It's one of our favourite songs, but, do you know what's about this song? Yes, I know it's about love, about looking for your way, about believing in God...
But:
Who is Anna Stesia? A metaphore? Someone real?
And who is Gregory, and what about these lyrics?:

Gregory looks just like a ghost
And then a beautiful girl the most
Wets her lips 2 say
"We could live 4 a little while
If U could just learn 2 smile
U and I could fly away, fly away"

Maybe is he referring to a movie or a book?

Do you think is more about love or about God? Or Prince wants to say human love is only a way to propel people to God?

What ya think?

ANNA STESIA

Have U ever been so lonely
That U felt like U were the only one in this world?
Have U ever wanted 2 play with someone so much
U'd take any one boy or girl?

CHORUS:
Anna Stesia come 2 me, talk 2 me, ravish me
Liberate my mind
Tell me what U think of me, praise me, craze me
Out this space and time


Between white and black, night and day
Black night seemed like the only way
So I danced
Music late, nothing great
No way 2 differentiate
I took a chance


Gregory looks just like a ghost
And then a beautiful girl the most
Wets her lips 2 say
"We could live 4 a little while
If U could just learn 2 smile
U and I could fly away, fly away"
Oh…


CHORUS


Maybe, maybe, maybe I could learn 2 love
I mean the right way, I mean the only way
Perhaps U could show me, baby


Anna Stesia come 2 me, talk 2 me, ravish me
Liberate my mind


Maybe, maybe, maybe I could learn 2 love
Ah, if I was just closer 2 somethin' (Closer)
Closer 2 your higher self? I don't know
Closer 2 heaven? Maybe
Closer 2 God {x3}


Save me Jesus, I've been a fool
How could I forget that U are the rule
U are my God, I am Your child
From now on, 4 U I shall be wild
I shall be quick, I shall be strong
I'll tell Your story no matter how long
No matter how... (No matter {x4})


We're just a play in Your master plan
Now, my Lord, I understand
(I understand)


Love is God, God is love
Girls and boys love God above {repeat till end}


CHORUS

Gregory = Greg Brooks - security guard-come-"dancer" on the SOTT/Parade tours.

Anna Stesia = metaphore for anesthesia, but can also been seen as Ingrid Chavez.

There was a post about this song a while, while back, and I wrote a whole thing about how the song was in reference to his night fucked up on E, which was the catalyst for cancelling the Black album and recording Lovesexy, which is probably why it is the pivotal/central song on the album.

Anna Stesia = rebirth!

Look it up in the baby books if ya want. Google it even.

edit: I found this post from awhile back -- take a look:
"Anna Stesia -- Musician's Masterpiece"
http://www.prince.org/msg/7/34290
.
.
[This message was edited Thu Nov 20 11:01:52 PST 2003 by Jasziah]

Romance1600 said:

Never thought about it like that...anesthesia.

summerdawn said:

Are you being funny, or are you serious?

FunkMistress said:

I'm being serious Javier and I were tossing around ideas about what the song was about yesterday. The song isn't one of my faves, I was just sayin' I never thought about it like that. The lyrics, IMHO, don't seem to represent anesthesia.

I loved it when he did this song live on the Lovesexy tour. What was cooler than seeing Prince playing the paino then having the whole thing elevate? It was mindblowing!!!

Jasziah said:

Cool, if anyone could find the other thread about it, that would be great - I wrote a big piece about how the song retells the night in the club when Prince was off his face on E.

anna stesia = anastasia (greek meaning "resurrection") ?
it certainly would hold up considering the re-birth motif of the lovesexy album and tour. prince is nude on the cover, just like being born.
the meaing of this song based on the lyrics alone is still kind of murky, IMO (who is gregory? interestingly, his and mayte's child was named gregory). i always saw it as a struggle between the desires of the flesh and that of a higher calling, something prince has addressed regularly in some way or another.
the song's coda of "love is god/god is love" is powerful, both musically and thematically. that is a strong statement to make, and it is straight out of the new testament (see 1 john 4:16). prince's use of anna stesia so prominently on several of the ONA tour dates says to me that it is a message he thinks we need to hear. we, his fans, may not agree on who or what god is. that would be the ideal. but at least all of us at his shows or listening to the CDs can agree on the excellence of the music, and come together in that, if in no other way. prince understands this, i believe.

maybe "Anna Stesia" is the sense of Euphoria one gets
when they're touched by God...whether it be the literal
"high" you get when you're filled with the Holy Spirit or
the feeling of being "high" when you have God in your heart and walk with Him everyday.

