laytonian said:

selah said:

Noodled24 said: I see your point the Narcissus angle may be a stretch. . but we shouldn't assume what he knew or didn't know. He finished high school..That subject matter is part of basic school curriculum and he liked to read and learn throughout his entire life ... The connection between Narcissus and the potency of the daffodil is the root word means "to numb"..

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Prince's vocabulary was way beyond that of the average high school graduate, even in his first recordings. He seemed to absorb everything around him. His use of "crucial!" in UGTL replaced what would have been an entire stanza by a lesser songwriter. And "intellect and savoir faire"?

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Prince has said himself that the "de-elevator" lyric came about because he couldn't say "The devil" on the radio at the time.

Christianity, far more than Greek mythology fueled his creativity. So if it's a song about God and the devil then why reference the mythological greek gods?

The song isn't about the danger of becoming narcissistic. People are taking his use of the word daffodil and implying multiple paragraphs of meaning to it.

Noodled24 said:

laytonian said:

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Prince's vocabulary was way beyond that of the average high school graduate, even in his first recordings. He seemed to absorb everything around him. His use of "crucial!" in UGTL replaced what would have been an entire stanza by a lesser songwriter. And "intellect and savoir faire"?

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Prince has said himself that the "de-elevator" lyric came about because he couldn't say "The devil" on the radio at the time.

Christianity, far more than Greek mythology fueled his creativity. So if it's a song about God and the devil then why reference the mythological Greek gods?

The song isn't about the danger of becoming narcissistic. People are taking his use of the word daffodil and implying multiple paragraphs of meaning to it.

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Isn't the title of this thread 'Question about lyrics to "Let's Go Crazy"?

If this is how we want to waste our time what's the problem?

We are simply discussing a lyric that no one can see an obvious explanation for.

Nobody is implying that Prince was inspired by Greek Mythology, or that the entire song is about the danger of becoming narcissistic.

We just think that he was probably educated enough to know the story of Narcissus and knew that it was the origin of the concept of narcissism.

And he may even have known that daffodils were also called narcissus.

So, maybe that lyric really means that narcissism can kill, after all, it did kill Narcissus in the story.

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I am sure that you are right that Christianity (Not Greek Mythology) is one of the things that fueled his creativity.

And now I am more interested in the "de-elevator" lyric, and whether or not it was a tricky way for Prince to refer to the devil on the radio.

I don't know if I buy that because there are so many songs that have devil in their lyrics, that I actually heard on the radio when I was in high school, years before, the song "let's Go Crazy" was even released.

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[Edited 7/30/16 16:43pm]

Noodled24 said:

laytonian said:

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Prince's vocabulary was way beyond that of the average high school graduate, even in his first recordings. He seemed to absorb everything around him. His use of "crucial!" in UGTL replaced what would have been an entire stanza by a lesser songwriter. And "intellect and savoir faire"?

.

Prince has said himself that the "de-elevator" lyric came about because he couldn't say "The devil" on the radio at the time.

Christianity, far more than Greek mythology fueled his creativity. So if it's a song about God and the devil then why reference the mythological greek gods?

The song isn't about the danger of becoming narcissistic. People are taking his use of the word daffodil and implying multiple paragraphs of meaning to it.

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Your first paragraph is correct, but don't ascribe the narcissus angle to me.
I'm on the side of "daffodils are poison" LOL

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Prince himself explained "de-elevator" as referring to the Devil, in his 1997 interview with Chris Rock.

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Quoted by Toure in this book:

https://books.google.com/...mp;f=false

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[Edited 7/30/16 17:15pm]

manabean84 said:

Is he referring to the medicinal use of daffodils?

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-79-daffodil.aspx?activeingredientid=79&

farnorth said:

Is he referring to the medicinal use of daffodils?

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-79-daffodil.aspx?activeingredientid=79&

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"....serious safety issues".

LOL on "nutritional supplements" that are untested.

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QueenofCardboard said:

Noodled24 said:

Prince has said himself that the "de-elevator" lyric came about because he couldn't say "The devil" on the radio at the time.

Christianity, far more than Greek mythology fueled his creativity. So if it's a song about God and the devil then why reference the mythological Greek gods?

The song isn't about the danger of becoming narcissistic. People are taking his use of the word daffodil and implying multiple paragraphs of meaning to it.

.

Isn't the title of this thread 'Question about lyrics to "Let's Go Crazy"?

If this is how we want to waste our time what's the problem?

...

We are simply discussing a lyric that no one can see an obvious explanation for.

It rhymes.. that's the msot obvious explanation.

Nobody is implying that Prince was inspired by Greek Mythology, or that the entire song is about the danger of becoming narcissistic.

