I was looking for a thread posted about a week ago about "What Prince Song did it for you". I wanted to post this there, because that's the song I came across and played several times over and again. That to me was the hook, that landed this fish.

Hey if you know something about me, you know I ain't all up into religion. I belive in the fact that this worlds idealisims are a mockery of the true meaning behind the man, jesus, and see it as tragic they've turned him into an idol.

None the less, I've got to give mad props to Prince for that tune that seems to me to be a calling.

Anyone care to illuminate more on this song?

You don't have to believe in order to appreciate it, or to feel the sincerity of the words. The Cross is an excellent song.

The Christ isn't.

poisonmouth said:

Are you saying I'm mistaken in my understanding that it's the same song with only one word changed? If so please inform.

The Cross and The Christ are the same song with one word changed, but I agree, if I am getting the meaning of poisonmouth's post correctly, that the song changed more than just in the word.

If I recall, the song was changed bacause of the idea that Christ was killed not on a cross but on a single spike in the ground with no crossbar. I seem to remember writing on his website explaining this and how it fundamentally changed the idea of Christianity, this was pre-JW if I recall correctly.

I just don't agree. If you believe Jesus died for your sins, does it matter how he died? The song is about your pain being taken away by your belief in Jesus. To me the song retains that meaning, regardless of terminology. The Cross is the song I still hear, even when the words are changed. I do not claim myself to be a "Christian", whatever that means today, but I agree that this song hooked me as well and it is my favorite from Sign O' the Times. I don't see the need for the change if you really believe the underlying meaning.

So, Mick, I don't know if I shed any more light on the song, but I agree with you. It is a great Prince song and I still listen to it and hit repeat at least once on my ipod when it plays.

It's one of his best, but he shouldn't have changed the title. Why did he anywayS?

CaptainJack said:

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[Edited 8/4/06 13:27pm]

CaptainJack said:

Oh, I didn't read your other post. Sorry! Very well written

CaptainJack said:

Nah, I'm not trying to dog you out or anything rude. I just thought that was funny since I had just explained why he changed the name.

Words are very difficult to describe the beauty of Jesus. Jesus probably doesn't see HimSelf as an idol because He is egoless and his entire consciousness spans cr8tion and that which is beyond cr8tion. Man idolizes Jesus when they think that blindly following Him will save them. Yes, we can read the words of Jesus, but we must also strive to be like Him in our everyday actions. And, make Jesus your Guru and Master, if you so choose.

Eye can't speak for Prince and say that what i interpret the Cross to be as my truth is his truth. Having stated this, people evolve or de-volve. If one is not going forward towards God then they are going backwards. One must put out the effort to know Jesus and that our Cross can be seen on a microcosmic and macrocosmic level. Each individual must (re)unite their consciousness with God consciously and, quite possibly, we must do this on a global level also. If Prince sees that evolving the Cross to the Christ is where he must go, so be it. And, if Prince chooses to play a few bars from the Cross/Christ in concert without words, so be it.

Don't give up when the hours seem dark - on a personal level - and, a country and global level. Well, even a universal level for other cr8tion that we are unaware of. We are facing very complex times with the Wars that are being fought. Keep in mind that war is externally fought and also internally fought. The Bhagavad Gita is about an internal war...mayb the Book of Revelations is the same.

The ego wants us to think that we are alone and that we can't know Jesus and/or be realized. It wants to stay in suffering to have a reason to suffer. To be free is our true home.

Was Jesus crucified on a Cross? Does it really matter how he was murdered by mankind? Why didn't any of His devotees speak up? Why did they let the OneLove of their lives go down the way that it did?

We need to see everyone else's Cross as our own and to help those that we can. This is our dharma.

Mars23 said:

It's ok. It was my fault for sure.

The change in title doesn't make a differnce to me because the message remains the same.

raddahone said:

Jesus loves cock!

The Cross

Black day, stormy night
No Love, no hope in sight
Don't cry, he is coming
Don't die without knowing
The Cross

Ghettos 2 the left of us
Flowers 2 the right
There'll be bread 4 all of us
If we can just bear
The Cross

Sweet song of salvation
A pregnant mother sings
She lives in starvation
Her children need all that
she brings

We all have our problems
Some are big, some are small
Soon all of our problems
Will be taken by
The Cross



The Christ

Black day, stormy night
No love, no hope in sight
Don't U cry, he is coming
Don't U die without knowing
The Christ

Ghettos 2 the left of us
Flowers 2 the right
There'll be bread 4 all of us
If we know God's light
The Christ

We all have our problems
Some are big, some are small
If we can bear the problems
We'll have everlasting life in paradise
with The Christ as our king


.

I dreamed of this song when I was a little girl. When I first heard it with my ears I felt a deja vu, like remembrance of something that hadnt happened yet, but it already had, a place, a feeling of being known, revealed from afar. Very strange, but very beautiful.

sacredwarrior said:

search that feeling

Too bad Christ wasn't beaten to death with a hammer. 'Cause "The Hammer" would be a cool title.

raddahone said:

Your beautiful and inspiring words capture the essence of the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Perhaps Prince felt the title, "The Christ" was a more accurate representation of what he was trying to convey. I have no problem with the changes he made.

I think when he changed the title he changed his abstract notion of god/love, which was always in his music; but was seen as something everyone who listened could understand in many different ways. After the change P started narrowing his notions of god/love and started focusing them on religion.

Which was a said day for me.

I dont need to preached at when i listen to music.

squirrelgrease said:

LOL...

It would have been too quick.

babynoz said:

no it didn't.

squirrelgrease said:

Stop! Hammer Time!

when and why did he change it?

sacredwarrior said:

Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that Jesus was killed on a cross, they believe that it was a stake. So really, he should have changed the song to The Stake.

My mother used to be a Witness.

I have no problem with the change in the title, but I do have a problem with the way he introduced the change originally.

I went to a concert in Tampa a few years ago and he intros the song by saying the word "STAROS" over and over again. Then he goes on to explain how this is a greek word used to desribe the thing that Jesus Christ was crusified on, and that it is a pole and not a cross. Then he says.....and this is the part that pisses me off.... "PERHAPS SOMEONE LIED ABOUT THE WAY SOMEONE DIED!"

You know, if Prince is going to make a song The Christ in an attempt to deliver a message of Jesus' promise of salvation, why add fuel to the fire of those who would say that message is nothing more than a fairy tale. Might not a person who isn't familiar with the life of Jesus say "Well if that isn't true, what else isn't true?"

poisonmouth said:

ok scuse me while i change wavelengths....

WTF????? this is the shit that pisses me off no end. perfectly good music gettin fucked with by religion. u know mayb he could do a little research on what music actually IS and he might find that its HIGHER THAN RELIGION. now thats METAPHYSICALLY PROVEN FACT.

jesus christ. so i guess now he's sorta kinda sorta kinda not a JW anymore ( is that true ? ) is he gunna go back and change all the lyrics to all his songs back to the way they were ORIGINALLY RECORDED CUZ THEY WAS MEANT TO BE THAT WAY or wtf. the christ the cross jesus gimme a break.

oh i know... lets use the word floop instead of fuck in every song cuz thats the new religion.

why is it that popstars do religion like fads instead of skipping them all together and just reading a good fucking book of poetry.

i love Prince's vocals on this song. I wonder how many takes he did, before the one that was published occurred.

I wish the song had some vocoder on it. I live for Vocoder.

You know what? i've never heard any of the prince songs you've mentioned (sue me)

raddahone said:

I never understood the idea that we're "saved" and can't remember why right now, but anyhow.
[Edited 8/5/06 8:51am]