I've listened to the lyrics and know Prince and religion. It leads ot me to think that Prince is talking about Christ.

Listen to every verse and you'll see the meaning.

fluid said:

Wow, I always thought it was pretty obvious that he was singing it as if Christ was singing it. But yes you are correct.

"...i'm not a human... i am a dove... i am your conscience... i'm love... i'm your messiah, and you're the reason why i would die 4 u..."

yep, Christ is the persona

fluid said:

Then you know it's not really a "religious" song. Religion didn't factor into his music until the late 90's.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Religion may or may not have been in his music, but he put a lot of spirituality in his work.

wdrew said:

That was my exact point.

Prince has always sang religiously.

You can say it's spirituality, but it's always been rooted within the Christian religion.

The language he chose to use was more universal, making it more accessible, but it's always been religious.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Not True !
Controversy (our father)
The Second Coming (unreleased live song)
God (Purple Rain B-Side)
ATWIAD - Temptation
SOTT - The Cross/Adore
Lovesexy - I Know/Anna Stesia

Maybe i even left a few out

NouveauDance said:

I like it more ambiguous personally

Dewrede said:

Uh...religion and SPIRITUALITY are TWO different things, Lovesexyisthe1 is correct in his point.

EverlastingNow said:

Thank you. Christianity is a pretty broad description to consider his early body of work as "religious."

In the 70's/80's, and early 90's... you wouldn't have known if he was Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, Baptist, Pentacostal, Messianic Judaism, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Methodist...

It was just cool that you could relate to him on that level. All that's changed now.

Oops. My bad, excuse me for straying off topic. Resume.


_
[Edited 1/6/05 15:10pm]

If you think God , The Cross and I Know i
aren't about god you must be a little the both of you !

Dewrede said:

Ok, you lured me back in.

At what point did I say those songs were not about God?

you must be a little if you think God is a religion.

Sorry , didn't mean to offend you

Aren't songs about God religious ?
How else would you define religious ?

NouveauDance said:

Exactly.
Prince has recorded many spiritual songs over the years, but tracks like
'I Would Die 4 U' and 'The Cross' go beyond a general spirituality and into
a definite religious framework. They are not merely songs about a general
belief in God, but are quite specifically grounded in Christianity. So they
are unavoidably 'religious' in content.

Dewrede said:

No offense taking.

Here is my definition:

Religion: following a set of man-made beliefs and doctrines

Spirituality: belief in a higher power, not following a religion

Some may agree, some not. I have gotten much further in life with my spiritual awareness, than I could ever imagine, following a religion.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Then by your own definition, 'I Would Die 4 U' is a Religious song.

I see you point , however
religion IS defined as
"belief in a high power" , according to this on line dictionary
so not different from what you call spirituality
and has nothing to do with man made beliefs and doctrines :

You said you believe in a "high power"
so you are religious !

http://dictionary.reference.com
(replying to Lovesexy..)
[Edited 1/6/05 15:52pm]

By all definitions, you can call anything religous... such as a person who brushes their teeth "religiously."

Spirituality on the other hand, is being in touch with your natural being, and it's natural longing to return, to it's natural state.

Once you understand the difference you will know what I am talking about.

You can con yourself into believing that Prince used to be "spiritual" as opposed to "religious", but when a man says "save me Jesus" that is tied to a specific religion. It's not just a "higher power" but Christianity's big hitter/favorite son. Who cares if he doesn't specify which branch of Christianity? Prince has always been religious, whether you and Prince say so or not.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

No, you can't call anything religious by all definitions. Otherwise, the word would feature on every page of the dictionary.

However, Christianity is a religion.

Prince both wrote and recorded specifically religious songs, well before the late '90's.

Songs such as "4 The Tears In Your Eyes" and "A Man Called Jesus" are obvious examples with a specifically religious subject matter.
.

skywalker said:

So what religion am I then? You seem to know the answers so I'll ask you. I believe in God, and Jesus but not religion at ALL. Thanks in advance.

EverlastingNow said:

I don't recall saying I knew all the answers. However, Prince has always been religious. It's not a new thing. Dedicating a whole song to "The Cross" or asking Jesus to save you (Anna Stesia) IS religious. Not just "spirituality". Since you asked- you say you believe in God and Jesus. I'd say your beliefs lean towards any number of Christian religions-even if you don't consider yourself "religious" or belonging to any particular religion.

Me cheering for the MN Timberwolves could be called "spiritual".

Well, Prince considers 'I Would Die 4 U' a Religious song (and he should know).

He's always had a religious aspect to some of his songs from the beginning,
it's not something that only appeared in the late 90's. You may like to kid
yourself that Prince's music was always about some non-religious spirituality,
but the truth is that Prince's 'spiritual' songs have ALWAYS been deeply
grounded in CHRISTIAN beliefs right from the start.

BorisFishpaw said:

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]

OK I didn't mean to start a whole thread about Spiritness and all.

Although you may find it interesting that he changes the lyrics live on the Purple Rain tour.

If you have the Erotic City-I Would Die 4U Live singe he changes the lyrics

I'm your Messiah and you're the reason why
to
He's your Messiah and you're the reason why.

I don't know if it's cause he like to be tricky or cause he doesn't want to bring religion into pop music.

LovesexyIsThe1 said:

Y let ur own xperience color ur impression of others?

Prince is religious, always has been.
Opn ur mind...

BorisFishpaw said:

So Christianity to you is a religion like Jehovah's Witness and Catholic's? I always understood that if you were a Christian, you believed in God/Christ and that's it, you didn't worship via a certain religion.

fluid said:

Well "He's your Messiah" sound much more religious. It puts emphasis on Jesus, more so than the original which to some was unclear. Plain and simple Christian = follower of Christ.