StephanieThePisces said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

PeteSilas said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

Where do you guys get info that he didn't? I mean, is that something know for sure? (Genuinely asking)

ashleypaisley said:

PeteSilas said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

Where do you guys get info that he didn't? I mean, is that something know for sure? (Genuinely asking)

i looked at her gofund me or whatever it was and it was still only 6000 at the time of her death. I think she asked for 13000 or something. I really don't think he was that concerned with her but i don't know.

I thought the song was about one of his cars that kept breaking down on the highway.

PeteSilas said:

pnv said:

PeteSilas said:

i looked at her gofund me or whatever it was and it was still only 6000 at the time of her death. I think she asked for 13000 or something. I really don't think he was that concerned with her but i don't know.

I think he often helped he's was a private person so I'm sure he didn't going around blabbing about it.

i get that but i'm just saying her go fund me was still there at the time of death and she only had 6000 grand. if he helped, she was still seeking the rest of the 14000. also, i'm sure he felt guilty over getting her in the lifestyle of the business which is rife with being used by males and using drugs.

PeteSilas said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

I don't think he was currently "in love" with her but loved the memory of her in her young, beautiful days and what they had together at the time...I think he saw her as sort of an old friend...especially because they both were really into God...I think her death triggered alot of memories, possible regrets, how attracted he was to her when they first met and whatever special bond they had...I have heard they did keep in contact over the years...he always cared for her...just wasn't pining for her or anything.

Could the references to 7 be the seven deadly sins all behind him:

7 Deadly Sins List:

1. Envy = the desire to have an item or experience that someone else possesses
2. Gluttony = excessive ongoing consumption of food or drink
3. Greed or Avarice = an excessive pursuit of material possessions
4. Lust = an uncontrollable passion or longing, especially for sexual desires
5. Pride = excessive view of one's self without regard to others.
6. Sloth = excessive laziness or the failure to act and utilize one’s talents
7. Wrath = uncontrollable feelings of anger and hate towards another person

[Edited 7/16/16 18:04pm]

Krystalkisses said:

PeteSilas said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

I don't think he was currently "in love" with her but loved the memory of her in her young, beautiful days and what they had together at the time...I think he saw her as sort of an old friend...especially because they both were really into God...I think her death triggered alot of memories, possible regrets, how attracted he was to her when they first met and whatever special bond they had...I have heard they did keep in contact over the years...he always cared for her...just wasn't pining for her or anything.

could be, i remember, even ten years ago, seeing her online in a video and i was shocked, that great beauty was all gone, i couldn't even recognize her. prince never went with women her age in his life that i know of anyway.

PeteSilas said:

Krystalkisses said:

PeteSilas said:

I still have a hard time thinking he never got over vanity. i think that may be what the old school fans want to think. But, there are interesting signs that he was affected by her death. But why didn't he try to help her when she needed medical help if he was so in love with her?

I don't think he was currently "in love" with her but loved the memory of her in her young, beautiful days and what they had together at the time...I think he saw her as sort of an old friend...especially because they both were really into God...I think her death triggered alot of memories, possible regrets, how attracted he was to her when they first met and whatever special bond they had...I have heard they did keep in contact over the years...he always cared for her...just wasn't pining for her or anything.

Krystalkisses, you articulated your thoughts very well.

206Michelle said:

Krystalkisses said:

I don't think he was currently "in love" with her but loved the memory of her in her young, beautiful days and what they had together at the time...I think he saw her as sort of an old friend...especially because they both were really into God...I think her death triggered alot of memories, possible regrets, how attracted he was to her when they first met and whatever special bond they had...I have heard they did keep in contact over the years...he always cared for her...just wasn't pining for her or anything.

Krystalkisses, you articulated your thoughts very well.

Thanks Michelle!

Spanky said:

PeteSilas said:

i get that but i'm just saying her go fund me was still there at the time of death and she only had 6000 grand. if he helped, she was still seeking the rest of the 14000. also, i'm sure he felt guilty over getting her in the lifestyle of the business which is rife with being used by males and using drugs.

