As we all seem a little bored at the moment, maybe it is time, like Prince, to take time for reflection and indulge ourselves in what we have been given the last 30 yrs.

The Rainbow Children

Where can I start with this one, tonight is the first time in long time, if not the only time, I have listened to it in one go. It reminds me sometimes of "OK Computer" from Radiohead, musically it is a vast landscape and very hard listening, IMHO probably the most complicated album Prince has brought out since 1999. Many focus on the lyrical content, which I personally think is a mistake, first and foremost comes music, and musically this album is fascinating, like a gourmet stew or goulash.

What are your views?, lets take time and discuss

I LOVE The Rainbow Children, even though I probably haven't listened to it from start to finish since it came out. I think it's one of the boldest records he ever put out. It was a statement record.

if i can look beyond the lyrics i might get on with it ok. thing is i like 2 singalong (like u do..) but the words turn me off big time

It is a lyrical trainwreck. But yeah, musically refreshing.

Beating this dead horse again huh.

in a nutshell

some people that admit they havent heard it all the way through in maybe ever, calling it a bold statement

and

people that have tried many times to listen to it, only to once again stomp it violently out of their home

I've been a Prince fan since 79'...I recently met a younger guy of 25, that played piano , loved music, knew who Prince is, yet was unfamiliar with his music...This guy was returning to his home in another state the following morning....without dessert by the way...I chose "The Rainbow Children" to share with him. The guy loved it...and mentioned buying it, when He found it....I guess He was returning to NC. like u care, right,

Anyway, I have the highest remarks for that record, and I love all of Prince's music. He really came together all over the place on that one....If it's missing anything at all, it's one more track near the end....something that clarifies that all the rainbow children, achieved their goal....but because it isn't there....I think Prince needs a Rainbow Children....sequel.

Lyrically the album was stank! Musically it was inventive, but ultimately what I liked most was the caricature of him on the CD. It was a great likeness...

I'm sure I've mentioned that before but...

Whitnail said:

How so? The lyrical content was the whole point of that album. Ignoring the lyrics on TRC would be like watching Schindler's List and only noticing that it was in black and white.

TRC is by far the most divisive and most discussed Prince album there is. Musically, I think, it's brilliant, but lyrically, it's got some truly horrible spots.

I liked it so much I wrote an academic paper about it.

PeaceandLoveCowgirl said:

I would really like to read that Peace&Love.
Lyrically week ?????
Where exactly someone tell me???
I can understand if peoples beleifs dont coincide with the lyrical content, but how can you call it week? I find the imagery and concepts conjured up to be fascinating. I feel its fresh and daring and CONTROVERSIAL to boldy sing his views, the bro got conviction, and the world would be a much better place if more people had conviction.
Lyrically week?
Maybe he preaching to the deaf, go nod ya heads to some Kylie.

I'm still finding it too hard work ro get through.

It has some fantastic songs on it I wont deny but it is way too heavy, and spoilt by the heavy preaching.

I know that with a few more years and a bit more attention, something will click and I will appreciate what many others on this site do for this album.

At the moment however, I am still too distracted by other albums to have time to get back into this one.

drcoldchoke said:

Exactly! Many people seem to define strength in lyrics to be that they agree with the sentiments they illustrate. I think the lyrics are fascinating and thought-provoking. Most the time when people conplain it's over a line or two that they consider preachy, racist or sexist. That's very little of the actual lyrics.

drcoldchoke said:

I dig ya.

Anyway, my report was called "The Utopian Prince – A Spiritual (R)evolution"

It's 20 pages long, so I'll just paste the section about TRC here:

"The Rainbow Children, or how Paradise was regained"

And there's always a rainbow, at the end of every rain…
(Papa, Come, 1994)

“Just like the sun, the rainbow children rise
Riding on the wings of the New Translation
See them fly, fly
The covenant will be kept this time…”
(The Rainbow Children, 2001)

The Rainbow Children is Prince’s latest Utopian incarnation. Musically, it is perhaps his most diverse and experimental album. Jazz based, it incorporates elements of funk (The Work, Pt. 1, a James Brown sound-alike), Broadway musicals (Everywhere) and even a slice of satirical operetta (Wedding Feast). It concludes with a Purple Rain style ballad, Last December. And most importantly, it is his first album since Come to be released under the name Prince.

