DynamicSavior said:

amchwa said:

It's great to read everyone's thoughts.
I always thought he was talking about a nun...

I dunno. Could it possibly be as simple as Prince deciding to push the envelope as far as he could just to get attention?

Dressing as he did at this time, French kissing his keyboard player on stage, singing about oral sex, three-somes and incest on a record -- all guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd and get folks buzzing, especially in the early 80's.

Yes, I'm sure Prince writes a lot of his music based on personal experiences, but that doesn't mean that everything is auto-biographical. He's said that sometimes the music comes to him and he just channels it, so maybe this is just what came to him and he had the balls to go with it.

The wierd thing about this thread is that no one is talking about Prince actually having a "relationship" with his older sister who he was staying with in his teens while shopping for a record deal in NY. Supposedly, she has commented on the relationship.

Someone on the org must have info.

jdcxc said:

Yes, they had a relationship. She's his sister.

Novabreaker said:

If it isn't so, then what is it?

gyro34 said:

a song. nothing more, nothing less.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Sure it is a song. I was asking Novabreaker to elaborate on his point. I am curious about what's his take on it.

HalluRain-I think the threesome reference in When U Were Mine is more metaphorical than anything. I might start a thread about that soon, I've been hearing from a lot of people that they believed it was about a real threesome.

gyro34 said:

It's no different to "Head" in lyrical content. He was just being punky and dirty, the song is so humorous (as stated before) that it certainly is not meant to be a genuinely critical take on incest. Sure, you might have different kind of dimensions to it - but if I was going to write a song about having sex with my older sister, "Sister" would pretty much be the way I'd do it too.

This is the cut that really caught a lot of folks attention. I remember vividly when this album came out and EVERYBODY that had dug P, especially the girls, were really freaked out by this song. And not in a good way. They just loved P to death, especially cuz of his second album. They loved the ballads, "With You", "It's Gonna Be Lonely" etc. Then P busted out with "Sister" and they basically thought he had lost his mind. It caught the media's attention, i.e. rock critics, but a lot of folks didn't understand WHY he would cut a song like this and release it. This is the song Rick called him out on in the press, saying he was out to lunch and that you couldn't take him seriously. At the time, many thought Rick's statement was hella valid. Years later, Rick's quote comes off like jealously, but not at the time.

Apparently when he wrote it, Prince was saying the lyrics came from everyday talk he heard around other cats, so its likely its hearsay that someone close to him was involved in or knew someone who had been in an incestous relationship or encounter.
Most likely it came about from some jive Prince and his cats thought about. Who knew what went on in that Dirty Mind of his

i always regarded it as meaning 'getting fucked over by those close to you i.e. family or friends".

Novabreaker said:

So, he did on a dare.

Ok, I did a search for Prince - Dirty Mind and over at HQ this was written:

The most controversial track is undoubtedly “Sister,” which has often been interpreted as a glorification of incest. However, the song was probably intended as an expression of the pain and confusion an incest victim, or anyone who has been manipulated by a person in a position of trust, must go through.

Does that help?

he was 21-he wrote a song about shagging his sister.

y'all DO take his songs too serious.

blackguitaristz said:

Yeah,I remember vividly when the 'Dirty Mind' album came out in the fall of 1980.EVERYBODY was talking about it! "Sister" generated alot of controversy and the buzz surrounding the album was incredible.Prince knew what he was doing.He knew exactly how to shock people and he used it to his advantage.

DavidEye said:

Exactly. People don't realise it, but P was/is a very smart cat. Knows how to read people. I think he's a master "profiler" in the way Charles Manson was. Seriously, Manson's "Family", especially the girls, reminds me a lot of P's girls. He exercised THAT kind of control in his circle. And I'm talking about Prince. He did it to the men as well, but of course, in a different way. P knew what buttons to push and when to push them.

meow85 said:

Find an advisor who's a big Prince fan.