christos7 said:

I think Boris Fishpaw is affiliated with them. (It's either him or Langebleu, but I think it's Boris.)

gcu1 said:

.....and making love to a hand just doesn't sound like something P would sing about. Let's not go there

xplnyrslf said:

That reminds me of the line in Come when he uses the word "tallywacker." I give him props for that because 1. who uses that word anyway and 2. who else could use that word in a song and not make it sound completely ridiculous? It was like he needed a slang word for penis, "Hmm, what's a 4 syllable synonym for penis? Aha! Tallywacker!"

trc1 said:

No comment.

.....

What he's sayin' is...it's just as easy to fuck her hand or fuck her mind (head) as it is to fuck her body....that's what he's sayin'

dumbass said:

chocolate1 said:

I'm not scolding, but look at the dynamic that is being addressed. the thread addressed the fact that it has to be head because hand doesn't make sense, not that it doesn't sound like hand. aside from the fact that head doesn't make anymore sense than hand, this is just people fooling themselves to hear something so they like it more. the reason why everyone else says hand is because that is what is being said, not because of what the lyrics say, those simply just prove that is what is said.

if you want to fool yourself, go ahead, but that is nonsensical to me. appreciate the song, bad lyrics at all, but don't fool yourself.

not to mention, the pronunciation is unmistakable, unless you simply don't want to hear it. the A in stand is identical to the A in hand in their pronunciations, -- there is not "eh" sound that would identify head. additionally, the "nnn" is evident prior to D in both hand and stand, whereas head creates a more abrupt sound which the word does not have in the song. sorry, I took linguistics long ago in college, so I don't remember all the technical terms but I can identify the characteristics that defintely prove hand and make the word unmistakeable from head. it isn't even close.

I'm not sure there's even any real arguement here. I mean, the lyrics are printed on a product which was created by the artist himself. If the creator of that product is stating the word in the line is "hand", then there's no arguing that word can then be changed to "head" simply by way of what someone interprets as "logical"...can it?

dumbass said:

Let me interject here, if I may. You keep saying that people are "fooling themselves" into believing that a word is something that it's not so that "they like it more". This is absolutely ridiculous. I don't think I've ever heard anyone misinterpreting lyrics on purpose so that they like it more. I for one thought that head made more sense than hand even though hand rhymes with understand.

You seem to think that head doesn't make any more sense than hand in this particular context, although I've heard the phrase loving someone's mind (head) as well as their body in many instances in poetry and song.

Anyway, that point is now moot since I have found that it is hand in the lyrics of the maxi single. Now to try and figure out what in the hell it means, because Prince wrote it so gotdamnit it's gotta mean something.

Oh yeah, the Emancipation lyric book says that in The Holy River the lyric is "give you some permission to rise up everday". I'm gonna "fool myself" into thinking that it's "give the sun permission to rise up everyday" cause I like it better.

dumbass said:

Honestly, I didn't really want to "fool myself", as U put it- I'm sure no one here did. It's not that serious- wasn't going to lose sleep over it.
But since U are the "Linguistics Professor", I'll go with what U say...

Keep groovin'
[Edited 4/6/07 15:56pm]

I defintely would agree the word is hand, the lyrics state so. Also the interpretation I get is that everything he will do to the body he can and will do as gently as caressing a hand. Meaning he will be into big and subtle movements. I got that impression from the first time I heard it. Like he won't rush it and he will be subtle and make love in a delicate fashion.

Okay, I'm not sayin' I'm right, but since day one, I've never had any confusion about this lyric:

"Everything I wanna do to your body, baby, I will do to your hand."

He's talking about marriage, y'all.

You know, as in take your hand in marriage?

I've always believed he means, "This is serious, and as much as I want your body, you can believe that I want to be your husband, true love, and one and only just as much."