On the first page someone posted multiple paragraphs about the story of narcissus. Suggesting that Prince's use of the word daffodil was a link to this story.

We just think that he was probably educated enough to know the story of Narcissus and knew that it was the origin of the concept of narcissism.

Who's "we"?

Educated or not... if he wanted to talk about narcissism then he could have done just that. Prince has spoken about the song. He didn't mention that his use of the word daffodils was a secret link to greek mythology.

And he may even have known that daffodils were also called narcissus.

So, maybe that lyric really means that narcissism can kill, after all, it did kill Narcissus in the story.

Well it'd be pretty ironic if that's the case. Given Prince was always pretty into himself.

I am sure that you are right that Christianity (Not Greek Mythology) is one of the things that fueled his creativity.

It's blatent and he never tried hid it.

And now I am more interested in the "de-elevator" lyric, and whether or not it was a tricky way for Prince to refer to the devil on the radio.

Prince said it himself... There's really no reason for him to lie about it.

I don't know if I buy that because there are so many songs that have devil in their lyrics, that I actually heard on the radio when I was in high school, years before, the song "let's Go Crazy" was even released.

In the pop charts?

Look, I am one of the guilty parties who wondered if the daffodil reference could be linked to narcissism. I think it was unlikely and a stretch, but was almost hopeful that he had that level of self-awareness that he knew it was a character flaw that could crush him. It wouldn't be ironic to me is he meant it this way, but more that he possibly knew what his struggles were. After all, he would write multiple songs in the mid 1980s that were so sexual and then write Temptation showing his realization that this is his weakness and could bring his elevator down. There of course is the now sad realization that is was pills and sedation that ended his elevator ride (hopefully not going downward).

All this said, Freud once said that a cigar is sometimes just a cigar. I am certainly open to the simple explanation that a daffodil is just a daffodil

[Edited 7/31/16 9:19am]

gandorb said:

Look, I am one of the guilty parties who wondered if the daffodil reference could be linked to narcissism. I think it was unlikely and a stretch, but was almost hopeful that he had that level of self-awareness that he knew it was a character flaw that could crush him. It wouldn't be ironic to me is he meant it this way, but more that he possibly knew what his struggles were. After all, he would write multiple songs in the mid 1980s that were so sexual and then write Temptation showing his realization that this is his weakness and could bring his elevator down. There of course is the now sad realization that is was pills and sedation that ended his elevator ride (hopefully not going downward).

All this said, Freud once said that a cigar is sometimes just a cigar. I am certainly open to the simple explanation that a daffodil is just a daffodil

[Edited 7/31/16 9:19am]

Well, like any art it's upto the listener. There is no right answer.

I just think we have to be careful placing more meaning than may have been intended.

Noodled24 said:

gandorb said:

Look, I am one of the guilty parties who wondered if the daffodil reference could be linked to narcissism. I think it was unlikely and a stretch, but was almost hopeful that he had that level of self-awareness that he knew it was a character flaw that could crush him. It wouldn't be ironic to me is he meant it this way, but more that he possibly knew what his struggles were. After all, he would write multiple songs in the mid 1980s that were so sexual and then write Temptation showing his realization that this is his weakness and could bring his elevator down. There of course is the now sad realization that is was pills and sedation that ended his elevator ride (hopefully not going downward).

All this said, Freud once said that a cigar is sometimes just a cigar. I am certainly open to the simple explanation that a daffodil is just a daffodil

[Edited 7/31/16 9:19am]

Well, like any art it's upto the listener. There is no right answer.

I just think we have to be careful placing more meaning than may have been intended.

Touchee!

leslievette said:

manabean84 said:

What do you think he says?

I believe it is hang tough children, I just can't hear it. I always mumble gibberish when it comes to that part Sounds more along the lines of "Reach out" - something.

It's "hang tough children". http://www.azlyrics.com/l...azy.html.

The next line is "He's coming" as in Jesus is coming. I read an article back in the 80's where Prince said that in Let's Go Crazy, the elevator represented the devil and going crazy represented God. He was not allowed to say devil or God in the song. If you pay attention to the movie "Purple Rain" when he is singing Let's Go Crazy, at the end of the song he mouths the words "Love God", but that is over dubbed with his yelling or something. It's very interesting.

It's very ironic that Prince died like the lyrics of the song says. I guess it's the devil that killed him with the "pills, thrills, and dafodills" and Dr. Everything will be alright did in fact "make everything go wrong". This is just way too much coincidence for me.

[Edited 8/1/16 22:49pm]

I always though it was "Reach up top"...at least that what I said when our band played it live...