He didn't get her into the "lifestyle" of anything. She was dating fuckin Rick James when she met Prince. Rick got her into way more shit and she was already knee deep when she met P.

probably, but i wouldn't doubt he had some guilt. you can always say 'oh they would have went that direction anyway, don't feel responsible'. but i'd have felt bad, i think prince did too.

Excellent analysis. This was EXACTLY my interpretation of the lyrics. There is absolutely nothing in the song that even remotely hints at drugs or some forboding sense of his life being cut short prematurely. This is ultimately a love song, but weighted with the regret of so much time wasted, so many relationships he self-sabotaged in the past due to immaturity, and poor choices based on the superficial.

.

Prince was very deliberate with his lyric writing and he knew how to give the listener just enough information to get an idea of what he's speaking of. The "breakdown" is obviously emotional. StephanieThePisces caught that the "wall"-turned-door is a metaphor for the breaking down of his emotional armor by the woman he is addressing at the end of the song. The emotional meaning of this metaphor is further reinforced by the line: "catch me when I fall" which reflects two meanings: 1) him falling in love, and 2) him personifying a "wall" (of emotional artifice) on the verge of falling down--i.e. breaking down.

.

With all due respect to the OP, to say that Prince wrote this song about a drug addiction cutting his life short, is a FAR reach, and specious, at best.

.

StephanieThePisces said:

I don't get from this song that it's about an illness at all, or about anything physical (like a body) literally breaking down.

-

To me I hear a song about a man looking back over his life and recognizing how he's evolved from point A to B, and how his attitudes and priorities have changed and grown as a result of various life experiences and relationships and etc 'breaking him down', which has resulted in the aforementioned evolving and maturing. And like most people, when he looks back at how he used to be and examines the things he did in his younger years, he feels regrets for certain things: for hurts he caused, for his actions at times, and for the squandering of precious time and relationships and opportunities while he was focused on stuff that he understands now was only trivial or superficial...all things, and TIME, that he can never get back ("Give me back the time, you can keep the memories"). I take from that that he laments the time wasted and doesn't care to remember the negative or 'bad' parts (memories) but wishes he could have the time back again to focus on what's truly important and meaningful in life vs getting caught up in the material and frivolous and selfish.

-

I do also agree, though, that this song is a love song as well, and he's trying to express to the woman that he sees the way he used to be, and an aspect of that is he didn't let himself be vulnerable or open, TRULY open, in love (which sabatoged or destroyed possibly wonderful relationships and he regrets that) but that now, with her, "his walls" are breaking down and that (paraphrased) 'there's now a door where there used to be a wall' and he glad for what's broken him down because now he has the chance for a mature, reciprocal love. He's laying it out that he's ready to be vulnerable and wiling to risk emotions that he used to protect (with "walls") in his younger years and that he's trusting her in a way he's not used to trusting (i.e. the lyric about as long as she catches him if he falls, if there is a fall).

-

I think the very last line is especially beautiful and revealing: "Closer to the breakdown, the closer we get". I take that as the more he allows himself to 'break down' and break free from the walls he's always surrounded himself and his heart with, the more able he and she are to get closer and have the kind of trusting, mature love relationship I think he's always yearned for.

-

I love this song.

prince sure was a bundle of contradictions. he left a lot of people hurt and angry. yet, i think he had a beautiful soul in many ways. i mentioned on here that mark cardenas, the former keyboardist for the time, had nothing good to say about prince when i asked him about him. Also, the day prince died, i went to see his band play. seems no love lost, he seemed to want to play david bowie and said 'he died too' and the drummer begged 'let prince have his day, let him have his day' i read it as Cardenas not really caring. At any rate, they played a fine version of purple rain and several songs from the time.

donnyenglish said:

donnyenglish said:

Bluu said:

Excellent analysis. This was EXACTLY my interpretation of the lyrics. There is absolutely nothing in the song that even remotely hints at drugs or some forboding sense of his life being cut short prematurely. This is ultimately a love song, but weighted with the regret of so much time wasted, so many relationships he self-sabotaged in the past due to immaturity, and poor choices based on the superficial.

