I mean, The Kid is Prince's character in PR, so why would Morris be saying to a lady "if Prince can't make you come then nobody can"?

Very odd.

I think that's a dumb song it should have been replaced with a stronger,better slow jam

MattyJam said:

LittlePinkEdsel said:

Interesting. I always assumed it was in reference to Prince's character from Purple Rain. Like maybe he wrote the song for himself but decided to give it to Morris at the last minute. Good to know. [Edited 7/17/16 13:02pm]

I still think it's in reference to Prince's character. Which is why it's so weird... it doesn't really fit in with the Morris Day character to have him bigging up The Kid in such a way... and also, it's just plain weird to hear a guy singing about another guy not being able to make a woman come.

No... because the Purple Rain script labels the name of Prince's character in the movie as "Prince", not "The Kid", and referring to yourself as 'the kid' was common urban-slang at the time.

funksterr said:

No... because the Purple Rain script labels the name of Prince's character in the movie as "Prince", not "The Kid", and referring to yourself as 'the kid' was common urban-slang at the time.

He's still referred to in the film numerous times as The Kid.

And then The Time release an album at the same time with songs featured in the Purple Rain movie and a song referring to "The Kid." It's blatant that Prince wrote it about himself and gave it to The Time to record, but if I were Morris I would've been like "I ain't singing those lyrics."

MattyJam said:

funksterr said:

No... because the Purple Rain script labels the name of Prince's character in the movie as "Prince", not "The Kid", and referring to yourself as 'the kid' was common urban-slang at the time.

He's still referred to in the film numerous times as The Kid.

And then The Time release an album at the same time with songs featured in the Purple Rain movie and a song referring to "The Kid." It's blatant that Prince wrote it about himself and gave it to The Time to record, but if I were Morris I would've been like "I ain't singing those lyrics."

Seems that you are trying to make the less reasonable option fit the situation instead of putting more weight on the option that is more reasonable.

MattyJam said:

Could just be because in the 70s & 80s, People of Color often referenced themselves in the third person as "the Kid," i.e. "The freak tried to play me out not telling me the dude i worked for was her man, but uh-uhhhh...THE KID WASN'T GOING FOR THAT!"

I always thought the same thing back then.....like; "Why is he giving P props"? But after hearing the song I knew Morris was bragging about himself.

BlackSweat86 said:

Could just be because in the 70s & 80s, People of Color often referenced themselves in the third person as "the Kid," i.e. "The freak tried to play me out not telling me the dude i worked for was her man, but uh-uhhhh...THE KID WASN'T GOING FOR THAT!"

calling someone/oneself 'kid' was an all around American thing

Italians called each other the Kid as well.

OldFriends4Sale said:

BlackSweat86 said:

Could just be because in the 70s & 80s, People of Color often referenced themselves in the third person as "the Kid," i.e. "The freak tried to play me out not telling me the dude i worked for was her man, but uh-uhhhh...THE KID WASN'T GOING FOR THAT!"

calling someone/oneself 'kid' was an all around American thing

Italians called each other the Kid as well.

Yup. General slang from a former time period. I still use it quite a lot, though. Except for with my 8 year old niece, who, on hearing me refer to her constantly as "Kid/the Kid" in some kinda 1920's gun moll voice requested that I stop, because as she says:

"Auntie, that's a little on the rude side because I feel as if you're not validating that I have a real name...and that voice you keep using... That gives me ANXIETY ... "

Ottensen said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

calling someone/oneself 'kid' was an all around American thing

Italians called each other the Kid as well.

Yup. General slang from a former time period. I still use it quite a lot, though. Except for with my 8 year old niece, who, on hearing me refer to her constantly as "Kid/the Kid" in some kinda 1920's gun moll voice requested that I stop, because as she says:

"Auntie, that's a little on the rude side because I feel as if you're not validating that I have a real name...and that voice you keep using... That gives me ANXIETY ... "

SoulAlive said:

MattyJam said:

LittlePinkEdsel said:

Interesting. I always assumed it was in reference to Prince's character from Purple Rain. Like maybe he wrote the song for himself but decided to give it to Morris at the last minute. Good to know. [Edited 7/17/16 13:02pm]

I still think it's in reference to Prince's character. Which is why it's so weird... it doesn't really fit in with the Morris Day character to have him bigging up The Kid in such a way... and also, it's just plain weird to hear a guy singing about another guy not being able to make a woman come.

Are you for real? If you listen to the lyrics you can tell Morris is talking about himself.

OldFriends4Sale said:

BlackSweat86 said:

Could just be because in the 70s & 80s, People of Color often referenced themselves in the third person as "the Kid," i.e. "The freak tried to play me out not telling me the dude i worked for was her man, but uh-uhhhh...THE KID WASN'T GOING FOR THAT!"

calling someone/oneself 'kid' was an all around American thing

Italians called each other the Kid as well.

But the Time and Prince are not Italian so what is the point of your comment?

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

calling someone/oneself 'kid' was an all around American thing

Italians called each other the Kid as well.

But the Time and Prince are not Italian so what is the point of your comment?

follow the conversation

what did I saw right before that?

