I've been listening to this a lot lately; incredibly beautiful.

But, even after all these years I still have no idea what he's singing about? What is the greatest romance ever sold? Is it about Adam and Eve? What is the reason that Adam never left Eve? Is it sold because it was popularized in an incorrect version of the Bible?

Thoughts?

Sexy song!

....Sold? Yeah I have no idea what he was telling, with this song.

But I love it, the 8 minutes remix from Rave IN2 is my fave.

sro100 said:

I've been listening to this a lot lately; incredibly beautiful.

But, even after all these years I still have no idea what he's singing about? What is the greatest romance ever sold? Is it about Adam and Eve? What is the reason that Adam never left Eve? Is it sold because it was popularized in an incorrect version of the Bible?

Thoughts?

That's the best theory on why its titled "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" I've seen so far. I've always thought the title must be just something he thought was cool and didn't care if it really fit the rest of the lyrics. I think you might be onto something.

I like the mood of the verses, but the bridge and the chorus do nothing for me. I personally don't get a feeling that its leading to anything satisfactory musically. There's a very long bridge section - too long - and then the chorus is just a repeated phrase.

The Bible is the highest selling book ever.

The reason Adam never left Eve; Eve was made from Adam, she was a part of him made flesh, and Adam loved her.

[Edited 7/12/16 2:53am]

benni said:

The Bible is the highest selling book ever.

The reason Adam never left Eve; Eve was made from Adam, she was a part of him made flesh, and Adam loved her.

[Edited 7/12/16 2:53am]

Or Eve was pregnant.

My theory: I always took it as he was reflecting on times of him and Mayte. They talked about being one person in a past life (so this is where you end, and you and I begin). But then the chorus dismisses it.

Their romance was promoted a lot with the "Coincidence or fate?" write up in the wedding programme, and it was online, and they talked to Oprah about it, and so forth. For a private guy, he really put out a lot of their thoughts about being connected to the public.

To that point, it probably was the greatest romance he had ever experienced, and was probably her first big one (being so young when they met). He wrote songs about her and sold them on Emancipation. Then he writes about her again, as a send-off, on Rave.

thedance said:

....Sold? Yeah I have no idea what he was telling, with this song.

But I love it, the 8 minutes remix from Rave IN2 is my fave.

Never got it either. It's a speed bump in an otherwise very pretty song to me.

morningsong said:

thedance said:

....Sold? Yeah I have no idea what he was telling, with this song.

But I love it, the 8 minutes remix from Rave IN2 is my fave.

Never got it either. It's a speed bump in an otherwise very pretty song to me.

Independent of any biblical interpretation...

.

This song is one of the Vanity Mirror Theme Video's (a song that looks like it's been inspired by Vanity). Also, the woman in this video does look alot like Vanity.

.

If you look at the songs that have mirror videos, they do tend to be the heartfelt, romantic ones. eg. WDC, Kiss, Diamonds & Pearls etc.

.

Maybe he's just commenting on his relationship with Vanity, and the fact he's written all these songs (the mirror videos) that hang together as a story - and that it's the greatest romance that's ever been sold.

.

[Edited 7/14/16 9:05am]

SunnyGirl8 said:

morningsong said:

Never got it either. It's a speed bump in an otherwise very pretty song to me.

Independent of any biblical interpretation...

.

This song is one of the Vanity Mirror Theme Video's (a song that looks like it's been inspired by Vanity). Obviously, that needs to be confirmed by Prince's book.

.

If you look at the songs that have mirror videos, they do tend to be the heartfelt, romantic ones. eg. WDC, Kiss, Diamonds & Pearls etc.

.

Maybe he's just commenting on his relationship with Vanity and the fact he's written all these songs about her - and that it's the greatest romance that's ever been sold.

.

[Edited 7/12/16 10:44am]

It has never been confirmed that any song mentioning a mirror is about Denise. That is a just a bunch of fans trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

NorthC said:

Has anybody here ever seen he film The Greatest Story Ever Told?

No but the film score was by Alfred Newman. He's a very famous film composer, arranger, orchestrator. Interestingly, both of his sons are composers too - one of them did the score for Finding Nemo.

benni said:

SunnyGirl8 said:

Independent of any biblical interpretation...

.

This song is one of the Vanity Mirror Theme Video's (a song that looks like it's been inspired by Vanity). Obviously, that needs to be confirmed by Prince's book.

.

If you look at the songs that have mirror videos, they do tend to be the heartfelt, romantic ones. eg. WDC, Kiss, Diamonds & Pearls etc.

.

