luvgirl said:

violetcrush said:

I hear what you are saying with regard to Prince pursuing Susannah. I do agree that it "officially" started from the August '83 concert/Dez bday party on. However, her more detailed discussion with Toure brings to light that his interest began prior to those events. She discussed the recordings of the two PR songs, because Toure specifically asked her about the recording of the Purple Rain album. He did not ask about any of the other songs being recorded in that March/April time frame. However, I think it is likely that she was spending time in the studio with him then too. It is also very likely that no one else in the band knew anything was brewing between them. Again, she states after discussing him staying at their apartment and the intimate moment in the studio, "that following Summer everyone was convened in Minneapolis to start rehearsals for the movie, and I had come to visit W & L...." The Questlove interview was done in a much smaller amount of time, because he was talking to all of the members of the Revolution. It was clear that Susannah was giving "snippets" of information. She did not have time to give the same amount of detail. I think she used the term "cut to rehearsals for PR" after the story about first meeting Prince, because she was summarizing the details. She also stated after talking about Dez's party, "you know, there's other stories...but that's when it all started" - meaning that's when they started getting more involved. It was 1.5 hours w/ Toure vs. 15-20 min with Questlove.

Regarding Strange Relationship - yes, I know the song was oringinally recorded in very basic form during his relationship with Vanity. However, he completely re-worked it with W & L during his time with Susannah, though I think the basic meaning of this song would apply to all or most of his relationships with women However it seemed to have more specific significance to him during this period - enough to release it on SOTT, which included several other songs inspired by Susannah. In 2002, on the ONA tour in Japan he played this song, and before he started playing he stated to the audience, "we're about to go way back - 1986 back" - so it seems he related the song to that time period.

I'll tell you what, if Susannah writes her full story detailing the timeline with him, and I am mistaken, you can come back here and say "I told you so!!"

*

Lol, We'll agree to disagree on the timeline, and to me, the person who actually inspired the lyrics to the song would be the one it held more significance with. I'm sure you feel that way with all the songs said to be inspired by Susannah Melvoin.... Or am I wrong? Is there a song inspired by Susannah that you feel didn't hold much significance with her as it did with another?

[Edited 4/4/18 9:06am]

Good question!! I am trying to think of a song inspired by her that he "re-worked" or re-recorded during a subsequent relationship. I cannot think of one off hand. If you have one let me know! You know, I do really feel that his songs, from a lyrical perspective, went very deep during his time with her. I think that was the "muse" that she created for him. If you listen to the songs from the Parade/Dream Factory/Crystal Ball/SOTT period - especially the love songs - they are just on another level of intensity. And that's not even including all of the unreleased songs and the songs he gave to other artists during that time. Not to take anything away from the love songs written during Mayte's or Manuela's period, but I just don't think they go as deep or are as lyrically intense or creative. I know that many Biographers and avid fans feel the same. Matt Thorne devoted an entire chapter of his extensive book on the songs he wrote for her and during their relationship. The reason could also be that this was just such a prolific time for him. I think it was a mixture of both, as well as, the collaboration with Wendy and Lisa and the rest of the band.

violetcrush said:

I think that there were a few ladies in Prince’s life that you could bestow the term ‘Muse.’ Vanity was certainly the first muse behind his prolific creativity. There is no doubt in my mind that she was the inspiration behind Purple Rain, The Beautiful Ones, and Strange Relationship. You can’t get any deeper than those songs in my opinion. I agree that Mayte and Susannah was also fundamental in their time period, inspiring deep seeded songs. All these ladies - Vanity, Susannah, Mayte, Sheila E and Manuela, held a special place in Prince’s heart at the time they were together and it showed in different aspects. A few of them remained life long friends up until a certain point in his life. (Vanity, Susannah, and Sheila E.)
[Edited 4/4/18 11:35am]

luvgirl said:

violetcrush said:

Good question!! I am trying to think of a song inspired by her that he "re-worked" or re-recorded during a subsequent relationship. I cannot think of one off hand. If you have one let me know! You know, I do really feel that his songs, from a lyrical perspective, went very deep during his time with her. I think that was the "muse" that she created for him. If you listen to the songs from the Parade/Dream Factory/Crystal Ball/SOTT period - especially the love songs - they are just on another level of intensity. And that's not even including all of the unreleased songs and the songs he gave to other artists during that time. Not to take anything away from the love songs written during Mayte's or Manuela's period, but I just don't think they go as deep or are as lyrically intense or creative. I know that many Biographers and avid fans feel the same. Matt Thorne devoted an entire chapter of his extensive book on the songs he wrote for her and during their relationship. The reason could also be that this was just such a prolific time for him. I think it was a mixture of both, as well as, the collaboration with Wendy and Lisa and the rest of the band.

I think that there were a few ladies in Prince’s life that you could bestow the term ‘Muse.’ Vanity was certainly the first muse behind his prolific creativity. There is no doubt in my mind that she was the inspiration behind Purple Rain, The Beautiful Ones, and Strange Relationship. You can’t get any deeper than those songs in my opinion. I agree that Mayte and Susannah was also fundamental in their time period, inspiring deep seeded songs. All these ladies - Vanity, Susannah, Mayte, Sheila E and Manuela, held a special place in Prince’s heart at the time they were together and it showed in different aspects. A few of them remained life long friends up until a certain point in his life. (Vanity, Susannah, and Sheila E.) [Edited 4/4/18 11:35am]

Yes, I do think that some of PR was inspired by Vanity, but Prince has also said when he was developing the idea for the movie he was more focused on what was happening with the music scene in MN, and the battles between the bands. Albert Magnoli, the guy who came in and completely re-wrote the script, added the more fictional parts involving the family and relationship drama. I'm sure When Doves Cry is tied to Vanity (although some have said Susan Moonsie, who was with him before Vanity), as it describes conflict and fighting in a relationship. Interestingly though, before the lyrics to PR were completed, Prince was singing "Gotta Shake This Feeling" to the instrumental part, which was worked on June/July of '83 - during the time that he was falling for Susannah. I have that rehearsal. Could just be Prince making up words, but it sounds pretty intense to me. There was definitely a connection between Prince's girlfriends and the films. No doubt Under The Cherry Moon was tied to Susannah, as she was going to be the lead in that film, and the songs and style tied in with The Family and their relationship. Later, he eventually tied Graffiti Bridge to Kim Basinger (although he had started the idea and script well before she came along), but she left prior to completing the script.

**Luvgirl - I just came across the interview that Susannah gave to RR Auction. In this discussion she specifies the time frame for the beginning of her time with Prince. She states that when the 1999 tour ended Prince began coming to LA and staying with them at their house. She explains that this was well before starting to record the Purple Rain album. So, this would have been the period when he was recording the Time album and doing pre-production for the Purple Rain album in April/May 1983. Here's the link to the interview:

https://soundcloud.com/falcoz2003/rr-auction-susannah-melvoin

[Edited 4/30/18 14:21pm]

[Edited 4/30/18 15:31pm]