~GiGi

fms said:

See above for who Gregory is.

The connection to the child Prince and Mayte had, I believe, is just circumstantial, and invites ridicule to those who think the song has some sort of prophecy element to it (I'm not saying you are saying that, but I've read people interpret the song as such).

anna stesia is ANA GARCIA a girlfriend he had.

prince took X while at a club with greg brooks and chavez.

Check this out: http://www.readmag.com/Co...prince.htm

nitab said:

Interesting

SxyRican said:

Yeah, exactly. When I listen to it, it sounds like a written dedication to God. He states that (in my own words);

"I was a arrogant fool, now I'm goin to do things the right way: Gods way. Now I realize that, and I dedicate myself to you (God)."

If you listen to Everlasting Now, it has the same type, biography feel to it...

"I knew this dude,
he was very cruel,
he used to rule, till he went to school.
Not a normal school that breeds a fool,
but one that teaches
men aren't fit to rule." (Who is fit to rule? God.)

Annastesia, is one of the most, if not the most heartfelt, true to Prince's life, raw-emotional packed songs he ever wrote.

You can learn alot about somebody, from listening to their heart

Blue

wildblueangel said:

Never heard that before, although the name is an obvious analogy to make, and "girl"friend is right

Was he seeing her at the time it was written?
[This message was edited Thu Nov 20 14:14:24 PST 2003 by Romance1600]

TheBluePrince said:

it's 'cool'...not cruel...


-SWANGforgivesyou

fms said:

This I think is the perfect explanation. Prince himself goes on with the theme during A Question of U. "Must I become naked, no image at all". Does he have to appear with no image, no fancy clothing, nothing at all for you to open your eyes and see with new eyes. Not preconceptions on what has gone before.se it clear and simple for what it is. This was my understanding anyway. Anasthesia is designed to make you unconcious, unaware, Anna Stesia is the complete opposite

fms said:

Again I think Prince sums this up in I wish U Heaven.

Take this beat, I don't mind, I got plenty others and they're so fine.
and
If I see Eleven, you can see it's Seven
and
Still I Wish You heaven

The voice for the lines "take this beat I don't mind" changes from the rest of the song, it sounds rough and strained and veering toward the voice on the Black album. But hey if that's what you want they hey go with it, but I got plenty others and they are so much better.

Eleven and Seven sound the same no? But they are very
different and not the same. I am saying one thing and you are hearing another, I am showing you white and you are seeing black.

Yet despite all this Still I Wish You Heaven.

It's more hard to love than it is to hate.


As for the drugs thing, taking the "e", at a club, Anna Garcia etc. Fishtail!!

Ingrid Chavez did approach Prince at a club where they were playing the Black album to guage reaction to it. Exactly what she said I cannot remember but it was something along the lines of asking him if this was his new album being played and when answered in the affirmative she said something about your music used to make me smile and she could hear him smile when he sang but she wasn't hearing that or feeling it.

fms said:

This I think is the perfect explanation. Prince himself goes on with the theme during A Question of U. "Must I become naked, no image at all". Does he have to appear with no image, no fancy clothing, nothing at all for you to open your eyes and see with new eyes. Not preconceptions on what has gone before.se it clear and simple for what it is. This was my understanding anyway. Anasthesia is designed to make you unconcious, unaware, Anna Stesia is the complete opposite

fms said:

Again I think Prince sums this up in I wish U Heaven.

Take this beat, I don't mind, I got plenty others and they're so fine.
and
If I see Eleven, you can see it's Seven
and
Still I Wish You heaven

The voice for the lines "take this beat I don't mind" changes from the rest of the song, it sounds rough and strained and veering toward the voice on the Black album. But hey if that's what you want they hey go with it, but I got plenty others and they are so much better.

Eleven and Seven sound the same no? But they are very
different and not the same. I am saying one thing and you are hearing another, I am showing you white and you are seeing black.

Yet despite all this Still I Wish You Heaven.

It's more hard to love than it is to hate.


As for the drugs thing, taking the "e", at a club, Anna Garcia etc. Fishtail!!

Ingrid Chavez did approach Prince at a club where they were playing the Black album to guage reaction to it. Exactly what she said I cannot remember but it was something along the lines of asking him if this was his new album being played and when answered in the affirmative she said something about your music used to make me smile and she could hear him smile when he sang but she wasn't hearing that or feeling it.

SWANG said:

Oh Yeah, thanx