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said:

I think that's a dumb song it should have been replaced with a stronger,better slow jam

I think it was intended to be a filler song. I could tolerate this one more so than Chili Sauce. I thought that was the dumb song.

maybe made for the Barn scene?

I wonder if not this song, was there music made for that scene

OldFriends4Sale said:

phunkdaddy said:

SoulAlive said: I think it was intended to be a filler song. I could tolerate this one more so than Chili Sauce. I thought that was the dumb song.

maybe made for the Barn scene?

I wonder if not this song, was there music made for that scene

Dear Mr Magnoli,

OldFriends4Sale said:

MattyJam said:

funksterr said:

No... because the Purple Rain script labels the name of Prince's character in the movie as "Prince", not "The Kid", and referring to yourself as 'the kid' was common urban-slang at the time.

He's still referred to in the film numerous times as The Kid.

And then The Time release an album at the same time with songs featured in the Purple Rain movie and a song referring to "The Kid." It's blatant that Prince wrote it about himself and gave it to The Time to record, but if I were Morris I would've been like "I ain't singing those lyrics."

Ummm.. then why does Morris say, at the end of 'Chili Sauce', last song on the same album, which is based almost verbatim on the Purple Rain dinner scene: "Baby.. if the kid can't make you come, nobody can?"

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

follow the conversation

what did I saw right before that?

-- I don't really think it is an American or Italtian thing in the context of this song. Two brothers wrote so in this case it is black thing. This board is getting so unfunky and lame that it is real.

U are totally trying to be difficult.

I'm just saying that is something that many people used during the 70s and 80s

Every group will use it with their own flavor but it isn't a 'this' only group. Prince & Morris is also American. So yeah 'an American thing' expressed through various cultures.
did you mean 'unreal'?

[Edited 7/19/16 20:57pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said: -- I don't really think it is an American or Italtian thing in the context of this song. Two brothers wrote so in this case it is black thing. This board is getting so unfunky and lame that it is real.

U are totally trying to be difficult.

I'm just saying that is something that many people used during the 70s and 80s

Every group will use it with their own flavor but it isn't a 'this' only group. Prince & Morris is also American. So yeah 'an American thing' expressed through various cultures.
did you mean 'unreal'?

[Edited 7/19/16 20:57pm]

I am not being difficult. I am giving my opinion. Yes, I did mean unreal. So much for typing on the cellphone while on the train. I am pretty sure two brothers growing up in a hyper segreated area in the 60s and 70s were not thinking about Billy the Kid. Just my opinion.

I agree with OldFriends, the well-spread and generalised usage of that term (kid) is in fact so well known that even I have noticed it when I visited the States (but definitely more amongst older generations), and I'm not even American. The term also appears a lot in Jack Kerouac's book On The Road. The influence of the Italian culture and customs in the states and in NY in particular in undeniable though.

laurarichardson said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

U are totally trying to be difficult.

I'm just saying that is something that many people used during the 70s and 80s

Every group will use it with their own flavor but it isn't a 'this' only group. Prince & Morris is also American. So yeah 'an American thing' expressed through various cultures.
did you mean 'unreal'?

[Edited 7/19/16 20:57pm]

I am not being difficult. I am giving my opinion. Yes, I did mean unreal. So much for typing on the cellphone while on the train. I am pretty sure two brothers growing up in a hyper segreated area in the 60s and 70s were not thinking about Billy the Kid. Just my opinion.

I think you might be creating a social economic picture of Prince & Morris that isn't true.
You think only certain people knew of Billy the Kid? Who from those times 'black white other' did not watch Westerns? And Prince was from the start very much into a lot of diverse images people genre etc He didn't get into the 1940 movies & starlettes in 1985 before creating a movie based on an imagined 1940 French set. Prince was a huge Charlie Chaplin fan.

And even Prince said he circle of friends and connections always reached to black and white people. He wasn't segregated in his intake of culture music & films at all.

OldFriends4Sale said:

laurarichardson said:

EmmaMcG said:

laurarichardson said:

I know that the only black people that care about Westerns are people my parents age. People in there 70s. I never said he did not know who Billy the Kid was or look at westerns but for the time he came up in I would bet money he was not checking out westerns but was watching "SuperFly"!!! Black and White movies from the 20s and 30s has nothing to do with Westerns. While we can all say we don't see color Prince grew up in the 60s and 70s in a hyper segregated city. His early years would have been informed by his community and peers. As usual on this board the influence of the African-American community is be dispealled.

My ex is 28 and black and his favourite movie is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly so I don't think it's quite fair to say that no young black people like westerns. But that's all besides the point. The original question asked in this thread was why Morris was singing about Prince's character from Purple Rain. I have read in a Prince biography that the song was NOT about the character in the movie and that MD is referring to himself as the Kid. Assuming that to be true, why is it important if that came from black culture or white culture?

If you listen to song you can hear Morris is talking about himself being the kid. Did you really have to get that out of book? You may not like hearing this but Prince was black!!! Why would the genesis of his slang, storytelling, jokes and colloquiums come from another community. You may not like the reality of this either but I am pretty sure neither Prince or Morris Day would been writing a song about P making Morris come back in the 1980s. As far as I know The Starr company was not producing gay porn records.