Orgers favourite tracks on 3121 are...
Love
16.1%

The Word
13.8%

Fury
12.0%

3121
10.3%

Lolita
10.1%

Black Sweat
9.4%

The Dance
9.0%

Incense and Candles
7.8%

Beautiful, Loved & Blessed
3.8%

Get On The Boat
2.7%

Satisfied
2.5%

Te Amo Corazón
2.4%

After 1,085 votes cast

i wonder what that says about the org's feeling about Prince's JW-ism.

The Word, that's a given, but I don't know how you would thing Love has to do with JWs.

According to my info it doesn't, and you just slammed it in to make this post.

Some may argue that the entire album has to do with the JWs. And in that case this point would be without a point.

If I was to pick the two largest JW songs it would be the word and the boat.

"Love" is for the fans
"The Word" is for mankind

The road to salvation is upon us...

PurpleKnight said:

Exactly. I didn't get any JW vibes in any of the songs on 3121. That's not to say that they aren't there, but it didn't register with me that way.

The Love would have been much better as an instrumental..I cant believe folks actually enjoy it...the minute the vocals kick in it makes me cringe..the minute he shuts up i love it...

sosgemini said:

An instrumental? Oh lord if he put on another instrumental track on there after News & Xpectation I would be half past due.


Anyway I like The Word because of the music and the message about being positive and catching yourself in darkness no matter what u believe in.

Just about every song has some sort of reference to faith/religion/JW

-"the knowledge tree" in Te Amo
-"I was just a piece of clay in need of the potter's (God's) hand" in BLB
-"I an't talin' about the physical, this foreplay starts in the mind" in Satisfied
-the whole monogamy theme of Lolita
-The Word & Get On The Boat... fairly self explanatory

etc
etc...

It's not anything new really... He's been doing this for a long time now (especially since 1998)

I love the word.

It's a sensual gospel song essentially.

I mean it just oozes sex, even though it's about god.

Plus, it doesnt' come off as preachy--it has more of a LoveSexy jubilation to it.

Lolita and Black Sweat need to be higher up on that List. Love and
Incense and Candles too, for that matter.

Imago said:

so do i..i think its my fav song on the album...does this mean we have to get married now?

paisleypark4 said:

ya know..i just hate the verse..its very lazy..the lyrics are lazy....but the music and the arrangment kick arse.....and the chorus wouldnt be that bad if he didnt resort to the "sameness" style chorus multi-layered vocals that he has been stuck with using the past few years...its as stale as the NPG moniker..papa needs a brand new bag because the verse and the layered chorus betray him.

Love's about JW's? Okay....

'The Word' could be about mainstream Christianity as much as JW's. As could 'BLB'.

Nothing in those songs is JW exclusive.

'Love' as far as I can ascertain from the lyrics is not JW related in any way. Any application of 'Love' to JW's would be a massive stretch and lack credibility.

Compare the lyrics of '3121' to 'The Rainbow Children'.

I wish The Word wasn't so obviously Christian "missionary" in a few of it's lyrics, it does repulse some listeners when they hear "saved"...

ufoclub said:

pfft, whatever. if someone is repulsed by hearing someone joyously sing of their religion then they have a serious problem.

sosgemini said:

We can't adopt though, I'm not moving out of Florida for shit.

i have to echo the sentiments about "the word" being very inclusive of all christian denominations. its not like he says "Jehovah God" anywhere in the lyrics, lol.

ufoclub said:

That is a very curious observation in that he is speaking of escaping tribulation in this world and damnation in the next. I gotta wonder just who out there would be so repulsed by an idea that really has self preservation at its core. The only plausible reason that this sentiment would give such an offense is that it requires one to be confronted with oneself and his/her own spiritual state in order to answer the question of, "what am I to be saved from?"