.

Prince was very deliberate with his lyric writing and he knew how to give the listener just enough information to get an idea of what he's speaking of. The "breakdown" is obviously emotional. StephanieThePisces caught that the "wall"-turned-door is a metaphor for the breaking down of his emotional armor by the woman he is addressing at the end of the song. The emotional meaning of this metaphor is further reinforced by the line: "catch me when I fall" which reflects two meanings: 1) him falling in love, and 2) him personifying a "wall" (of emotional artifice) on the verge of falling down--i.e. breaking down.

.

With all due respect to the OP, to say that Prince wrote this song about a drug addiction cutting his life short, is a FAR reach, and specious, at best.

.

StephanieThePisces said:

I don't get from this song that it's about an illness at all, or about anything physical (like a body) literally breaking down.

-

To me I hear a song about a man looking back over his life and recognizing how he's evolved from point A to B, and how his attitudes and priorities have changed and grown as a result of various life experiences and relationships and etc 'breaking him down', which has resulted in the aforementioned evolving and maturing. And like most people, when he looks back at how he used to be and examines the things he did in his younger years, he feels regrets for certain things: for hurts he caused, for his actions at times, and for the squandering of precious time and relationships and opportunities while he was focused on stuff that he understands now was only trivial or superficial...all things, and TIME, that he can never get back ("Give me back the time, you can keep the memories"). I take from that that he laments the time wasted and doesn't care to remember the negative or 'bad' parts (memories) but wishes he could have the time back again to focus on what's truly important and meaningful in life vs getting caught up in the material and frivolous and selfish.

-

I do also agree, though, that this song is a love song as well, and he's trying to express to the woman that he sees the way he used to be, and an aspect of that is he didn't let himself be vulnerable or open, TRULY open, in love (which sabatoged or destroyed possibly wonderful relationships and he regrets that) but that now, with her, "his walls" are breaking down and that (paraphrased) 'there's now a door where there used to be a wall' and he glad for what's broken him down because now he has the chance for a mature, reciprocal love. He's laying it out that he's ready to be vulnerable and wiling to risk emotions that he used to protect (with "walls") in his younger years and that he's trusting her in a way he's not used to trusting (i.e. the lyric about as long as she catches him if he falls, if there is a fall).

-

I think the very last line is especially beautiful and revealing: "Closer to the breakdown, the closer we get". I take that as the more he allows himself to 'break down' and break free from the walls he's always surrounded himself and his heart with, the more able he and she are to get closer and have the kind of trusting, mature love relationship I think he's always yearned for.

-

I love this song.

I respect eveyone's interpretation of this song and I'm open to all ideas, since only Prince knew what the song was truly about, but I didn't say it was about drug addiciton. I said an illness or disease (not the illness of using drugs). The drug thing doesn't make sense to me for this song, but a disease breaking his body down does. My mom lost her battle with ALS last September and when I hear certain songs, I can see how someone could be talking about a disease taking over their body...I guess that is what I heard here. Actually, originally, I thought this song was about how "God" is breaking him down (in a good way, throughout life) to show him what is important in life and not to waste it on superficially things. That was orginally what I thought, but then after his death, I thought maybe it was his most personal song yet about his own body slowly breaking down). The thing that made me really pay attention was in the first 2 lines he says "Listen to me closely as the story unfolds. This could be the saddest story even been told". Once I read that again, I was thinking, ok, maybe he really wants to tell us something important and personal. ha. Again, everyone interprets his lyrics on here but no one really knows unless he speaks about it. Maybe someday we will know for sure. I think all of the interpretations on her are vailid and make a lot of sense. Mine was just another guess...

[Edited 7/18/16 11:41am]

morningsong said: