How do some of you feel about this song? Was it autobiographical or just fantasy. Was his use of sex just to sell records or was something else going?

-----------

Sister

I was only 16 but I guess that's no excuse
My sister was 32, lovely and loose
She don't wear no underwear
She said it only gets in her hair
And it's got a funny way of stoppin' the juice

My sister never made love 2 anyone else but me
She's the reason 4 my, uh, sexuality
She showed me where it's supposed 2 go
A blowjob doesn't mean blow
Incest is everything it's said 2 be

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I was only 16 and only half a man
My sister didn't give a goddamn
She only wanted 2 turn me out
She'd take a whip 2 me until I shout
Oh motherfucker, she's a motherfucker, can't U understand?

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I know what U want me 2 do
Put me on the street and make me blue

Oh sister!
Oh sister!
Oh!

I just wanna see where this thread goes

I thought it was about you?

laurarichardson said:

How do some of you feel about this song? Was it autobiographical or just fantasy. Was his use of sex just to sell records or was something else going?

-----------

Sister

I was only 16 but I guess that's no excuse
My sister was 32, lovely and loose
She don't wear no underwear
She said it only gets in her hair
And it's got a funny way of stoppin' the juice

My sister never made love 2 anyone else but me
She's the reason 4 my, uh, sexuality
She showed me where it's supposed 2 go
A blowjob doesn't mean blow
Incest is everything it's said 2 be

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I was only 16 and only half a man
My sister didn't give a goddamn
She only wanted 2 turn me out
She'd take a whip 2 me until I shout
Oh motherfucker, she's a motherfucker, can't U understand?

Oh sister - don't put me on the street again
Oh sister - I just wanna be your friend

I know what U want me 2 do
Put me on the street and make me blue

Oh sister!
Oh sister!
Oh!

[Edited 9/7/16 17:00pm]

Cool you brought this up. It should be interesting from those who are dim or think Sharon put Prince on the corner of 5th Street.

I've never thought it was truthful, not any more than "Another Lonely Christmas" or "Computer Blue". It's a rather interesting story. I do think it's pure fiction. Howevah...

For a while, I thought it might be a metaphor of some sort. Of prostitution, human trafficking, incestual abuse. Then I have to remember that while Prince was a great lyricist, I don't necessarily believe he was that deep or had that much forethought, just yet, at age 22. As Judge Judy says, "he's not fully cooked yet". haha I mean that in the best way possible; not as a diss.

To that point, Prince's biggest thing was writing songs about love and sex in a softer way, compared to 1980 onward. Often they were aimed at a girl he liked... Susan, Patrice, whoever. The biggest thing he addressed was a lesbian who he had the hots for. He had just started to delve into politics on Dirty Mind, and more religion on Controversy and after.

I think he had some money in his pocket, some record sales on the books and his talent was well respected by that point - so he went the same way people like Christina (Stripped), Britney (In The Zone), and others have gone. By record 2 or 3, "this is the real me, expressing myself. This is who I am". (Read: I'ma sing about clits, cunts, fucking, and maybe even peeing on a muthafukka.)

So no, I don't think Prince wrote a true story, nor is it a metaphor (although I think it'd be great if it was meant to be a metaphor for something).

Seems like to me Prince had to do a lil something to pay the rent and I know he did the damn thang

I think its true there was something interesting going on

Ohhhh.... pubic hair....

Ihavenotchooseausername said:

Ohhhh.... pubic hair....

nursev said:

I just wanna see where this thread goes

You got me going!

Mumio said:

nursev said:

I just wanna see where this thread goes

You got me going!

sounds like incest to me. Kind of a heavy song, sounds conflicted, powerless.

ldmendes said:

sounds like incest to me. Kind of a heavy song, sounds conflicted, powerless.

yep

I mean a person just cant make that up n write about it or can they?

nursev said:

FUNKNROLL said:

nursev said:

I mean a person just cant make that up n write about it or can they?

