The Ladder - great song by the way,but what does he mean by sayin every1s lookin 4 a ladder?(i know its not meant 2 be litrally lol) Does he mean ladder to heaven? or climb up the ladder of life to better urself? or is it anyway u interprite the material? share ur thoughts on the song
[Edited 1/14/08 9:39am]
[Edited 1/14/08 9:42am]

seeking a higher self

The clue is in the lyrics. They are obvious TBH. Some of the most obvious lyrics he has written.

studal said:

no they r not he starts with sayin about sum king with a subject called electra who loves him and he doesent say thank u or plz and dosent finish the story just goes on about sum king lookin 4 a ladder and my point is y would a king want 2 better himself? hes the king 4 cryin out load y would he give a toss 2 better himself?

studal said:

no they r not he starts with sayin about sum king with a subject called electra who loves him and he doesent say thank u or plz and dosent finish the story just goes on about sum king lookin 4 a ladder and my point is y would a king want 2 better himself? hes the king 4 cryin out load y would he give a toss about betterin himself?

God some (most) of you here are so anal. Why must everything he does be analised and disected? It's just a song at the end of the day. Who really cares what it is about? Oh and IT IS an obvious sond to decypher. Forget the stupid shit at the start. The rest is self explainatory.

studal said:[quote]God some (most) of you here are so anal. Why must everything he does be analised and disected? It's just a song at the end of the day. Who really cares what it is about? Oh and IT IS an obvious sond to decypher. Forget the stupid shit at the start. The rest is self explainatory.

ok cool man i was just wonderin thats all

i'll add the quest for happiness

studal said:

oh and im gay so i like anal,so no im not anal but im an anal lover,fuck u very much

As a gay myself I need at least pic before I take your offer of a fuck.

studal said:

well go on princefams go in the forums and my names holmzie(nick name) and my pics on there lol

LOL

the Org has become Gaydar. T'was only a matter of time considering the amount of Mo's here

studal said:

nice to meet u anyway ur first other gay ive met on here even if r convo didnt start 2 pleasant

now now peolpe lets not argue!!!

cinthiarose said:

well studal started it jk

The Ladder is just a remix version of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. It's a very good song tho.

The Ladder is a spiritual search for salvation, just like the song explains...It is the freedom to learn that everyone is important and part of God's creation....Either that or it's the ladder that leads to the door that goes nowhere.

"Everyone's looking for the ladder".
It means that when we really need to fix or install a ceiling fan,
we'll find that we gonna need something to get us up there.
In other words,
in these types of situations, we're all just like Prince.
Short.

Illustrator said:

I've got to go with Illustrator's explanation.

know anything about the bible?

wlcm2thdwn said:

no i dont really i know bits and bobs put me personally its a load of poopies and if there was a god i think hes a right evil enntity how can any 1 who is meant 2 be all powerfull and full of love let the things that go on in this world let it carry on,OH! sorry i forgot eve took the apple b4 there was more of us humans,what a coinsedence(sarcasm),so now we hav to fend 4 rselves
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[Edited 1/14/08 17:54pm]
[Edited 1/14/08 18:22pm]

The beginning of the song is an important element of the entire of the song...



In this verse basically it's talking about a king who didn't deserve to be king. From the line "he never once said thank U, never please" one could surmise that this king took things for granted, and wasn't very nice. The lines "he knew not where he came from" and "nor where he was going" could imply that this King didn't know about God, about "coming from God" and "returning back to God". (Keep in mind during this time Prince was very much into God being a part of you, seeking God within, and that if you don't get it right the first time "you gotta come back and face the light again".) Most people sorta go through life like this king.



What's interesting in this verse is that the King had someone who loved him unconditionally, but was unaware of it, it didn't matter to the king. "Looking for the ladder" could imply that the King was looking for an easy way to the top, which is supported by other lyrics in the song. It could also be that the ladder symbolizes a bridge of sorts, a getting from "here" to "there" without paying attention to how one gets from "here" to "there" (sort of like when you climb a ladder to hang a chandelier, you aren't concerned with all the rungs of the ladder, just getting from "here" to "there" without paying attention to each step.)



The first two lines here imply that everyone is looking for the easy way to salvation, everyone wants to find that ladder. BUT it's not that easy, the journey to salvation is difficult but the rewards are great for the one that wants to undertake that journey.



Everybody is trying to find themselves, to find their purpose, to find meaning in their lives, (thus everybody's looking for the answers to how the story started and how the story will end). "A feeling of self-worth will caress U, the size of the whole wide world will decrease, The love of God's creation will undress U, and time spent alone my friend, will cease" means that once you take the journey, once you receive that reward, you realize just how small the world really is, a world of One, and the Love of God strips you bare (right down to your very soul) and you realize you were never alone.



If all you ever seek is to know how the story started and how it ends, you only have a half a story. This is a very zen thought. When your dancing, you don't dance waiting for it to be over, you don't wonder how you started dancing, you are in the moment and each step is a lifetime in and of itself. The whole purpose of dancing isn't to start and stop, it's the whole process, all of the steps inbetween.



self-explanatory ~ you look at each step, you have to take each step, there isn't a bridge from here to there, it's a process

Then again, this is just my take and could be completely wrong.

LittleRedCorvette said:

wow-thats a cool answer uve made me look at in diffrent ways know thanks.i didnt understand the king bit at the beggining but i do know lol,thats what i was looking 4, much apreciated

optimus said:

You're welcome optimus. Keep in mind though that this is just my take on the meaning of the song. As with all things, it could be something completely different. But I'm glad it helped.

LittleRedCorvette said:

You're right Corvette, you are completely wrong about this.

.
[Edited 1/16/08 4:33am]

I always thought it was a song about window cleaning....

Illustrator said:

DaveT said:

It's funny you should say that!

The story I heard was this...

Prince comlained about some food his chef served him.

His chef super-glued his car keys to the cieling as revenge.

Prince went looking for a ladder!

How true this is I guess we'll never know!

He needed one for a scene of a film he was writing at the time called Under the cherry Moon purely so Jerome Benton could through stones at his ass!!!!


On a serious note I find it the weakest song of anything he did in '85, and subliminally preachy. Bland!!!!

Give me Temptation instead any day!!!!