fluid said:

really?!? no kidding?!? you figured this out all on your own? what are you going to tell us next, that you listened to Little Red Corvette, and that you know about Prince and sex, and that the song may not be about a car at all but about a woman?

please, tell me what her little red love machine is.

Be kind !

EverlastingNow said:

fyi: Jehovah Witness' are Christians..

and i must admit, i never got the connection...but, thats more so because i never really listen to Purple Rain.....well, except when i was a kid of ten..and i wasnt much into lyrics back then..

damn, first The Continental..now this...i really need to give up my prince fairy points....

I originally interpreted the song as more of a love song.....the ulitmate in devotion..... to be willing to die for someone.

In the original, he says "I'm your messiah", borrowing religious imagery from the Judeo-Christian concept of the messiah, but in the context of the movie and song itself, it doesn't necessarily have to be religious (although clearly the reference is influenced by it).

When he changes the lyric in concert to "he's your messiah" he's obviously now making it more "religious", which fit in with the whole theme of the concert as other pointed out, talking about Jesus etc.

So in sum, Prince has always sprinkled religious (namely Christian) references in his music, in varying degrees of explicitness. Yet, the song in question doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted that way, especially as recorded on the album.

People , once again !
The world religion has nothing to do
with any particular kind of belief !!!
It's just belief in God
Be it Catholic , Jewish , Muslim or whatever !!

http://dictionary.reference.com/


(replying to Sosgemi)
[Edited 1/6/05 21:45pm]

Dewrede said:

wha what? i wasnt saying it did..just saying i never got the religous overtones...


down bow!! down!! (the jw christian thing was just a clarfication..for my own benefit.. )

According to Merrium-Webster, BOTH a y'all's defintions of religion are correct, and then some:

Click here for definition

1 (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural

(2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

You have 666 posts

Dewrede said:

Not only that, my SS# has 666 in it!

So be careful what you say

Although by posting this I just bumped it up.
[Edited 1/6/05 22:00pm]

Dewrede said:

GaryMF
[Edited 1/6/05 22:00pm]

EverlastingNow said:

Then your definitions are incorrect. Christianity IS a religion. Catholics,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists etc. are all just
sub-divisions within the framework of Christianity. If you believe in Jesus
Christ as the son of God and your saviour, then you are a Christian. It's as
simple as that.

Chris·ti·an·i·ty :
n.

1. The Christian religion, founded on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. Christians as a group; Christendom.
3. The state or fact of being a Christian.
4. pl. Chris·ti·an·i·ties A particular form or sect of the Christian religion: the Christianities of antiquity.

christianity

n 1: a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior [syn: Christianity, Christian religion] 2: the collective body of Christians throughout the world and history (found predominantly in Europe and the Americas and Australia); "for a thousand years the Roman Catholic Church was the principal church of Christendom" [syn: Christendom, Christianity]

Dictionary.com

fluid said:

The change was done to avoid public misinterpretation of the lyrics. The original
is sung in the first person from God/Jesus' perspective. That line was
changed to the third person ('he') live, to make sure people didn't think
that Prince was claiming to be the messiah personally.

Who was he trying to fool ?

That sounds reasonable (although do you know this as a fact?).

Still, when you look at the song in the context of the movie, he is singing it TO Apollonia, and the song doesn't necessarily have to be religious, rather it is a love song, using religious a reference.
[Edited 1/6/05 22:36pm]

. . .Jesus? Yeah. Duh.

GaryMF said:

I think it's like Let's go crazy and PR. Covert Religion.

Bastid.

DorothyParkerWasCool said: quote():Excellent Point!!! This topic always irritates me. People claim that Prince's spritiuality used to be all inclusive, however, if you go through his career you will find that the explicit Christian overtones have always been there. Darling Nikki with its "Hello how are you I'm fine because the Lord is coming soon. Coming, coming soon" backwards message, a message that was played forward during the Purple Rain tour and accompanying Syracuse 1985 vid. Prince frankly stating "There is only one lord, Jesus and if you believe he will forgive you" on the Purple Rain tour. Other examples, God and And God Created woman both from the book of Genesis, 7 lifted directly from the book of Revelations, Let's Go Crazy, the Lovesexy tour, the Cross, the picture of the bible in the liner notes of Chaos and Disorder etc. The Christian message has always been there. It may have seemed all inclusive but the billions of people that are not Chrisitan (ie. muslims, hindus, buddhist, and the countless other world religions) may have felt differently. The thing that gets me is that these things are documented on video, cd, etc. and people still claim that Prince has gotten super religious all of a sudden. Ironically, my Muslim girlfriend wasn't bothered one bit when we went to various Musicology shows last summer and she's never offended by his Christian overtones on record/in old vids. I wonder if the non-Christians got all upset back in the day when he went into the Lord's Prayer during Controversy.
[Edited 1/6/05 18:13pm]
[/quote]