Occam's Razor says we would spend more time explaining it away, and getting it wrong, rather than accepting it at face value. Like any good Midwesterner, the man's simplest stories seemed to have stories (themselves). [Edited 9/7/16 18:52pm]

So Ur Saying it did happen? Im just take all this in

EnDoRpHn said:

nursev said:

laurarichardson said:

nursev said:

I think its true there was something interesting going on

-- One of the reasons I find it interesting is that I was listening to the Prince podcast and their is a interview with Andre Cymone and he was talking about how Prince got an education in his house because he brother was a pimp. Andre was talking about how he always had a hustle and how he use hot wire cars. Then you had T.C Ellis talking about how old hustlers and pimps retire and move up to the N.Minneapolis and how they all grew up around this vibe. It made me wonder if he got the idea for the song from his surroundings.

Well....Prince got his skills from somewhere cuz that man could charm the pants off anybody male or female So Imma say he got an early education in things of this sort

nursev said:

I mean a person just cant make that up n write about it or can they?

I was going to give a lengthy description of a songwriting process that is practiced by many, many successful songwriters. But I'm feeling lazy right now. So the short answer is...

...Yes. They can.

Some people can "just make stuff up" when it comes to believable-sounding lyrics. Given a certain amount of imagination. A certain command of the language. Given a genius' aptitude for songcraft. Given an appreciation of the value of titillation [in other words, knowing that Sex Sells]...

It happens more often than your average music fan realizes.

True story or not, all I know is that the song rocks!

He had to have embellished the truth a bit but probably some truth in it like much of his music

prince said he was half italian in those years too, take everything with a grain of salt. there was a thread here awhile ago on the song and some people surmised that Prince, being passive aggressive, was taking a dig at the sister who he lived with in New York, she's dead now I think.

oliviacamron said:

Prince stated his songs were true so I say yes, he f**ked his sister

Really, so his dad also shot himself in the back yard with a shotgun? See Papa.

That is not true of his dad, so maybe, just maybe, there's a chance that not everything Prince wrote was true. Maybe some things were fiction.

Look at it this way. Ya'll are still talking about a song from 1980 and it's 2016. That's Prince he broke musical barriers and sang about taboo issues. True or not it got everyone talking. As for the song it's too short . And for those that don't like the lyrics how would a instrumental go down with yah?

oliviacamron said:

"...Prince stated his songs were true so I say yes, he f**ked his sister..."

MmmmmOh-K.

I guess he must have nailed her one day after getting off from work at his part-time job at the five and dime?

Are you saying Prince probably turned his best tricks on the streets outside Old Man Johnson's Farm?

No wonder Mr. McGoo never liked his kind.

If this did happen to Prince, its a crime! I feel bad if his sister who he trusted, was violating him. I wonder if it was Prince having sex with his much younger sister people would take it lightly.

[Edited 9/8/16 8:33am]

Prince had lots of sisters so he put specific details in the song so that the listeners could figure out which of his sisters the song was about.

It was about Lorna Nelson, who was 32 years old when Prince was 16 years old.

Incest is very common.

I don't find it at all surprising that Prince could have and would have had a sexual relationship with one of his half sisters, especially because they weren't raised together in the same household as siblings.

He does express some anger about it in the song so my guess is that things started out cool and then went sour and that he wrote the song to get even with her.

I do get the impression that he might have lost his virginity to her.

I think that at 16 years old Prince was hardly a victim, and that kissing and telling in this context or any other context is reprehensible.

.

Prince also said in interview that the song 'Sister' was about something that actually happened.

.

When Tyka was asked about the song in an interview she said that the song was about Lorna Nelson.

.

http://podcastjuice.net/c...e-podcast/ Here you go. Just scroll til you see the one where it is says interview with Tyka Nelson.

.

"My sister never made love 2 anyone else but me

She's the reason 4 my, uh, sexuality"

.

Somebody lost his or her virginity to somebody.

But I think it was Prince who lost his virginity to Lorna and not the other way around like the lyrics would have us believe.

.

[Edited 9/8/16 16:01pm]

PeteSilas said: