Hi there fellow fams...

I'm a 21 year old second year 'BA Jazz Studies' student.
I've been given the task of analysis...
The subject: Sign 'O' The Times. (The single track... Not the entire album.)
We're looking at the 80's pop scene and I've been given this track as my focus.
This is a rare treat for me as I am a massive fan of P's music and I have turned alot of the folks on my course onto him.

As I was born in '83... I can't remember anything of the era at all!
I'm asking for some help, please!

What was the impact of this track...?
Does anybody have anything of use written on the subject that would be helpfull?
The meaning of the lyrics.
The orchestration... How fresh was the sound... Was it pushing the envelope?
Any 'stories' of interest.

Any of these things would be great...
And it would be a great brain racker for you who were there and remember the atmosphere and great times.

The essay is 3000 words... so anything would be great.

Peace,
Christopher.

P.S
A great big thank you in advance to any of you who can help...!

Well...


It was basically about AIDS, Reaganomics, Gangs, Drug abuse, The threat of Nuclear War, and the Shuttle exploding.

I know that the song 'Sign O' The Times' was just a song on his planned 3-lp set 'Crystal Ball', but when that project was scrapped he promoted it to a title track. At least in the UK, I seem to remember that at best it was only a modest hit - it's only as time has gone on that it has become such a big favourite with artists and critics. The drum programming was particularly admired - you have to remember all that technology was only just getting started back then, heck they thought a 'laser' sound when you hit a pad was still pretty cool.

Personally I loved the simple video with the lyrics scrolling across the screen - it was such a radical turn-around from the expensive flashy videos of the day and really made you consider the words.

Have you heard the cover by Simple Minds? I seem to recall Jim Kerr (the lead singer) saying he was in awe of the song, saying Prince didn't just get the year, he got the month and the day of the week with that song, I guess meaning that he pretty much managed to nail the story of entire 80's with just one song.

Uptown's book 'The Vault' (published by Uptown, 2004) has this to say about the actual Sign 'o' The Times song if it helps:

"The title track is a bleak, anguished rock/funk hybrid that ranks with Prince's finest music ever. He creates a highly dramatic sound collage by integrating an echoing keyboard figure with a rubber bass riff and a bass and snare drum. He sings the falling, talk-like melody almost dispassionately, but a contrasting musical segment raises the tension with the introduction of subtly unsettling synth chords and Prince going up in his vocal register, sounding much more impassioned.
...

"Two of the most profound songs on the album are "Sign O' The Times" and "The Cross." They differ from the rest of the tracks in as much as they attempt to deal with the world outside of Prince's own psyche. The title track is his most convincing social commentary thus far, being a harsh catalogue of modern-day ills, from AIDS, drug addiction to gang violence, none of which was yet the international topics that they would grow to become in the '90's. Prince sees each of these things as being a "Sign O' The Times," an indication of the troubled era in which we live. Thematically, "Sign O' The Times" is related to "1999" in that Prince uses the list of mdern woes and foibles as just one more indicator that the apocalypse is near. And just as in "1999" he has a small child ask his mother why everyone has a bomb, in "Sign O' The Times" Prince asks "will anybody live to see the dawn" if first night falls, with a bomb falling thereafter. His answer to these signs of the times, which just "mess with your mind," is to fall in love and raise a family. He doesn't say that doing so will actually make the world a better place. From the tone of the song it seems that he is saying that we just have to make do with the world we are given, living our life as meaningfully as possible in spite of the trumoils surroundging us."

But in case anyone listening in 1987 forgot what time it was, the title track says it all in so many ways. With lyrics pulled straight from the headlines, it gave listeners their first glimpse into the political psyche of Prince. There were elements of commentary on previous albums ("Free" from "1999," "Annie Christian" from "Controversy" and a few others), but nothing in his previous seven albums had been as directly political and sharply insightful as the song "Sign O' the Times." In less than four minutes, he tackles gangs, crack, NASA, AIDS, child murder and heroin, leaving two minutes for an instrumental exhibition. But in that initial four minutes came a demand for change, a demand for a revolution in the kind of concern that we have for each other and ourselves. Simultaneously, he flipped music upside down with that and 15 other brilliant tracks.

http://www.salon.com/ent/...ndex1.html

The song might have been a modest hit in the UK, but it was a pretty big hit here in the US. I think it went to #3 on the pop charts and #1 on R&B. I remember it being all over the radio in the spring of '87.

It has gain more and more respect as the years have gone by, but the song did get some notice back then as well. I remember my journalist teacher in high school specifically saying how her respect grew for Prince as an artist because of that song...and my respect for her grew just by saying that.