I have about as high a self esteem level as I believe anyone should but have to ask of those that would be repulsed by the lyrics of The Word, "Is the reflection in the mirror really that grand? And if so, who gave you that mirror?"
[Edited 4/16/06 16:13pm]
[Edited 4/16/06 16:14pm]

Yeshua4all said:

it's offensive to some that it's assumed that they are experiencing any sort of tribulation or prospective damnation. There's quite a few atheists out there who believe that existence is random and hold tight to their right to enjoy life as they wish by their own instinctive wisdom and morality.

then there are others who believe in God and believe that the greatest sin is to pray/beg/nag through some convention authored by man and to even have the self righteous conceit to think that they can affect their judgement by this higher consiousness through jumping human ceremonial hoops rather than through wisely governing their own lives until its time to let go.

sallysassalot said:

I'm talking about people who were fascinated by Prince singing about it on Lovesexy and making it his own unique perspective of contradictory impulses and tying it into the biology of sex and endorphins, etc, like some scifi cult leader.

these are people that listened to Prince when he was talking about his personal, invented religion that rang true to him, not an established, conventional religion he embraced but they distrust because of history.

sosgemini said:

ufoclub said:

Okay, I can go with you on the not perceiving tribulation or prospect of damnation thing. If you've never heard anything that would make you consider the possibility, then why would you?

The thing about the atheists though is problematic because it leaves wisdom and morality (and "truth" by inference) in the world of the subjective which of course differs drastically from one person to another. These qualities by their very nature cannot be subjective because they would cease to be. In your description, these things are suggested to exist without any standard in which would constitute their nature and integrity. It's whatever it may mean to whomever. How many other things in life do we play these kind of definition games with? I'd say very few.

The other point is that believing in a God does not constitute knowing or serving that in which is true and eternal. Not the same thing at all. And for those looking for life or redemption or anything else from as you say ceremony and ritual, you're right. They won't find it, not until they are able to see what the ritual was intended to reflect or convey. that's assuming of course that the ceremony or ritual is one that is truly blessed or not.
[Edited 4/17/06 13:35pm]

Thetan said:

Wrong!

"The Truth has got 2 b told" (large capitals!)

The Truth = New World Translation

I'm agnostic, and the Word is my favorite track on the CD at this point.
Love, on the other hand, makes me want to start a religion that preaches against bad Britney knock-offs.

Both "Love" and "The Word" are extremely subtle lyrically. Especially when you think back a few years and remember this fonk-ay party chant:

"Don't let nobody bring U down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the everlasting now
Join the party, make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring U down
The everlasting now"

Now that fucked a song up for me. There are references all over 3121 to the JW faith if you look hard enough, but why would I wanna do that when it just sounds like the Church of Lovesexy to me?

The Word can be about any religion that has literature accompanying it. Of course, he's talking about God, and maybe even the JW interpretation of God. The JW bible is the same bible used by most Christians I believe. One of the main differences is that each place where the word "God" is used, Jehovah is inserted instead.

sallysassalot said:

i couldn't agree more with that statement.

To single out the JW faith (dogma, things that are unique to the JWs) would have to include things like:

• Only a 144,000 going to heaven (God's chosen)
  
• The other witnesses would live a Paradise on earth, everyone else ceases to exist; no "hell" persay
  
• Not a "cross" but a "pole" (like "The Cross" vs "The Christ")
  
• Blood transfusions (big no, no with JW's)
  
• Most "Armagedon" talk that reference "The Book of Revelations" with current events
  
• Maybe even a reference to "The Watchtower". Then again, he could mask it as a Jimi reference and I woudn't mind!
  

Any other faith reference is just that, which he's done his entire career.

As a Christian myself, I don't mind them at all. In fact, I enjoy most of them. Quoting Bible versus are usually most justified in a hymn and not "pop music" in my opinion.

Songs like Lovesexy, The Cross, Positivity and Anastesia are great when the reference is given in the artist's personal expression. Often with Prince, there's a political reference with a spiritual solution that I like most. A "let's get back to basics" aproach to world problems to where that "Agape Love" ties in that the bible talks so much about. I don't care what your background or belief is, there's no denying that solution. To quote Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
[Edited 4/17/06 19:31pm]