"In “Grace,” Nelson says Prince sings of being on a mountaintop with the wind rushing by. Looking back on his life, Prince sings, he is astonished. Memories rush by like the wind. As they pass, the memories fall behind him, and all that remains is grace."

http://prnalumni.org/members/spotlight/spotlight-michael-b-nelson/

a great find, thanks. Further quote.

By Laura Tiebert

Saving The Final “Grace”

Of his own work, Nelson says there is a technical element as to how he puts an arrangement together, as opposed to the way Prince wrote music, which was “a flowing composition thing.”

“I somehow connected to his flow and stuff came to me,” Nelson says. “My melodies are kind of ordinary most of the time. It’s not songwriting like he writes songs. And it’s not hook writing like he writes hooks. He has so many ideas. Prince inspired me and I wanted to inspire him back.”

On Prince’s final album, HitNRun Phase 2, The Hornheads played on seven songs, five of which were Nelson’s own arrangements. Nelson and strings arranger Adi Yeshaya of StrinGENIUS were finally hitting a stride with their process.

Now, sitting in his home studio on Feb. 14, 2019, Nelson turns his attention back to Prince’s email of June 2015 and recalls the excitement of the road ahead. That June 2015 email was followed by more requests for arrangements, and more songs.

One of them that Prince sent, he says, is called “Grace.”

In “Grace,” Nelson says Prince sings of being on a mountaintop with the wind rushing by. Looking back on his life, Prince sings, he is astonished. Memories rush by like the wind. As they pass, the memories fall behind him, and all that remains is grace.

Nelson tears up at the recollection.

“I can’t listen to it without breaking down,” Nelson says. “I had no idea the depth of his talent when I first worked with him. It was revealed over time. The longer you worked with him the more you said, `Another one, really? Really?’ You got little windows into it. How many tunes he sent me and I’d say, `Now geez, where did that come from?’ I wouldn’t have expected that one at all.”

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PURPLEIZED3121 said:

a great find, thanks. Further quote.

By Laura Tiebert

Saving The Final “Grace”

Of his own work, Nelson says there is a technical element as to how he puts an arrangement together, as opposed to the way Prince wrote music, which was “a flowing composition thing.”

“I somehow connected to his flow and stuff came to me,” Nelson says. “My melodies are kind of ordinary most of the time. It’s not songwriting like he writes songs. And it’s not hook writing like he writes hooks. He has so many ideas. Prince inspired me and I wanted to inspire him back.”

On Prince’s final album, HitNRun Phase 2, The Hornheads played on seven songs, five of which were Nelson’s own arrangements. Nelson and strings arranger Adi Yeshaya of StrinGENIUS were finally hitting a stride with their process.

Now, sitting in his home studio on Feb. 14, 2019, Nelson turns his attention back to Prince’s email of June 2015 and recalls the excitement of the road ahead. That June 2015 email was followed by more requests for arrangements, and more songs.

One of them that Prince sent, he says, is called “Grace.”

In “Grace,” Nelson says Prince sings of being on a mountaintop with the wind rushing by. Looking back on his life, Prince sings, he is astonished. Memories rush by like the wind. As they pass, the memories fall behind him, and all that remains is grace.

Nelson tears up at the recollection.

“I can’t listen to it without breaking down,” Nelson says. “I had no idea the depth of his talent when I first worked with him. It was revealed over time. The longer you worked with him the more you said, `Another one, really? Really?’ You got little windows into it. How many tunes he sent me and I’d say, `Now geez, where did that come from?’ I wouldn’t have expected that one at all.”

***