Horntooter said:

Like I know it's totally cool that you're having to write a paper on SOTT - but am I the only one who thinks it's shocking about the fact the there are now degrees in subjects like this! I mean Christ - the state of modern education - not being dumbed down at all is it.

If it's the UK ...let me guess it's a former Poly - that would be a huge surprise.

You must remember that people were really not expecting this from Prince either.

Parade had mixed reviews and with the movie Under The Cherry Moon critics pretty much laughed Prince out of the room.

With SOTT people had to shake themselves off and take notice straight away again....

When it was released it was very stark and simple as compared to the other songs in the chart at that time that were over produced, sugary sweet, typical 80's sound.

Everyone raved about the way the video was done, no one had ever had the song lyrics run across the screen b4, it gave greater impact to the song, made people reflect on the song more. In Australia and the UK, it went top 20 at the most (do a search using google for music charts of 1987 March / April to get exact chart placings).

I remember it was even in one of the school books (and we had to listen to it). I don't remember what class, but I do remeber we had to analyse it and say what we thought it al meant and what Prince meant with certain lines (I'm from Belgium, so we speak Dutch). I remember the teachers at school really wanted us to 'listen' to what Prince had to say back then.

"Nate" doesn't refer to anyone, it just rhymes with "late".

boomboomboom said:

Jazz studies isn't that unusual. Especially if you plan to be a working musician. Now if you wanted to go into a career in finance or something you could probably choose better, but it just depends on what you want to do.

It was a pretty serious tune at the time, especially coming from the public's perception of Prince at the time (if you look at his hits and single releases that he was known by). His look was also very serious -- very cool. Check out the MTV performance of this song when you get a chance, and you'll know what I mean. It was also a bit of a return to the Purple Rain "rock star" persona that he had left behind during the last two albums. I think people started to take him seriously as a musician (songwriter/instrumentalist) again with the release of this album and single.

peace

Snap said:

I don't know...his little "Blue-sky with Clouds" suit in the "Raspberry Beret" video certainly SCREAMED "ROCK STAR."

I was in high school at the time and well aware of music and the difference between bubblegum and artsy pop. Just compare it to what was on the radio at the time. I recall Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" being played a lot. Maybe also Bananarama's cover of "Venus", ... look up the charts and see what it was playing against.

I know a lot of younger teenagers thought it was weird when they first heard it, "spike it or like it"... this one girl chose to "spike it" the day the dj here in houston first played it on the top 40 radio station.

I dont remember the author or title, but recently there was a pocket size book released entirely about SOTT album, that would possibly help you. i think it was in a series called 33 1/3 which also contains books about OK Computer, James Brown Live At The Apollo etc...
Should be interesting at least.

For what it's worth, Rolling Stone has SOTT listed as #299 in the 500 greatest songs of all time.

http://www.rollingstone.c...mainRegion

i read somewhere a few years ago that everything in the song was taken from a days newspaper. he read the newspaper then wrote the song

prinssi said:

http://www.amazon.com/exe...9?v=glance

One thing is for sure, TLC basically stole it and made "Waterfalls."

Meanwhile, Prince's new single, "Sign o' the Times," is one of the hottest records in the country. To trumpet the release of the single last week, Warner Bros. placed ads containing the entire song lyrics in a variety of newspapers and magazines from the Village Voice in New York to the City Pages. Prince's new album is due later this month with a concert tour, possibly starting in Europe, to follow this spring.

http://www.startribune.co...tory=40703

tafnap said:

You sure that's not from the liner notes for The Hits/The B sides?

Released in April 1987, SIGN 'O' THE TIMES was previewed two months earlier by the single of the same name. Written, recorded and mixed in a single day, I'd love to know the date so I could look up the newspapers to see what inspired it.

One of the most captivating, not to mention unorthodox concert intros ever, SIGN 'O' THE TIMES was performed nightly on the highly conceptual world tour that hit the road in May. Almost eerie on stage, it wasn't exactly a safe choice for a single either. But the music world seemed fascinated by the rare glimpse into the Prince politic and it raced up the charts.

Anybody know if the SOTT album got any excellent reviews from critics back in '87?

That MetalOrange always has the best answers.

He was never more in tune with himself, his muse and his surroundings as he was right then. For me, it's not my personal fave Prince song (although it is up there) but if I had to pick ONE song that encapsulated everything that Prince was about, and showed what he was capable of - Sign O' The Times would be the one.

silverchild said:

Of course it did. Even Melody Maker had one of the longest reviews it had ever printed of any album on "Sign "" The Times".