To me, he is just making the point that not all foreigners who came to the States were treated equally.

He's not saying that the Jews were lucky and, in my opinion he is mainly using Jewish names as a clever play on words to illustrate a point. In fact, he is bastardising their names to drive the point home and it links to money and wealth. So, we have Mr Pearlman, Mr Goldstruck - the implication being that money and skin colour have a lot to do with your reception in the US. I certainly don't see the lyrics as anti-semetic, just anti-racist.

And, good on you for listening to TRC - its a fabulous album.

I love the song, love the guitar, love the whole sound thang... I'm still struggling with the anti-semitic vibe that runs through the lyrics. I get the start of the song, with the slave-trade stuff, but can't see the bridge to the 'you lucky Jews, at least you haven't had to change your name!' sentiment.

Any thoughts or explanations? Please?

Oh, and isn't 'Last December' such a marvellous headrush of brilliance, especially the Lisa-like chords progression at the end.... brilliant.

...yes, I am listening to The Rainbow Children... did that show?

IMO, Prince's use of Jewish names is not so much anti-Semitic or aimed at minimizing the Jewish plight as it is a protest against their Holocaust often dwarfing that of African Americans in the sympathetic minds of the world. I think he's simply implying that even despite all the horrendous things Jews have gone through, at least they still exist in the context of a rich and traceable cultural lineage. African Americans, whose link to their ancestral past was all but obliterated by Middle Passage, don't have even that saving grace.

Jews weren't the point. He could have used any culture. But their plight is acknowledged and lamented worldwide, and I think that's the sole reason he picked them (perhaps clumsily) over others to use in his song. It's like foes against sweatshop labor calling out a giant like WalMart in lieu of some lesser-known exploiter of workers.
[Edited 2/22/06 20:08pm]

I love the song, love the guitar, love the whole sound thang... I'm still struggling with the anti-semitic vibe that runs through the lyrics. I get the start of the song, with the slave-trade stuff, but can't see the bridge to the 'you lucky Jews, at least you haven't had to change your name!' sentiment.

Any thoughts or explanations? Please?

Oh, and isn't 'Last December' such a marvellous headrush of brilliance, especially the Lisa-like chords progression at the end.... brilliant.

...yes, I am listening to The Rainbow Children... did that show?

Nurse: read my other comment. Don't be so flippant.

Lammastide: interesting idea. Do you think that the holocaust inflicted on Africans, being perpertrated by so many of the countries that remain on the 'good guys' side, allows for the general sweeping under the carpet of the suffering they suffered? It's an interesting thought, but I do believe that Prince could have been more selective with his lyrics here. Just because the holocaust they suffered is wideknown and lamented, as you say, doesn't lessen its significance or reality. He could have chosen a more apposite way to highlight the injustices still felt by those descendents of the slave trade and the exploitation they suffered in America.

It's odd, putting this song up against Last December, the sentiments don't add up.

I wonder if Prince truly bought into the JW thang... I still hear elements of the Lovesexy spirituality in his work, especially Last December, and that certainly does not tally with the JW message.

The whole TRC album is a mish-mash of spiritual uncertainty over-arced by his then fascination with the JW faith. I hope that's something he either overcomes or finds true solace in.

It's odd, putting this song up against Last December, the sentiments don't add up.

I wonder if Prince truly bought into the JW thang... I still hear elements of the Lovesexy spirituality in his work, especially Last December, and that certainly does not tally with the JW message.

The whole TRC album is a mish-mash of spiritual uncertainty over-arced by his then fascination with the JW faith. I hope that's something he either overcomes or finds true solace in.

IMO, Prince's use of Jewish names is not so much anti-Semitic or aimed at minimizing the Jewish plight as it is a protest against their Holocaust often dwarfing that of African Americans in the sympathetic minds of the world. I think he's simply implying that even despite all the horrendous things Jews have gone through, at least they still exist in the context of a rich and traceable cultural lineage. African Americans, whose link to their ancestral past was all but obliterated by Middle Passage, don't have even that saving grace.

Jews weren't the point. He could have used any culture. But their plight is acknowledged and lamented worldwide, and I think that's the sole reason he picked them (perhaps clumsily) over others to use in his song. It's like foes against sweatshop labor calling out a giant like WalMart in lieu of some lesser-known exploiter of workers.
[Edited 2/22/06 20:08pm]

Nurse: read my other comment. Don't be so flippant.

