Awesome song, vastly better than anything and everything he released in the last 10 - 15 years of his recording career.

SomeSoldier said:

It is corny, silly and everything everyone else says, but I love it. Yet Susan is not wrong - she just has a different opinion from mine on this topic. I don't know why people obsess so much about what she said. She didn't like the song, that's all. I think it's fair to say that fans don't always agree on the songs they like (and if anyone needs prove of that, go star another 'single disc emancipation' thread!)

Agree. It is cheesy and corny but that was often Prince, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of people hang on every word Susan Rogers says but it is just her opinion.

.

I love the wide range of opinions you see on here; one person says A&B is 'quite possibly my favourite P song ever' and another says it's 'quite awful'

great.

I'll admit even I was sorta/sorta on the snippet. But once I heard the full song I was on board

databank said:

Susan's right: it's corny as hell. Doesn't mean I necessarily dislike it but it IS corny and cheesy and kitsch.

I find it to illustrate perfectly the relationship certain Prince fans have with his music.

If Prince had released it officially there would have been a shitstorm, with everyone screaming he's lost it, he's recording cheesy broadway songs for your grandma, that the process that lead to Emancipation, if not Purple & Gold, all began there.

But just because it's a long-sought, precious outtake, everybody's raving about it. There isn't a single song on any post-Emancipation record that's half as cheesy as A&B, and yet...

You must really hate La, La, La, He, He, Hee.

We need some good fan art album/single covers for these songs

It's a great song, a lurid tale of public sex, with a Clare Fischer arrangement, combined with a smokin mid 80s style guitar solo, not sure what is being "over-hyped" or not to like.

Is it cheesy, not sure how incorporating two historical characters (one mythical, the other biblical) in a tale of sweat dripping sex is considered cheese, but I'll take some wine with that kind of cheese any day of the week.

If Alexa de Paris and Adore had a baby, it'd be Adonis and Bathsheba.

Genesia said:

If Alexa de Paris and Adore had a baby, it'd be Adonis and Bathsheba.

KingSausage said:

Adonis & Bathsheba is quite possibly my favorite Prince song ever. I love every damn thing about it. The sound, the singing, the dynamics, the quirky vibe. It's one of those songs that ONLY Prince would make.

Indeed!

Sulls LURRRRVES it.

Not one of his best tracks ever, but I am happy as hell t have it. I am grateful for all things Prince (musically). Im selfish....I want more.

I absolutely love the song and its music, tastes be dammned! To me, it is a delight!

>

I think it would be spectacular if there were ever a video shot of this--imagine the theatrics, be they campy or romantic--the lyrics are quite picturesque!

Good.

Definitely good.

I think Susan Rogers disliking it so strongly and having been so vocal about it is just one of those cases of a person deciding that something is bad and rather stubbornly trying to hammer his / her views on everyone else. If it's supposed to be so cheesy that it's intolerable to listen to then what are tracks like "Under The Cherry Moon" or "A Place In Heaven" supposed to be?

I think she actually referred to the song as "his only bad track" from the sessions she did with Prince in a recent interview (huh?).

I like the arrangement a lot and it's interesting to hear the progression from this track to "Crucial" and from "Crucial" to "Adore" (a few orgers have disputed the connections, but having played some of that stuff myself on keyboards makes me convinced that the pieces borrow ideas from each other).

Germanegro said:

I absolutely love the song and its music, tastes be dammned! To me, it is a delight!

>

I think it would be spectacular if there were ever a video shot of this--imagine the theatrics, be they campy or romantic--the lyrics are quite picturesque!

For some reason I imagine something inspired by Léon Bakst and the Ballet Russes, for ex this set design for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé. (There's even a gazebo at the back )

[Edited 2/16/17 11:48am]

paulludvig said:

Germanegro said:

I absolutely love the song and its music, tastes be dammned! To me, it is a delight!

>

I think it would be spectacular if there were ever a video shot of this--imagine the theatrics, be they campy or romantic--the lyrics are quite picturesque!