Here more than ever, Prince has a spiritual message to convey. Between tracks, a deep, computer-altered narration booms like the voice of God. In imitation of the Bible, its songs are listed in chapters. TRC’s liner notes are his most beautifully illustrated since ATWIAD, and contain most of the lyrics. This latest spiritual world has been strongly influenced by the strict Biblical interpretations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but as Music Critic Jim Walsh said:
Why has the news that Prince has embraced the faith of the Jehovah’s Witnesses been met with so much suspicion? Why should such a revelation surprise anyone, coming as it does from a man who has spent most of his 43 years, and his entire recording career, celebrating God?22
The Rainbow Children (TRC) is not only a concept album, but an epic and an allegory, first and foremost a Biblically-based story of God and his peoples, which also seems to find a secondary application in Prince’s relationships with his two wives: a first idealized and artistically “Romantic” relationship with Mayte and the second, more mature and realistic relationship with former employee Manuella Testolini, who was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness at the same time as Prince, in the summer of 2002. She Loves Me 4 Me is a love song of uncharacteristic simplicity and honesty, quite unlike the Romantic idealizations of Prince’s past; Muse 2 the Pharoah comes closer to the latter. But this is not merely a song about an actual woman; she is also a symbol of God’s spiritual nation, who produces the Rainbow Children, “4 the future of the nation rests in her belly,” like God’s symbolic woman of the bible book of Revelation, chapter 12.23

In order to understand the lyrics, it’s important to examine the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as they are understood in the coded “Prince-speak” of TRC. Likely the first Jehovah’s Witness text book that Prince would have likely encountered was entitled: Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life.24 They emphasize preparation for a new world to come on the earth, a paradise; insisting on the importance of political neutrality and spiritual separateness from “the world” of wickedness, which includes rejection of political organizations, in favor of divine protection:

The children will be laced with the protection of the word of God
The opposite of NATO is OTAN
(Muse 2 the Pharoah)

In the same song, Prince also shuns superstition, including his formerly much-cherished astrology:

And if the number 13 is such a bad luck number
When there’s no such thing as luck
Then the berries, talons, arrows and stars
Are all superstitions, what the…
(Muse 2 the Pharoah)

Above all, Prince emphasizes the preaching of his beliefs:

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

Thematically speaking, The Rainbow Children (TRC) is far from revolutionary. Rather, it is a culmination of several repetitive themes: The search for a true love, reconciliation with the father figure, which may be a metaphor for God, as he repeatedly makes the difference between “the Father” and “the Son.” Family Name is a funky call to racial unity, Muse 2 the Pharoah says “Thinking like the keys on Prince’s piano will be just fine.”

Most strikingly, Prince reprises his very first utopian messages from Sexuality. In the title track, he reprises “Reproduction of a New Breed leader stand up – organize!” before calling the Rainbow Children to “rise!” in a rousing chorus. 1+1+1 is Three reverses a line from Sexuality, in reference to “tourists” (here called “The Banished Ones”): “What’s to be expected is 3 minus 3… absolutely nothing.” Only here, Prince finally ousts the “tourists” from his Utopian world, so the result is positive. This may also refer, like 3 Chains O’ Gold, to the split elements of love. “There’s a theocratic order,” he repeats, as the elements are reunited under God. “Love is God, God is love…” (Anna Stesia)

Clearly, on TRC, Prince is no longer struggling… He is candid, on this album, about the moral changes he has made in his life (especially in The Everlasting Now). He has found some answers that satisfy him, and paints a happy ending, where “accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father will bring the Everlasting Now,” in other words, paradise on earth, now and in the future.

