Yea, this was when Prince could really put pen to paper. Too bad this will never be released...lol

-----

Lana drew a picture in school 2day
One that made her mother cry
A picture of a woman with a drink in her hand
Standing by a child with no eyes
Washington reaction based upon revenge
Babies blown 2 kingdom come
Damn the logic
Cartoon characters look better when they're on the run
Danny dropped the dime on his girlfriend
He said he didn't wanna go 2 jail alone
The seed lives in the same mind
With the thought that says we all should be stoned
And people lookin' 4 angels in the sky
Whenever they're broken-hearted
Love is grown, seeds are sown
A fire don't burn unless it's started

Did U ever feel that life was like lookin' 4 a penny
In a large room with no light?
A sophisticated man reduced 2 company in no-win situations
That aren't right

Every time U wake up there's a little motherfucker
Talkin' big stuff in your face (Are U happy?)
U only get the kind of people that open their mouth just 2 swap feet
Welcome 2 the rat race

Did U ever feel that life was like lookin' 4 a penny
In a large room with no light?
A sophisticated man reduced 2 company in no-win situations
That aren't right

Oh, if U could just pass your history class
Maybe life would be alright
Until then U'll be lookin' 4 a penny
In a large room with no light

Yeah!

I LOVE this song.

You know what? I think I probably agree with you!!!

Musically this is one of my most favorite Prince songs. Top 10 definitely And for all the Wendy/Lisa haters, this is their revenge on you if for nothing other than Prince only made songs like this when they were around

Lyrically it conjures all kinds of thoughts/emotions. Definitely a buffet of food for thought there.

And I always thought it was a picture of a woman with a dick in her hand

That would make the picture much more disturbing to the mother dontcha think?


.
[Edited 4/3/06 19:32pm]

HAD TO spin this song right now. Prince in genius mode This song gives me the damn chills

where is this song from? I have it and went to get it but having a brain moment. What's the name??!!!

Frederick96 said:

It's from Dream Factory. I think that's right. It's probably shown up in different boots but I think that is where it's originally from.
[Edited 4/3/06 19:47pm]

i always thought one of the lines went "a sophisticated mass produced cacophony..." instead of a man "reduced to company." But then I also thought George Michael sang "What do you call 'Pon My Refrain" when he was was really saying 'Pornography'

I've heard of it, but never heard it.
I'm so deprived.

kevinpnb said:

"sophisticated" is definitely the word and so is "cacophony"

I could listen to this song 24/7 prince at his creative zenith

2freaky4church1 said:

I appreciate you printing this out because I always thought the lyric was:

"A picture of a woman with a PICK in her hand
Standing by a child with no eyes"

I thought the lyric was about a woman gouging out a childs' eyes, which would have marred an otherwise outstanding track.

I bought a bootleg containing this in 1999, a little after "Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic" came out.

This song hit me like a lightning bolt! "This is the Prince music I fell in love with!" This song alone put ALL of "Rave" to shame, and illustrated to me how far off the rails his music had gotten for me!

(p.s.- did Prince not say this is one of the tracks to be included in "Roadhouse Garden"? "Roadhouse Garden" is the only empty promise I can see one day actually getting released because of the mended fences with W&L, plus the undeniable quality of the tracks).

No, her moms drinks, that's why she is so fucking sad, thinking about war and shit..lol

""a sophisticated mass produced cacophony"

Aint that talking about 3121.

one of my favorites. i'm 100% sure this will one day be released properly. its just too good to sit on a shelf. and prince ain't too far gone to know that!

Imagine that shit on a perfect cd..great.

It's a fantastic song.

Frederick96 said:

The song is often called 'Welcome to the rat race'
Hope this helps you out...

So nobody has a decent copy? Mine's from Testament - it's pretty decent, but my god, if this were released properly... I fully believe that this song could be a massive hit even now, it's just another one of his creative golden moments.

But it will probably take him dying before any of this stuff gets released. It's pretty clear to me that, like Mozart and so many others before him, a few years after he died people will start realising on what level of Genius Prince actually exists on...

kevinpnb said:

I thought in wake me up before you go-go that he sang 'my feet sperming i've never been the same' I was young.

now...Large room with no light
I thought this beautiful beautiful song was saying looking for a baby not looking for a penny, and until now thought it was called welcome to the ratrace.

god alone knows what i thought moonbeam levels was saying, i just used to sing like he does when he sings 'giggle that same giggle that you do' from condition of the heart!

The casualty of poor quality recordings i guess.

I have large room on Crucial.
Does this mean H man(gotta love miles davis, if it truly is, it must be, its genius)
and Red Riding Hood(great song) might not be the right names either?
[Edited 4/4/06 3:40am]

Yeah, I like that song a lot. very good.

This song is so damn good, for all I care he could even edit the "motherfucker", if only he released it.

I always thought it was

Lana drew a picture in school 2day
One that made her mother cry
A picture of a woman with a dick in her hand
Standing by a child with no eyes

One of the main reasons this song is regarded SO HIGH with folks (and Moonbean Levels) is because it reamins unreleased. These lyrics are no better than the Ballad of DP or If I was your girlfriend. Or Crystall Ball.

Both are over rated IMHO.

newpowergeneration said:

No it couldn't.

superspaceboy said:

I really love the song in question, but I have to agree with this post.

I had a few configurations of the original Crystal Ball on hissy tape back when SOTT was out, and I remember telling all my friends about this masterpiece "Joy in Repetition" that blew everything Prince had ever done out the window, if only he'd release it...

Well, I'm happy he did release it, and I do think it's stunning. But it's not quite as special as it was when it was covered in hiss and no one could go and buy it.

superspaceboy said:

I agree they're over-rated, but they're still great songs.

skip said:

That version was way better than the one released for Graffiti Bridge. I remember hearing the original one night on the radio just before GB was put out and it got me really excited about the album.

NouveauDance said:

By all means yes.

superspaceboy said:

Why is that?

omnithanos said:

That has to be the lyric

Gosh, I probably played this song over 100 times around the holidays last year and it never loses its impact.

The verses are so puzzling, the chorus sounds like pure joy and the ending is soul-searching freakout.

So many ideas and emotions in such a little space. It easily stands up there with "All My Dreams" as one of his most complex, interesting and accomplished unreleased songs. His evolution during '85/'86 is one of the most startling in all of music history.

I pray to god to hear this in perfect quality someday.