I had this very weird conversation with this girl I was seeing about 6 months ago. She was a big P fan but I felt she dug him more than she dug his music. She knew that by me being a musician and songwriter, that I had much respect for Prince as an artist. She knew that I dug him since I was a kid. Anyway, she brought up to me that someone had told her the true meaning of the song "Darling Nikki" which I found to be...odd. She was somewhat upset by what she had heard and I told her to not pay it any mind. But it stayed with me. I was going to bring it up on here much earlier than now but then I changed my mind. Then I thought I'll just ask u all have u ever had any thoughts about the song or it's meaning? I won't go into what I was told but I rather see if there was any thought out there by folks who are Prince fans? I must admit, since the song was released in June 84, I've yet to hear anything like...well, what's ya'll thoughts on Darling Nikki, if any?

I'm Generation X, but I think that, I think that it is about a photographer, that worked 4 Snap Shot.

You know I noticed that the continuity of this song is odd. He meets Nikki in a hotel, yet she takes him to her "castle." Is that her house or a hotel room? And then she leaves him...in HER PLACE. And she leaves a piece of paper... "on the stairs" In a public hotel? Or at her place... I mean, if its her house SHE'S COMING BACK. And Prince... he's stranded without a ride isn't he? I find that odd.
That was a random rant, sorry.

I think the song is pretty straight forward. Prince meets some girl, maybe a hooker, and they do it and she's really good. The end.

Or am I THAT stupid and missing something big?
[Edited 1/23/08 19:47pm]

Tame said:

I can dig it!

ToraToraDreams said:

Yep, that's what I always thought too. The she could "grind". Now the first half of your post was interesting too. I thought u were going somewhere but then u pulled up.

blackguitaristz said:

I knew thatcha could...

I think it's about Prince having existential crisis about being such a horn-dog. He casts the sex in Darling Nikki as dehumanizing, cold and mechanical. Interpersonal exchange is kept to a minimum, and at the end Prince finds himself wanting more.

As far as yr post goes, BG, why don't you just break down and tell us what you and yr friend thought it was about.

She was a sex fiend, met at a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine

She ask to waste some time , and it couldn't be resist when she started to grind.. in a hotel.....hmmm


Bonafided freak to me
[Edited 1/24/08 0:50am]

I think Prince wrote Darling Nikki in context of the movie.

When he performs it in the movie, Appolonia had left him & joined Morris' group. So he peforms the song as revenge, and a way to embarrass her.

It's Prince's way of calling her a whore. Afterall, he did get her naked the day they met.

It's about selling your soul to the devil.

You guys crack me up.

This is a song about a one-night stand. Hmmm, Prince ever make music along those lines in his creative years? I guess the only questionable part would be how the lyrics could be construde that he was drugged "the castle started spinning or maybe it was my brain," but I think he was eluding to the high he was on being fucked by someone teaching him shit or that he was high or drunk while being fucked by someone teaching him "how to grind."

Its about sex.

Paris9748430 said:

I saw that and was like "This midget's got game!"

You said a mouthful. She slipped him a Mickey, ppl. What's hard to get about that?

Rockability said:

Well, I always thought it was about meeting a girl who fucked him up the ass with a strap-on.

The lyrics are pretty simple, I think it's just about that, meeting a girl, goes back to her place or hotel room, she's got these "devices", strap-ons and vibrators, and she teaches him how to grind - probably giving him a prostate orgasm in the process:

"The castle started spinning or maybe it was my brain
I can't tell U what she did 2 me, but me body will never be the same
Her lovin' will kick your behind, oh, she'll show U no mercy
But she'll sho'nuff, sho'nuff show U how 2 grind"

He can't say what she did (embarrassed), but his eyes have been opened to this kind of sex.

But BG with you saying your friend was kind of upset by this 'true meaning', my mind is racing with all kinds of ideas! - Like either she was a m2f pre-op transsexual who fucked him, or she drugged him and her boyfriend fucked him - she was just the bait! I still think the first idea about the strap-on though.



//
[Edited 1/24/08 3:48am]

blackguitaristz said:

I wanna know what she said! What does she really think it's about?!

Which of them were masturbating? Prince or her, he never says.

ToraToraDreams said:

That's what I think too. Simple as that....
But I really do want to know what the girl had heard it's about!

I think it was written for a specific moment in the film - when he sees Apollonia with Morris - and he wants to degrade her.

There's a part in the documentary that accompanies the 20th anniversary edition of the film where Bob Cavallo talks about asking Prince whether it matters that he's singing about a girl named Nikki...and Prince says, "You think it should be called 'Darling Apollonia'? "
[Edited 1/24/08 8:45am]

when u say what ur girl said i'll comment back

Genesia said:

Darling Apollonia...

I think it was written for the film as well...
And, at the moment, I'm not really interested in whatever story could be behind it.

RUHip2TheJive said:

But interested enough to post that.

Well for me, it was nothing about the lyrics perse, that seemed any more than some sexual themed Prince song. Ironically, I always felt the lyrics to be weak. Almost throw-awayish. P starts down a path, setting up a visual scenerio, mentioning castles spinning which is good, but then it's just the kiddish show u how to grind. So I never held the lyrics up at all. It's the cold ass groove and the guitar melody doubled with the keys in the intro that I loved. And of course the backward message at the end, but that's another story. I too felt that Pwrote this with the film in mind. P probably already had the music before they even started fucking with the idea of a film. Hence he just wrote some lyrics in 10 minutes tailored for this scene with Apples. I've BEEN hipped to all of that since 84. My thing what I was curious about is that I wanted to see not what u all thought of the lyrics, in the general or obvious sense, BUT if u had ever felt anything else about the song, that maybe something was odd about it. Granted, I've always felt the sound of the overall track was different from the rest of the album. Closest thing to it, soundwise, was Computer Blue. The riff is off the fucking hook. It's vintage Prince, musically. I guess I'm just looking to see if someone is going to post something remotely similar to what I was told a half a year ago that tripped them out.

Nikki is Prince.

Anji said:

Deeper please. U saying P is fucking himself or more tactifully; P is in love with himself? Real question.

SoulAlive said:

Nah Soul, ...cuz if I do that then it'll be World War 3 up in this motherfucker and I don't want that. Folks are waaaay to defensive of P on here. U know that. It's like how u can't give sugar to kids right before they go to bed.

Nikki was a projection of that part of P's personality, or imagination, if you will, that taught Prince how to fuck. He identified that part of himself as being female, or rather, different, to himself. P, his true self, is a shy boy, in comparison. P's true self has always been shy...and still is.

Anji said:

I can dig it.

Reply #6 posted 01/24/08 1:28pm (this one got delayed )

I was 13 when i first heard the song, I knew the song was maybe alittle bold, due to the word sex being mentioned in it, but i did not know what the meaning of the word masturbation was at the time, I thought it meant something like a way of thinking or a thought process one had reading a book or magazine. I remember looking up the word masturbation in this school dictionary i had, and it explained it as "self abuse" which left me none the wiser. As for the talk about devices and grinding, that meant little to me either. Before I go any further, for those that dont already know, this was small village catholic ireland going to the christian brothers school etc.

I did however know one thing, there was something seriously badass about the song, it was somehow conveyed through the music, and naturally it did not take much time to work out, that this one was not to be played to older relatives as an example of how good prince´s music was.

having listened to it for over 23 yrs now, and this thread coming up, and naturally my sex education being abit more advanced than it was, I have the view that what ever happenned, was one of those experiences that .....

Oh no, this is going to drive me crazy now.... Please give me a clue

Nikki's a transvestite / transexual? Something... ..
[Edited 1/24/08 15:56pm]