In conclusion, TRC ends much like his other utopian albums. On Around the World in A Day, Temptation leaves Prince on the next step of his journey, in his battle against temptation. Lovesexy ends with “hold on to your soul, there’s a long way to go.” TRC’s last words are a final call to unity, under God:

In the name of the Father
In the name of the Son
We need 2 come 2gether
Come 2gether as one.
(Last December)

at 1st i didn't like this album until i finally sat down with the lyric sheet and listend from beginning 2 end ..i love this album

Blimey I'm not sure I feel I can come up with any comments that stand up after the full on analysis by Peaceandlovecowgirl! But here are my completely unacademic comments!

I personally found the religious stuff too much and it spoiled my enjoyment although I love the musical sound of the album. The slowed down 'voice of god' computer bits in between drive me mad and I always think I'll get round to editing them out somehow.

Even so there are some great tracks on there - for me personally the ones which go easy on the religious message are great, I love Mellow, the sound and the lyrics are great Prince for me. You can't knock "I want to get lost in the composition of you, learn the rhythm and play only the notes you want me to" it's beautiful. So I agree that it's not that there aren't good lyrics in this album, it's just that the preachy ones aren't of real interest to me.

Musically I love The Everlasting Now and Family Name... I think hearing them live on the One Nite Alone album has made a big difference.

This project is GREAT..... lyrics and ALL.

Efan said:

Dont get me wrong, I am not trying to avoid the lyrics, just that I have read alot of discussions about this album and in most cases, it ends up in arguements about the lyrical content. I must admit I have not given the lyrical content much thought as of yet, but I think I will print them out and read them while listening to the music.

You are also right in saying that the lyrical content of this album, is very much the whole point of the album

Tame said:

!!!!

I don't consider myself religious in any way, shape or form. Due to this, it's possible that I don't fully understand the lyrics on TRC, or just don't get worked up about them.

However, I'm convinced that TRC will be remembered as one of Prince's best pieces of work in years to come. Musically brilliant, and the lyrics (agree with them or not) are some of the best he's done in a long time, in terms of how they flow, and have some meaning.

Songs like Last December, 1+1+1 is 3 and Everlasting Now are superb. Even my dad, who isn't the biggest Prince fan and could be described as someone turned off by religious sentiment, loves some of this stuff.

Jazz, funk, pop and a bit of rock infused, and bound, by passion, energy and raw talent. It has to go down as inspired.

PeaceandLoveCowgirl said:

This is a really interesting read, thank you for posting it!

PurpleKnight said:

I do like most of the music, but it's tainted by
Prince's venom.

PurpleKnight said:

I'm so glad that I don't feel the need to relate to a piece of art to appreciate it's greatness.

One of Prince's best. In my top 5 for sure, if not my top 3.

Great album

Jeffiner said:

Thank you!

In this essay, I examined a dozen albums where he makes definite spiritual statements...

My whole point was, there's nothing radical in TRC. Probably the only thing he says here that he hasn't said before is that the Father and Son are separate.

(or has he said that? )

With TRC, he brings the idea of Controversy's "new breed" to fruition.

Ok, let me put my thinking cap on... first. Then let me get back up to the top of the page...

PeaceandLoveCowgirl said:

So far, so good! But let me re-read it!

wildgoldenhoney said:

reread as many times as you like, dear!

Whitnail said:

I think it's a mistake to tell people that focusing on the lyrics is a mistake.

Most people remember a lyric & will quote a lyric than they will a guitar solo.

On the whole, the record is a piece of shit propaganda.

How would some feel if someone set some of Hitler's speeches to music? "Well, golly...that's some pretty hateful talk but the drums are funky." Oh wait, nevermind because black people had it harder than the millions of people who were gassed to death or sent to an oven.

Freaking sheep.