For some reason I imagine something inspired by Léon Bakst and the Ballet Russes, for ex this set design for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé. (There's even a gazebo at the back )

[Edited 2/16/17 11:48am]

Niiice! Pretty close to what I had in my mind's eye!

For me it is... M'eh

KingSausage said:

Adonis & Bathsheba is quite possibly my favorite Prince song ever. I love every damn thing about it. The sound, the singing, the dynamics, the quirky vibe. It's one of those songs that ONLY Prince would make.

Genesia said:

If Alexa de Paris and Adore had a baby, it'd be Adonis and Bathsheba.

LOL! That is a perfect way to describe it!

What Chew Smokin' Willis?!?!?!?

Germanegro said:

paulludvig said:

For some reason I imagine something inspired by Léon Bakst and the Ballet Russes, for ex this set design for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé. (There's even a gazebo at the back )

[Edited 2/16/17 11:48am]

Niiice! Pretty close to what I had in my mind's eye!

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Genesia said:

If Alexa de Paris and Adore had a baby, it'd be Adonis and Bathsheba.

LOL! That is a perfect way to describe it!

You beat me to the punch. Yes...PERFECT description

UncleJam said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

LOL! That is a perfect way to describe it!

You beat me to the punch. Yes...PERFECT description

Ditto on the Genesia take.

One of my favourite outtakes ever. Fits perfectly in the Parade era sound.

I was so pleasantly surprised when I heard it.

Good and bad - well not really as when is Prince in the mid 80's ever "bad"? I hear some beautiful music and sinigng but the subject matter is a little kooky and camp. Again though it's all redeemed by it's musicality and the Revolution's playing. The solo is epic but also a touch typical in the sense you can see it coming a mile away. Still Prince in the 80's was pretty much perfect imo so I love it all the same.

Sydney said:The solo is epic but also a touch typical in the sense you can see it coming a mile away. Still Prince in the 80's was pretty much perfect imo so I love it all the same.

Really? It's not that common to split a song in two distinct parts.

2 an orgy n a garden of flowers Adonis and Bathsheba flew
All of creation awaits them, a flowing dance by the crystal blue
Stream of desire and erotic rebellion
That parades thru their hearts and minds
They look at 1 another as much as they don't
2 touch is their need, 2 love they r blind
2 love they r blind

An abandoned gazebo houses what looks 2 b a perfect place
They undress as they're running, Bathsheba crying
Adonis sweat upon his face
4 them there is no morning, only night decisions so grand
There is no bed, how will they ever love?
They decide 2 stand
No bed, they decide 2 stand

Adonis and Bathsheba n a garden of flowers, n a garden of love!

Adonis (/əˈdɒnɪs, əˈdoʊnɪs/; Greek: Ἄδωνις), in Greek mythology, is a central figure in various mystery religions. In 1966, Wahib Atallah wrote that the "cult of Adonis belonged to women", and further asserted "the cult of dying Adonis was fully developed in the circle of young girls around Sappho on Lesbos, about 600 BC, as a fragment of Sappho reveals."

When the legend of Adonis was incorporated into Greek culture is debated. Walter Burkert questions whether Adonis had not from the very beginning come to Greece with Aphrodite. "In Greece," Burkert concludes, "the special function of the Adonis legend is as an opportunity for the unbridled expression of emotion in the strictly circumscribed life of women, in contrast to the rigid order of polis and family with the official women's festivals in honour of Demeter."

Bathsheba (/bæθˈʃiːbə/ Hebrew: בַּת שֶׁ֫בַע‎‎, Baṯ-šeḇa‘, "daughter of the oath"; was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which she was summoned by King David who had seen her bathing and lusted after her.

AMAZINGly creative and inspired.

Really interesting effects and layering on this song.

I can't believe so many people are smelling cheese and tasting corn on this sublime song. It's up there with his finest work in my opinion.