Maybe he's just commenting on his relationship with Vanity and the fact he's written all these songs about her - and that it's the greatest romance that's ever been sold.

.

[Edited 7/12/16 10:44am]

It has never been confirmed that any song mentioning a mirror is about Denise. That is a just a bunch of fans trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Those Vanity theories about songs composed years later are sheer nonsense.

NorthC said:

Has anybody here ever seen he film The Greatest Story Ever Told?

I thought you meant "his" film The Greatest Story. You're just missing the "t" for the. I got so confused there for a minute. *Prince did another film? *



Anyway, yes, it's been awhile though so don't roast my feet over a fire if I don't remember how the film differed from the book.

NorthC said:

Has anybody here ever seen he film The Greatest Story Ever Told?

The story of Jesus. So you think that Jesus is the greatest romance ever sold?

SunnyGirl8 said:

sro100 said:

sro100 said:

I've been listening to this a lot lately; incredibly beautiful.

But, even after all these years I still have no idea what he's singing about? What is the greatest romance ever sold? Is it about Adam and Eve? What is the reason that Adam never left Eve? Is it sold because it was popularized in an incorrect version of the Bible?

Thoughts?

I've been totally lost in this song for a while now; I seem to have missed it when it came out. I've always been fascinated by Prince's way of weaving religion into his songs, and I've been absorbed by trying to figure this one out too. I'm not JW, so I can't comment on that as well, but I am a Sunday School teacher.

I thought your question about whether this was "sold" due to a mistranslated Bible was a great one, so I looked up the first few chapters of Genesis in the New World Translation of the Bible (JW). It is almost identitcal to the most commonly accepted Protestant versions (KJV, NIV), so I don't think that was the intent. Prince Vault also lists this song as having been recorded in 1999, which further confuses the matter.

I definitely think that the title is a play on the movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told", which as others have said was a film about the life of Jesus. Whether the "sold" in the title is derogatory or simply was chosen because it rhymes (and the world was "sold" the concept of romance through this one story) is probably a question for the ages now.

There's a lot of deep stuff about Adam and Eve and relationships in here, IMPO, but my kids are up now, so I'll have to write it down later. Sigh.

TrivialPursuit said:

My theory: I always took it as he was reflecting on times of him and Mayte. They talked about being one person in a past life (so this is where you end, and you and I begin). But then the chorus dismisses it.

Their romance was promoted a lot with the "Coincidence or fate?" write up in the wedding programme, and it was online, and they talked to Oprah about it, and so forth. For a private guy, he really put out a lot of their thoughts about being connected to the public.

To that point, it probably was the greatest romance he had ever experienced, and was probably her first big one (being so young when they met). He wrote songs about her and sold them on Emancipation. Then he writes about her again, as a send-off, on Rave.

I agree, I believe this is about Mayte & Prince. He talked about their relationship in comparison to Adam & Even and the Garden of Eden a lot during that time.

The Artist Is Back -- But Don't Call It a Comeback

By ANTHONY DE CURTIS

Dressed entirely in black save for his yellow, ankle-length, high-heeled boots, the matching gold trim on his beret and the gold pendant with the symbol that is his name hanging around his neck, the Artist was putting the final touches on his album at Electric Lady, which was built by Jimi Hendrix, another of his heroes. His wife, Mayte, sat nearby. The Artist's distrust of contracts extends to their marriage bonds, which they have mutually dissolved, though they remain a couple. "We read them over, and there were a lot things in there we didn't like," the Artist casually explained, referring to the marriage documents they signed in 1996. Any further consequences of that decision remain unspecified. Mayte currently lives in Spain, while he continues to live in his hometown, Minneapolis.

At first the Artist was reluctant to let me hear any of the album or even to reveal the titles of the songs. "I'm tripping on that; when I listen, I prefer not knowing what the titles are," he said.

Then, as I was about to leave a couple of hours later, he asked, almost shyly: "Would you like to hear some of it? I'd hate to have you go without hitting you with something." In the studio's control room, he played sections of four songs at such crushing volume that a rubber fish sitting on top of a speaker fell off because of the shaking. The Artist can't be still while the music is playing, so every few seconds he came over and shouted commentary into my ear. He was speaking as loudly as he could, but I could barely hear him.

One sentence came through loud and clear, however. "Tell me that's not a hit," he insisted as the swelling choruses and Arabic scales of "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" washed over us. I turned to look at him. His chest was puffed out and he was smiling. His hips and shoulders were moving. But in his dark eyes, beneath the bravado, there was a vulnerability he refused to acknowledge, as well as a hope that the answer would be what he needed to hear.