As a Turk born and raised in Germany with a Muslim background ( though I wouldn´t really call myself a practising Muslim ) I also don´t understand all the fuss about Prince converting to the JWs..this point, of course, could be debated for hours,from the pros and cons of Larry G beig in the mix to P following the JW rules and changing his lyrics etc...since this has been done a gazillion times on this board, let´s get back to your original question....

I never felt offended by Prince´s religious imagery and lyrics, whether it be the Second Coming during the Controversy days or Lovesexy, I just take the positive things from the music and the lyrics, the positive feeling, vibe or whatever and of course the music...but some lyrics never really appealed to me, but I can still like the song or have respect for Prince´s message, devotion or faith and spirituality.
Anna Stesia, for instance, is a masterpiece musically, lyrically and spiritually..a truly great and uplifitng song, and I dig its lyrics, but the lines about Jesus are not necessarily my cup of tea. Or the Cross as an image, for instance. But I can still relate to the positivity behind those songs. It´s a different story though if someone tries to force me into his religion, discriminates my cultural background or creates an aura of exclusiveness. Not that Prince is like that, it´s just that his new approach seems a bit more discriminating at times, but I would´t say that he is really discriminating.

I Would Die 4 U can be understood both ways, I guess...depending on how he sings the lyric "I´m your messia .." or "he´s your messiah...."
No matter what , it´s a great song, just like " Everywhere" is a great song.

It´s nice to know he´s still there , healthy , wealthy and wise after all those years, and he keeps making great music and giving great shows.
[Edited 1/7/05 6:19am]

Yes , i'm not religious either but i love
"Last December" regardless of the fact that
it's really a gospel song
But that song rocks man , that guitar solo , damn !

Prince said in an interview with Chris Rock that Let's go crazy is about God and the elevator is the Devil....."don't let the elevator break you down"....he said "we couldn't say God on the radio.

jackflash said:

Prince was a pervert...but not THAT MUCH OF PERVERT!!!

Dewrede said:

amen

prime said:

Also in that same interview. Chris tells Prince "there's a lot of religion in your music...er sorry spirituality" and Prince goes "yes spirituality". So although many of you made some great points, I'm sticking with that Prince has always had a spiritual vibe to his music, not a religious one. That's how I feel so no one quoting Webster's is going to change that. For me it's about RELATIONSHIP not religion but that's just me.

EverlastingNow said:

cosign!!

fluid said:

"darling if you want me to" ??

EverlastingNow said:

Like I said, I could be cheering like a madman for the Timberwolves and one could accurately call that "spiritual". I'm sure Prince would still classify his songs about faith as "spiritual", however when you start talking about Jesus, The Cross, The 2nd coming , it is all dealing with Christianity. The brother ain't up there singing about Buddah. Prince's songs are religious, they are spiritual as well.

skywalker said:

I think you are right. Although in the case of IWD4U, the studio version can be considered just a love song.

skywalker said:

I think this is right.

Prince wrote and recorded songs about God and Jesus, and he was certainly referring to the Christian religion.

That said, he was, I believe, certainly not trying to associate himself with any particular Christian church.

To this extent, I think Prince would probably have described his views as expressed in songs as 'spiritual' specifically to avoid him being linked to a particular church dogma.

However, this doesn't escape the fact that some of his early songs were specifically 'religious'.

And whilst Prince never appears to have suggested in doing this that people of other religious persuasions were in any way wrong in their beliefs, he was expressing his own views through such songs in terms of the Christian (but not any specific organised church-based) religion.
.

langebleu said:

I totally respect all of your views on this subject, however, in my life Prince has brought spirituality not religion whether christianity to some is considered a religion not a state of being. Great views though, I've enjoyed reading them all.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Watch Prince perform Purple Rain on the 1985 AMA's. He say's "let HIM guide you to the purple rain" referring to God. Also "The Cross" was on Lovesexy in the late 80's. It's always been there dude.