of alcohol than do x.

there could be a link between old vs new with the whole hollywood conjuring

images of the past. so a cocktail (old) versus synthetic drug (new) and pretty

phony who flashing a loaded pistol (new) versus playing cops n robbers (old/
childhood) etc etc.

so looking into the future, with the knowledge of the past. but have you learnt
a lesson? etc.

I've always been curious what the standpoint of this song is, whether it's hopeful at all or completely despairing.

"I've seen the future, and it will be"--is that the complete thought, or is it left intentionally incomplete? If it's complete, does that just mean there will be a future? Things aren't gonna just stop? And then we get

"I've seen the future and it works"--okay. Famous quote concerning the early Soviet system by then supporter reporter Lincoln Steffens. What the heck? I mean, if you're going to say it, you almost have to know where it came from, so what does Prince mean by it?

"If there's life after we will see"--so is he uncertain? So that's not what he meant earlier with "I've seen the future and it will be," because it sounds like the sort of thing he might say to mean there is an afterlife, but now there's a big "if." But "if" there is, things'll be okay?

"So I can't go/so U don't go/Don't go like a jerk"--is this "jerk" a reference to being an unpleasant, unlikable person, or a stupid person, or what? Is it a call, somehow, for moral/religious behavior, so I/U have a better chance to see a life after/future? Or is it just a stupid rhyme-forced nothing? And which came first--the "and it works" or the "like a jerk." If it's a weak rhyme, which one did he mean?

The real thing that gets me is the "I've seen the future and it works"--it's always seemed so strange that he'd use something that originally referred to what I'm pretty sure Prince would think of as a failed system, and I don't know why he did it. Or did he not know its origin, but just had a vague notion of the phrase's existence.

And let's end, for almost no reason at all other than I really like both songs, with Leonard Cohen's reference from his own "The Future": "I've seen the future, brother: It is murder."

I like The Future a lot, and I think it slots right in to the rest of Prince's apocalyptic visionary songs. I guess it's more SOTT than 1999 in tone which I like, it's very ominous and serious in tone, it's a dance track but not a party track. I think he was going for SOTT pt.2. The Crystal Ball strings might've just been handy to use (has he used them elsewhere too? That rings a bell), and the songs are certainly on the same wavelength, it's a nice meeting of themes, but possibly just that he had all this string work he could pull out rather that getting it commissioned anew. Post-Lovesexy definately seems the time that he was back to his one-man band in the studio act, cloistered away in Paisley Park, I think that's one reason why the music from 88-90 sounds the way it does.

I've never thought about the irony of the Hollywood reference before, I don't think it's a nod or slight to the movie, more a general critique of the fake veneer Hollywood gives to American life and how such illusions can never be anything more than temporary, hence he's seen through them because in the future they're exposed as lies or fake - again I think Prince's future is an apocalyptic one - where as in 1999 he is partying in the street even as the sky falls down, The Future is giving an account of what happens before the actual big show and more about social ills, just like SOTT.

IstenSzek said:

the razor blade is a cocktail. he'd rather drink a 6 servings of alcohol than do x.

there could be a link between old vs new with the whole hollywood conjuring

images of the past. so a cocktail (old) versus synthetic drug (new) and pretty

phony who flashing a loaded pistol (new) versus playing cops n robbers (old/
childhood) etc etc.

so looking into the future, with the knowledge of the past. but have you learnt
a lesson? etc.

Aha, thanks IstenSzek & EddieC

EddieC said:

Pentacle said:

Yes, something that could be 'easily' fixed and that really puts one off.

But of course there are also Prince fans on this site saying 'well I don't care that he puts down women on Muse 2 The Pharaoh because the music is so great'. Some things one can ignore, some things one can't...

[Edited 8/10/15 10:30am]

But as I pointed out in another thread, "trippy picture SHOE" is the worse example of Prince mispronouncing something on the Batman album.

Noted!

About the "Crystal Ball" strings, the sample from "The Future" sounds a lot like the phrase starting at 2:45 and ending on "terrorize the western world", minus the horns.

bonatoc said:

About the "Crystal Ball" strings, the sample from "The Future" sounds a lot like the phrase starting at 2:45 and ending on "terrorize the western world", minus the horns.

somehow i've never noticed that before, about those crystal ball strings being used on the future.

they did sound familiar somehow but i never made the link. just goes to show that even after i've

loved a song for 25 years, there can still be a surprise once in a while. good stuff!