Lammastide: interesting idea. Do you think that the holocaust inflicted on Africans, being perpertrated by so many of the countries that remain on the 'good guys' side, allows for the general sweeping under the carpet of the suffering they suffered? It's an interesting thought, but I do believe that Prince could have been more selective with his lyrics here. Just because the holocaust they suffered is wideknown and lamented, as you say, doesn't lessen its significance or reality. He could have chosen a more apposite way to highlight the injustices still felt by those descendents of the slave trade and the exploitation they suffered in America.

It's odd, putting this song up against Last December, the sentiments don't add up.

I wonder if Prince truly bought into the JW thang... I still hear elements of the Lovesexy spirituality in his work, especially Last December, and that certainly does not tally with the JW message.

The whole TRC album is a mish-mash of spiritual uncertainty over-arced by his then fascination with the JW faith. I hope that's something he either overcomes or finds true solace in.

Welcome.
U have just accessed the Akashic Records Genetic Information Division.
This program is required 4 those wishing 2 obtain
a marriage blessing from the kingdom.
When U wish 2 begin this program, place your right hand
on the scanner and tightly clench up your buttcheeks as U might feel a
slight electrical shock.
Please select the race history U desire.
U have selected "African-American".
This is your history:

First of all, the term "black and white" is a fallacy.
It simply is another way of saying "this or that".
Let's examine the term "this or that" in its ultimate form
which is: "this" means the truth or "that" which is resistant 2 it.

When a minority realizes its similarities on a higher level
not just "black", but "people of color", and higher still "indigenous", and even higher still, "from the tribe of", and yet higher:
"The Rainbow Children".
When this understanding comes, the so-called minority becomes a majority in the wink of an eye.
This action will cause a reaction or resistance.
The source of this resistance must be banished as it is in direct conflict with the initial action.
It cannot be assimilated, 4 its very nature is resistance.
In other words, one cannot serve 2 masters.
U are either "this" or "that which is not this".

End of part one.
2 continue, select the program "Family Name" and type in the
current government name U wish history on.

London, England, sometime in the early 1600's:

We have the God-given right 2 run out of our colony anyone
who does not bow down 2 our law
Hear, hear!
Hear, hear, exactly, that's what I said!
[Say I'm from the ...]
Hear hear, hear hear
Aye, yes, aye, aye!

Come on, come on, keep it moving here
Come on, now
What's your name boy?
Abu, Abu Cah
Well, it ain't now, it's Tom Lynch

Mirror, mirror what U see?
Have I still got those dark clouds over me?
Or am I really feeling what I feel?
The last days of the devil's deal
Oh mirror, what U see?

Devil, devil what U know?
U been here since 1914, but now U got 2 go
U been hidin' behind corporate eyes
U wanna war, but U can't fight
Oh devil, oh, U got 2 go, yes sir!

Bridge...
U might say, "what U mad about?"
But U still got your family name
Pleased 2 meet U, Mr. Rosenbloom
I'll be John Blackwell just the same
What's your family name?

Teacher, teacher what U say?
Did we really come over in a boat?
Did it really go down that way?
Or did I arrive before U and ruin Thanksgiving Day?
Oh teacher, oh, what U say?

Preacher, preacher is it true?
That Jesus wants me 2 give my money 2 the likes of U?
Ride around in your Lexus coupe
Drive us 2 the cleaners in a pinstripe suit
Oh preacher, that ain't truth!

The bridge, huh...
U might say, "what U mad about?
But U still got your family name
Pleased 2 meet U, Mr. Pearlman
U can call me "Clay"
Now can I play?

People, people what's your name?
Maybe we should start all over
Let everybody get in the game
Put up a one-gloved fist
Make a sound, Violet Brown

U might say "what U mad about?"
But U still got your family name
Pleased 2 meet U Mr. Goldstruck

We found this tape in the Akashic records.
This is Thomas Jefferson:

"My fellow Americans, if there is a just God, we're gonna pay 4 this!"

"Black men and White men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics
will be able 2 join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"

Johnny B...

Please read the lyrics again - and carefully! I don't think that the "U still got your family name" (green sections) is directed at the Jews - it is directed at the non-black, non-jewish people!

If you read the red sections, it seems pretty clear that this song is about the need for minorities to join and stand side by side to overcome the concept of "majority" and "minority". Therefore the Martin Luther King quote at the end.

The "pleased to meet U", addressed to the Jews, actually means that Prince sees the similarity and is aware that their names were changed too! The "what's your family name" is addressed to the rest of the world then! "This is Mr. Rosenbloom, I'm Mr. Clay, what's your name, people?" The change of the family name of the two minorities mentioned (Jews, African-Americans) is something that connects them! "I'll be John Blackwell just the same"!