It's just my opinion... but doesn't it sound right, considering his situation at the time?

dumbass said:

WRONG. I'm not fooling myself, your logic is just faulty. I'm not going to like it any more or any less, no matter what the word is. That's hysterical. And as I said in my previous post "the juxtaposition of mind and body is a common occurance in poetry, song, etc....especially when the subject matter is love." It absolutely DOES make sense whether he's saying it or not.



It's most likely a misprint on the insert. But you folks are accepting it blindly as if it is cold, hard fact....the "WORD" is written, it's "set in STONE!!!" Well, I guess by that logic, "Push It Up" on my Newpower Soul CD is actually track 7 because it's listed as track 7....forget about the fact that it's actually track 6. The almighty CD insert prints it as 7 so, damn it, it's 7.

If you want to "fool yourself" into denying that it's a misprint, that he's really saying hand, then be my guest.




Oh right...singers NEVER slur the correct pronunciation of words in their songs for effect.....and Prince certainly NEVER would, NEVER has, and most certainly NEVER EVER will.

It sounds like he's saying head, I just listened to it again and it continues to sound like head. There is no discernable "nnn" sound and I would hypothesize that he slurred the pronunciation slighty to force a rhyme where there is none, which is something singers have been doing for decades if not ages.


.....

gcu1 said:[quote]

dumbass said:

Shit, I had convinced myself that the printed lyrics in the single were correct, but you make a compelling argument that it may be a misprint so now I'm torn again.

Thanks a lot!

I still think it sounds like "head". I hear no discernible nnn sound either, but maybe I'm just fooling myself.
damn it, someone call up Prince and settle this!

and yes, misprints do happen. dtt-lyrics- being what I consider the prime and most reliable Prince lyrics site, appears to stick to what's printed if the lyrics were made available on the official release. That is the correct thing to do IMO. Many of the other lyric sites take just anyone's word for it, so whatever people hear is what they post. Sometimes, they may be right- esp. in the case of a misprint- but often are wrong.

I hear 'head'.

Mess with ur body n head (mind).

trc1 said:

Really? As I recall, he made quite a production of it in "Do Me Baby."

Accujack said:

Sorry about that.

.....

I've never had any question that it's hand. I think it's so sexy. I've had men "do to my hand" what they later do to the rest of me, and it's awesome. I love hearing him sing about it.

eyewishuheaven said:

Bingo. That's what I always assumed.

eyewishuheaven said:

Now THAT makes sense!

As people have pointed out, the lyric sheets can be wrong. I don't imagine that Prince copy edits them thoroughly, or at least not with every single's packagine. In Rave, the lyrics sheet for "Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore" gives a line as "Even in the wrong, eye was right" (with the eye symbol) when it's clear in the song he's saying "it was right," which has a totally different meaning.

squirrelgrease said:

Barf

.....

paisley16 said:

You're probably right. Out of the dozens of lyric sites I viewed only one had it printed as "hand." The rest all printed it as "head," but that doesn't prove or disprove anything. The only way to know for sure would be to ask the man himself.

.....

Accujack said:

They are a devoted set of fans who have been transcribing lics for about 12 years. Pretty acurate most of the time. I remember checking them out when I first joined the early advent of prince.org (called the PPML) in early 96.

Normally I would say yes lyric sheets are misprinted al the time, howevere I can hear "hand", plus the lyrics in the maxi-single are the only place he printed the lyrics the song.

It's not like they had to transcribe the whole Come album-since the lyrics are not in the cd. So the chances of them getting the lyrics to one song wrong is kinda slim.

But I can understand how some people are hearing "head", but he is saying "hand." Listen to it with headphones on, you can hear it better.

i always hated this lyric... for me it kinda ruins space.

great song.

NorthernLad said:

I always see it as as a slow seduction. You know there's supposed to be errogenous zones in the hands and feet.

And as someone mentioned erlier, he's very influenced by Barbarella- it reminds me of the scene where they're having mind sex through touch.

musicman said:

hmmm.. interesting way of looking at it. could be...