One of my favorites...
...shivers every time I listen 2 it

what u think of it?

frickin' great song!

agree with the chills

another one from this album that does it to me is Holy River

I really dig the live version recorded at Club Fillmore in 2004
[Edited 11/25/05 16:46pm]

Dewrede said:

yeah..it brought tears to my eyes when he played that. never in my life did i think he would play this live (and me be there to hear it).


To Jonathan!!! I hope the pain you attempted to mask has all gone away.....

PUT DOWN THE Neddle PUT DOWN THE Spoone!
What a great line!!!
Live it is so smooth!!!

Marco81 said:

I almost cried when I first listened 2 it... That clear guitar... And almost cried again when I read It was not P playing it !!! Still a beautiful one...

love it, one of the few good songs from disc 3 of Emancipation

I NEVEr play it...Sorry, I don't know the song. I'll listen to it tommorrow... Imagine? And I have 2 copies of the album also. Never heard it..LOl..

I've always loved everything about this song from the poingant lyrics to the . absolute perfect mood set by the music. It also features very passionate vocals (I love the heartfelt screams that errupt near the end). It's easily one of my favorite songs.

sosgemini said:

Sorry , but who are John and Mary ?
[Edited 11/25/05 23:16pm]

Dewrede said:

It seems it's "Sean and Mary"

P Diddy-Puff and Mary J Blige were in the audience at the show when it was played.

.

I've sort of gotten over this track.

It's there, on "Emancipation", but for some reason it just doesn't work as well as it ought to anymore.

musicolog said:

Eh ?? What do you mean it wasn´t P playing it ?

langebleu said:

ok , thanks

KoolEaze said:

K.Dyson plays guitar on this song...u can read this in the credits

sosgemini said:

that song was about Jonathan? How do you know?

CreamyThighs said:

Prince hasn't absolutely confirmed this even when asked directly in 1998:

Excerpt from Ask The Artist Q and A posted on official website:

U: Is "The Love We Make" about a personal friend, or did u write it to instill hope in the millions of junkies out there? Is it true that part of it is about Jonathan Melvoin, Wendy and Susannah's brother?

: was speaking 2 the spirit of a friend lost 2 drugs.

.

.
[Edited 11/26/05 9:49am]

langebleu said:

true. but when has prince ever admitted whom he has written a song for? the timing of the song's release leave me thinking it was for jonathan.

sosgemini said:

I agree ... rarely. And it's far from clear from that little he says whether he is excluding the possibility of it being Jonathan, or he chose for whatever reason to keep the identity concealed - meaning, as is generally suspected, it was intended to be about him.

As far as I can see, this interview is still about the most revealing regarding song content origins because Prince is rarely asked such detailed questions in promotional interviews. It's a shame that this hasn't been repeated, despite the fact that typically Prince only half answers many of the questions that were raised.

.
[Edited 11/26/05 10:56am]

langebleu said:

whodknee said:

I've no objections to letting the work speak for itself. But I'm quite prepared to do that myself regardless of how much or little I know about its background.

For myself, some understanding of what motivated the composer to write the work, the inspiration, whether that be in the liner notes or 5 years later, does nothing to diminish what I draw from the song, it only adds another dimension to it.

The fact that 'Empty Room', for example, is reported by band members to have been inspired by relationship difficulties with Susannah Melvoin, doesn't in any sense impact on my imagining it in different ways - from a personal point of view or from an anonymous third person's perspective. I just find it of interest, along the way, to know that it was a specific personal experience that Prince drew upon as opposed to him using his fertile imagination to develop a piece of fiction.

In the example of this thread, the lyrics lend themselves to all sorts of thoughts which I don't find distorted or restricted because I might consider that it was originally influenced by the death of a particulat friend of Prince.

In the same way. learning that a particular Beethoven symphony was originally to be dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte but the composer changed his mind during the creative process hasn't made my experience of the work any less rich.

.

It makes me feel good and wanna at the same time, one of his 90s best track.

langebleu said:

Fair enough.

One of the hi points of Emancipation, I love the latin domine, domina and the rapid voice changes, Prince at his intelligent best. Songs like this prove he is the greatest living musician.

I think most Prince fans consider this song a lyrical masterpiece but probably mainly because of the lyrical dross we've had to wade through. Especially considering the albums its on!

I know from experience that we Prince fans see songs differently to non-fans and this is certainly an example of that.

I consider it a classic, moved by the conveyed emotion but to my girlfriend it's just another boring Prince song.

Each to their own.

sosgemini said:

good point.

Marco81 said:

What???
Why didn't he play this himself? I really didn't know this.Thanx