A portrait of the Artist:
Healthy, happy, ready to play

Vickie Gilmer / Star Tribune

"I implore you to realize that I'm perfectly healthy and happy. My wife and I, you can see nobody's kicked her out. We decided to do this whole thing together. The main course is spiritual well-being. My protection comes from my faith in God. I know I'm going to be all right."

A letter sent to the Star Tribune by NPG Records after the publication of this interview:

These days Mayte and 0{+> refer 2 each other as "mate" or "counterpart," not as husband and wife. The negative energy produced by CONtracts of ANY kind was discussed at length but not included in the final piece that appeared. The term "wife" is a title, much like 'latina' or 'black'. B4 0{+> and Mayte were husband and wife, they were man and woman.

All in all, we were very pleased with the healthy attitude of the piece and look 4ward 2 furthering a positive relationship with the Star Tribune.

Love4oneanother,
NPG Records

A lot is virtual in the Artist's world, where fading backdrops of past lives fold neatly into psychic origami boxes. He shows no signs of regret, depression, maladjustment or freakishness from cutting off his past life. In fact, he is rooted in a self-awareness and humor that are absolutely charming. His life seems to be distinctly separated into B.M. and A.M. -- before meeting his wife, Mayte, and after Mayte. For instance, when discussing the machinations of record companies, the Artist interrupts the flow to ask if he can interject a personal anecdote about his marriage. (As if I'm going to say no.) The word in the media had been that after a total bliss package of a marriage, they were getting divorced.

What the Artist goes on to say is that wanting a monopoly on his lady had become the marital version of owning someone else's masters. From what he says, and from what others say, theirs has been an intensely romantic relationship, a kind of you-and-me-against-the-world vibe. But both felt it was starting to get weird. "We were drawing energy from strange people around us. Strange words and numbers, bad contracts. We had to step away from that," he explains. For a person who still uses "4" in place of "for" in song lyrics, the relationship between numbers and contracts -- both personal and financial -- weaves complicated, interrelated secret messages. He traces the origin of the marriage contract to Pontius Pilate organizing the consensus to crucify Jesus, but the short version of the story is that it was screwing up the Artist's world. He describes a relationship that some might categorize as vaguely co-dependent -- for a while he couldn't even give an interview without Mayte present. "I could not have sat in a room alone with someone like you" (meaning young, female and not totally butt), he tells me. Relying on someone so deeply, not to mention feeling possessive, jealous and the other emotions that go with having someone be "yours," was dangerous and, more to his point, deluded.

"At first you might think that your mate is the God," the Artist reflects, "but you'd better hope that God is speaking through your mate." They are not divorced. Quite the contrary. They are happily joined, having transcended the mental and emotional bondage of marriage. When not floating among the astral planes, the couple like to spend time in Spain, in their lovely new house near Gibraltar, which will soon be featured in another form of virtual reality, Vanity Fair. (The Artist is still a rich guy, like some of the best social radicals.) "We pretend it didn't even happen," he says of the marriage. "Like a lot of things in life I don't like, I pretend it isn't there and it goes away. We decided to go back to the Garden."

Does all this mean they've transcended the physical boundaries of the marriage bond too? The other question, post-"divorce," is monogamy. Considering his reputation as an international lover, one wonders, is the Artist good to the yoni? "They always exaggerate," he says quite demurely, alluding to the baker's dozen of high-profile women he's been teamed with in the press throughout his career. I tell him I saw Warren Beatty on Charlie Rose scoffing at the idea of monogamy in a modern marriage as basically some medieval throwback. Beatty indicated that it's just not part of the animal. (After getting that close to Halle Berry onscreen, I could see why -- no disrespect, Annette.) The Artist calls upon higher powers for his answer: "Let's say I'm monogamous with God,"

I've always considered it to be about the dissolution of his marriage with Mayte. Much like Muse 2 The Pharoah, he's just biblical/mythical imagery to relate to his romantic situation.

.

It's a neat idea, cool play on words in the title but a misguided choice as lead single. I quite liked the Jason Nevins remix, it wasn't Earth-shattering, but it made it a bit more radio friendly.

I hate to dig up an old post, but it's taken me three days to find time to write this, and I really want to get it out of my head!

What has intrigued me most about this song (nevermind the video, which adds a lot of other food for thought) is that it has some level of forboding with it. Aside from the name, it opens and closes with the sound of a thunderstorm. Now, I find thunderstorms romantic, but judging from other lyrics I'm not sure that Prince did, and I really think it conflicts with a straight romantic reading of the lyrics.