Is this interpretation possible or do I suffer from an overdose of purple kool-aid???

Lammastide said:

First of all, the plight of Jews is not lamented worldwide just ask the citizens of Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, Russia, and Saudia Arabia to name a few. The whole idea of trying to enter into an "oppression contest" is counterintuitive. Jews and Blacks were partners in the most successful Civil Rights movement in the United States' apartheid history because their leaders understood the relationship to each of their collective racist/antisemetic pasts. Martin Luther King (whose Dream speech is sampled) would've never condoned bashing one oppressed group of people to advance another. I don't necessarily believe that was what Prince was trying to explore (at least I hope not) because he has always been about inclusion of all colors, religious viewpoints and gender. Though sometimes I worry about his JW influences. Fundamentalists of all stripes should be feared.

jdcxc said:

The leadership of the nations you've listed have long existed on the absolute fringe of reason, let alone historical and political credibility. There will always be a group of loonies who discount the plight of those they've largely been the oppressors of. Fortunately, though, it doesn't erase from the minds of the greater world the absolute horror that Jews have suffered -- and that is evidenced, as it should be, in the currency that Holocaust education receives throughout Western society. Many might argue that comparable analysis, public and private redress and memorialization of the Transatlantic Slave Trade pale in comparison.

I do agree, though, that Prince's strategy in addressing this is shoddy here...

Given the psychological dysfunctional that oppression can level on a people, "oppression contests," as you put it, are not at all counterintuitive (it's not uncommon for many people to do it with others even within their own oppressed group), but you're correct in that they absolutely are sick, horribly counterproductive and ultimately self-destructive. They do little more than breed in-fighting, misunderstanding (as is apparent in this case) and an eventual loss of mutual sympathy between natural allies like blacks and Jews.

I have no doubt in my mind that Prince meant well. And I don't think his statement was aimed at "bashing" anyone -- especially as some supposed part of Jehovah's Witness ideology. (Heck, they credit their eternal salvation to a Jew!!) But I do see how it could be misconstrued.
[Edited 2/23/06 12:19pm]

Lammastide said:

Wow, impressive analysis. What I was trying to say was that antisemitism very much exists on all fronts (mainstream discourse, lunatic governments and demagogues in all societies) but I can tell we very much agree on the larger points.

bottom line is...Men often times treat pets better then they do other men.

Slave traders from Europe often made deals with African chiefs who sold their tribes into slavery. This point is often overlooked.
There is white slavery too. Women in Russia are forced into prostitution by kidnapping, often sold to Turkey and other parts of Russia where they work as sex slaves.
Jews were put into ghettos in Poland, before being sent to concentration camps.
Turks killed Greeks
Greeks Killed Turks
Turks killed Armenians
Brits kill Irish
Irish Kill Brits
Sunni Muslims Kill Shiite muslims
and on
and on

We live on a very small planet in a very large universe..and we still treat each other inhumanely.
Kids are starved to death by foster parents.
A pastor in Long Island NY raped his three daughters twice a week, for over 5 years. He was recently arrested
When we learn how precious life is, how fragile, and how to respect fellow human beings, perhaps the world will be a better place. It's the message of the Torah..to treat others with ethical and moral behaviour. It's the message of Islam, not as told by radical extremists, but good Islamic people. It's the message of Christianity, and Buddhism and many other religions.
Unfortunately,
People don't have faith like they used to. People used to believe in a heaven and hell and feared the consequences, but many no longer do.
When man treats his/her fellow man with respect, the world will be a better place.

IMO, Prince's use of Jewish names is not so much anti-Semitic or aimed at minimizing the Jewish plight as it is a protest against their Holocaust often dwarfing that of African Americans in the sympathetic minds of the world. I think he's simply implying that even despite all the horrendous things Jews have gone through, at least they still exist in the context of a rich and traceable cultural lineage. African Americans, whose link to their ancestral past was all but obliterated by Middle Passage, don't have even that saving grace.

Jews weren't the point. He could have used any culture. But their plight is acknowledged and lamented worldwide, and I think that's the sole reason he picked them (perhaps clumsily) over others to use in his song. It's like foes against sweatshop labor calling out a giant like WalMart in lieu of some lesser-known exploiter of workers.

A little off topic, but why doesn't the rampant sexism on the Rainbow Children ever get discussed. Too much conservative and fundamentalist leanings on this album.