I find the lyrics to the song a little puzzling...It seems to be a very bitter song. Can any resident expert elucidate?

i always interpreted this fantastic song as being about so -called 'friends' who sell stories about their famous friends to tabloids to make some cash. I love the last line in that song...pity the crystal ball version is inferior to the older bootlegged version

From my understanding, Prince wrote the song after he had to fire Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis after they got stuck in a snow storm and could not make it to a Time gig and after his breakup with Vanity. It is a pretty depressing song but unfortunately realistic.

which version? the one on The Vault...Old Friends 4 Sale or the one
that remains unreleased?

the unreleased version is soooo much better. the lyrics are amongst
the best prince ever wrote.

The best version the 'Unreleased' one is indeed about Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis when they produced the SOS band & got caught in a snowstorm so missed a Time gig.
Still one of my favourite trax of all time (don't like the watered down Vault version)

toe said:

true. the vault version can't compare in any way to the unreleased one
that was supposed to be on "parade".

i can't believe he took that song off there. it would be amongst his
very best song of all time.

I also assumed some of the lyrics were about Mr Huntsberry taking drugs and selling gossip to the newspapers... "Cocaine becomes charming,... Old Friends 4 Sale".

pacey68 said:

and you would be right

fredericdoug said:

Thats sounds really mean if it wasn't even their fault (firing them) ... can you elaborate?

I LOVE THAT SONG!

fredericdoug said:

I thought it was made after he fired Chick Hunsey and Chick went to the press with a story...

IAintTheOne said:

Sorry not Hunsey...Huntsberry. It is apparently about him. Though I first though it was about Vanity

violectrica said:

It's not about them. Tho that did happen

The new lyrics aren't about anything.

Just Prince being Prince!

fredericdoug said:

Really? Wow.

pacey68 said:

Makes sense.

I also always understood it (The Vault version) to be primarily about Chick as well.

dtt-lyrics.com gives a good description of the outtake lyrics.
[Edited 2/14/07 11:37am]

I always took this song to be a about cocaine in general. It's such a selfish and bullshitting drug, and from the stories of the time (post Purple Rain), a lot of the people around Prince were indulging. There's a pretty gruesome story about Vanity in the Motley Crue book The Dirt.I think the line is something like "where you're trapped in the snow, nobody gets out alive". I don't really think that was about getting trapped in an actual snowstorm.
There's also a line in Pop Life - "what you putting up your nose? is that where all your money goes?" - I always took that to be aimed at Morris Day.

When I sold my old friends,
compared to how much I originally paid for 'em,
I actually came away with a small profit.

I love the album, I really do!! But now I wish Prince didnt because he wont go past all this Horns & Jazz crap.

Dude time to rock! Live guitar, classic rock, watchtower/the best type NEW songs!!

williammelvinhicks said:

The "snow" is definitely cocaine.

As for who he's singing it about, I used to think it was about Wendy & Lisa - but I dunno 'bout that.

Vanity and Morris Day were the ones strung out on drugs during the tours, not Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The first version is basically about all the people who were doing narcotics in his closer circle (including his bodygurad), he mentioned that in the rolling stone 1985 interview.

Who is Mr Huntsberry?

ElectricBlue said:

what do you have against jazz?

shorttrini said:

I'm with ElectricBlue, I love jazz but it's not what I want from Prince, I love more of a pop/rock focus.

PurpleAlegria said:

you must be very young anyway, he was the big white bearded bodyguard who used to carry Prince around and was supposedly his best friend at the time. also seen in Purple Rain as a bouncer.

No, I am not very young. I have been a fan for years, and just forgot that Huntsberry was Chicks last name. Now don't you think that was just a bit of a assumption?? After I posted that, I realized that it was Chick , and thought to myself I should go post that I remembered and just forgot before some ignorant ass would make a nasty comment. I guess I was too late..... So typical....

I always thought his songs were his old friends 4 sale...
He was opening up the Vault and sellin' them songs.