I said before that I thought that there was a lot of underlying Adam and Eve symbolism in this song, and certainly that relationship was rife with difficulty. Like a more toned-down version of I Would Die for You -- where a straight reading of the lyrics definitely describes Jesus, but Prince doubles this to represent his relationship with another person -- I think TGRES has an underlying theme of Adam and Eve, while comparing that with Prince's relationship with a person. I'll leave it to other people to figure out the whos/whats/whys of that relationship.

As for Adam and Eve, the first line that caught my ear was where he says, So this is where you end, and you and I begin. Genesis 2:20b-24 says:

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

I feel fairly sure that the line to that lyric is a stylistic retelling of verse 24; the two becoming one, which is a common reference in most Christian weddings.

The second verse is the one that really caught my attention and got me thinking:

Now your mind is open
To poetry seldom heard
Your heart has never been broken
Until you have heard these words
"Your body was designed to respond to mine
In spite of your desire to mold me"

[I don't have liner notes, but the fact that the quotation marks are in every lyrics site I look up makes me think that they are intentional; I'm running with that.]

In Christian circles, there is still a great deal of debate about the nature of male/female relationships. On a broad level, the two main arguments are called egalitarian (think more modern) and complementarianism (think more traditional).

Egalitarian means equal, although this is a bit of a skewed name, because even complementarians think that all people (men/women) are equal in the sight of God -- in other words, God does not value men more than women (or vice versa). Regardless, Egalitarians appeal to Galatians 3:28, which says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." In other words, man's way of viewing the world is not God's; we are all considered equals through Jesus, because we are effectively all brothers/sisters in the same family. Egalitarians would say that this extends to Christian marriage and that the husband and wife are on equal footing in the family.

Complementarians, on the other hand, use a number of scriptures to argue that, while men and women are of equal value to God, their roles complement each other. More specifially, as in the scripture I quoted above, woman was created to fulfill/complement/complete man. (This is not a trite "little woman" relationship, by the way; it's more like fulfilling a deep longing for something.) Along with the complementarian view comes the idea of the man as the head of the family, and one of the most commonly appealed to passages for this comes in the next chapter of Genesis, after Eve is tempted and then tempts Adam to eat the fruit that they weren't supposed to eat. God curses the snake, Eve, and then Adam with various curses, all of which are delivered as poetry in the original Hebrew.

The curse pertaining to Eve is Genesis 3:16:

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

Complementarians would argue that this is the beginning of the "battle of the sexes". While Adam and Eve were created to live in harmony, each fulfilling their roles (and each other), now a woman's desire [sexual longing] will be for her husband, who would rule over her [have dominion/authority]. Earlier, in Genesis 1, man was given dominion over the creatures of the earth. Now he is given dominion over his wife as well. The "battle" comes in because the woman will want to assert her own authority, not live under the authority of her husband.

Back to the lyrics.

Considering that Prince has just talked about poetry seldom heard, then immediately makes a quote that echoes Genesis 3, I'm taking that to mean that either the poetry seldom heard is seldom heard because it's unpopular (so we don't talk about it these days) or that it is seldom heard because it is poetry that comes directly from the mouth of God (and how often does that happen?).

I believe that the quotation within the lyrics ("Your body was designed to respond to mine/In spite of your desire to mold me") is simply Prince restating the end of Genesis 3:16. The woman is going to desire him, but she will also want to change him, which is an assertion of her authority over him. And now her heart is broken because of this curse. There is, I think, a tremendous sense of innocence lost in the second verse, which mirrors the loss of innocence in the Garden of Eden.

Growing up in Christianity, I was always familiar with these interpretations. Considering that Prince was raised with religion, wrote about it extensively, and eventually convered to JW, who follow this as part of the theocratic order, a few years later, certainly Prince would have been familiar with these concepts as well.

Ironically, I have never had a problem with complementarianism in the past, but I find this song very disturbing. It's like a beautifully wrapped package of a love song, but when you open it up it's not what it appears to be. Sort of a not-what-you-signed-up-for thing. I would assume that it's mirroring what was going on with his marriage/life at the time, but we all know that's just conjecture.

Oh, and the reason Adam never left Eve? Maybe it's because she gave him the grapes from the vine (fertility symbol)? The video, as others have mentioned before, shows a pregnant partner. That's just conjecture on my part, though.

Now I have a couple of questions (if anyone's bothered to get this far!). In the video, WHY did he let the woman fall into the rain?

[Edited 7/17/16 12:39pm] and after for typos. Sorry, but I can't get the formatting to show correctly. Eek.

[Edited 7/17/16 12:54pm]

OldFriends4Sale said: