cinnamonjo said:

I don't get it. Here are the lyrics - nothing to me sounds like a-cup breasts. "Africa divided - hijack in the air" - nope, not boob realted as far as I can see.

http://www.bremerbilder.d...#mountains

can you enlighten me?

vman4639 said:

The song is clearly about Prince trying 2 convince a girl that their love story is worth being lived, despite all the reasons one has 2 b afraid of love (i.e. eventually suffer from it, being afraid of commitment, etc...).

The 1st verse is a metaphor of all these reasons :

Once upon a time in a land called Fantasy
a land called fantasy : this is not the Truth, it's a product of mind
17 mountains stood so high.
they r past love failures, high as an emotional trauma can b
The sea surrounded them and together they would be
The only thing that ever made u cry
the sea is the outside world, & in that "imaginary product of the mind", the girl thinks that love & the hostile world r equally dangerous
U said the devil told u that another mountain would appear
Everytime somebody broke your heart
He said the sea would 1 day overflow with all your tears,
And love will always leave u lonely
The devil is fear, or can also b "what other people say". He says that love is a danger, shouldn't b trusted & can only end in pain

But I say it's only mountains and the sea
Love will conquer if u just believe (oh yeah)
It's only mountains and the sea
There's nothing greater, u and me
Well, i think this is explicit enough

Once upon a time in a haystack of despair,
happiness sometimes hard 2 find.
The world is so insane & life is so harsh that it's hard 2 find any happiness in it. The "once upon a time" suggests that this is another "imaginary product of the mind"
Africa divided, hijack in the air,
These r just exemples of this hard world, quoted 2 explicite the previous idea
it's enough to make you want to lose your mind
i.e. not wanting 2 have any faith in life nor love, & do crazy things such as not going with someone who sincerely loves u

But I say it's only mountains and the sea
Love will conquer if u just believe (oh yeah)
It's only mountains and the sea
There's nothing greater, u and me

--

The song is clearly another way of expressing the idea that is best expressed in that wonderful line from "Crystal Ball"
"as bombs explode all around us, & hate advances on the right
the only thing that matters babe, is the love that we make 2night".

Prince made references 2 that belief in many songs: the world sucks, is filled with war & hatred, corruption & vices BUT in the middle of all that shit, we can still find some joy & create something pure & beautiful by loving (& being loved by) someone.

I've felt like this many times in my personnal life, as probably has anyone who has a tendency 2 mix God/faith & love/women as being 2 parts of a similar theological matter, which is clearly the case with Prince.

Of course, if someone disagrees with my interpretation, or REALLY think this is all about boobs, i'm open 2 discussion
[Edited 4/9/05 19:20pm]

I was trying to play it a few months ago and had the chart for the basic version, and it's intersting cuz the whole song is basically 1 chord (G) with the little progression up to it at then of every 8th measure. And that's it !

It's so simple yet so amazing. I dont knwo how he does it

GaryMF said:

It's called adding lyrics and speeding up music that was done already by Coleman and Melvoin That's how.

WonderU said:

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Oh Lordy we can't have thread with out bringing up the girls. (LOL)

WonderU said:

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Oh Lordy we can't have thread with out bringing up the girls. (LOL)

One track a REAL Prince fan should have heard at least once in his life is the extended version of Mountains (it clocks over 10 minutes). Maybe Princes most mindblowing piece of music (the song Lovesexy, and Mia Bocca performed by Jill Jones, being the real competitors for me)

During the late eighties i brought the 12 inch vinyl version of this song, and it just struck me with awe, the way this extended version is building up to a climax, is just amazing. It might take some influences from Sly and the Family Stones I want to take you higher, but i dont care, this extended cut lifts me to a higher level

I hope one day this song (along with the long versions of songs like She's always in my hair, Shockadelica, Thieves in the Temple) will be released on cd.
I mean... i dont use my recordplayer anymore, its broke But when these songs will be released on cd, i will be the first to buy them

glamslamkid said:

Someone (maybe you?) once said this before and I didnt get it. which part in particular are you talking about? (time count?) cuz i never toniced anything off beat.... there's syncopation throughout... but maybe I dont' know which seciton you mean.