This evening i am listening to the graffiti bridge-cd, which i havent done for months and months, and right now i have one track on repeat: Still would stand all time.

I allready liked this track alot when the cd came out, but at this moment i am just thinking: this song is a classic! its a beautifull track: the verses sound a bit forced at first, but when the choir comes in, and Prince belts out his voice this is turning into one of the best ballads he has ever done. The end of this song is giving me chills (strange but true: Princes music rarely does that with me, i have a lot of other musicians who have that effect on me, but Princes music rarely does. Maybe its that his vocals sound very sincere and heartfelt on this track).

In retrospect this song wouldnt be out of place on the Best of Prince / The very best of prince cd's. It has the 'big', emotional resonation of Purple Rain, and i even think it could have been a big hit when it actually was released as a single around that time.

What are your opinions on this track?

love it love it love it!!!

IT'S FUCKING GREAT!

Get ready for the haters though. They'll be here any minute with their cynical selves.

It's one of the few good songs on that mess of an album.

I was riding my bike out this morning and it came on my ipod. Oh this song is SO great. It makes me feel so great.

It's an okay song, but that grammar always bugs me. No wonder there's that aftershow were someone is singing 'still will stand all time' and Prince shouts 'which fool is singing will? It's WOULD!' It's just poor grammar, the rest of the lyrics are present tense, then that line is future tense - something that might happen in the future, time would stand still, if...

What Prince is trying to say, is if we do x then 'all time' would stand still. The way he puts it, it's kinda awkward grammatically. That awkwardness takes it out of the classic category for me.

nonsense , it's alright grammatically

and it's a classic
[Edited 6/20/06 18:20pm]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. I wish Prince had released this song, especially in earlier 91 when the 1st Gulf War started. That would have been massive, I firmly believe that. It's a beautiful song that just takes me away into another place, I need to listen to it again, it's been awhile.

However , i like the boot versions better , there's too much instrumentation on the studio version imo

one of my faves!!!!

i'm getting chills just from the rendition in my head . . . that's powerful!! GREAT song!!! on so many levels . . .

metalorange said:

Really? I always took it to mean: in spite of x, we/it would last forever/for all time....

But then again, English is not my native language...

MartyMcFly said:

That's why in my opinion it is bad grammatically - it creates confusion over the meaning.

Take the line: still would stand all hate around us
Now that is clearly saying 'hate' 'would' stand still, if we achieved the love that is 'just around the corner'

Or the line: Love if U would just please give us a sign/Still would stand all time which is saying if we had x (a sign) then all time would stand still.

At least that's my interpretation of it. It's like Yoda speak "Yes Obi-wan, seak the love you do, hmmm? Still would stand the force, mmmmm, no?"
[Edited 6/21/06 6:59am]

metalorange said:

I dig the whole album.

metalorange said:

Ah yes, the Trojan Horse aftershow back in '88. I think that was the song's live premiere.

A few days later Prince and his band were playing at a Hamburg nightclub and Taylor Dayne also fluffed the lyrics quite badly, over and over again... She was stoned out of her skull, mind, but it was as if everyone tackling that lyric onstage was destined to get it wrong!

.

I think its a great song.
Just after 9/11, in a moment of thought, i played this song.
It seemed very fitting.

metalorange said:

WHY ARE ENGLISH TEACHERS ALWAYS PUSHING THAT GRAMMER BULLSHIT.

tripp said:

I think it's their job. And it's spelled G-R-A-M-M-A-R.
[Edited 6/21/06 9:41am]

onenitealone said:

Yes a Prince classic track, love the album and boot versions.

.

---
Metal-O


At least that's my interpretation of it. It's like Yoda speak "Yes Obi-wan, seak the love you do, hmmm? Still would stand the force, mmmmm, no?".
----


Unfortunately the fact your quoting sci-fi renders your linguistic argument void.

metalorange said:

Hmmm...there's nothing actually wrong with the grammar. it's just reversed .... "all time would stand still" ...same old future conditional tense, but reversed which creates a more dramatic or profund sense...but it is still correct just not so common. When you just say "all time would stand still" it's actualy pretty boring I think...

Song is good IMO...not quite classic, but did deserve to be on a better album.

The song is great, but if he had played a BLAZING guitar solo in it, he woulda won THAT BATTLE!!!!!

It's a beautiful song .

Riverpoet31 said:

GREAT song on a FABULOUS album!

.....

Beautiful song, I agree with Dewrede, There are better Boot versions (dependant on your own taste obviously) I also have a live version too which is nice.

Sadly the Album does spoil its presence, However with "The Question Of U" and "Elephants and Flowers" the album still is enjoyable (ish).....

Would be nice to hear it more in Concerts even if it was just a shorter version.

machinegun said:

Reverse in talked all we, if be, we would where?

Forgotten by whom? I've always loved it!

An excellent song, one my favourites, an epic sweeping ballad that builds and stays there. Its a shame it was preceded by Melody Cool and the hideous Graffiti Bridge