Just finished listening to the Dirty Mind album which i haven't listened to in a long time and i came across the song 'Sister' which is about incest what do you guys think about the song and why would prince think of making a song like that im not attacking him for it i just want to know what you guys think of the song
[Edited 5/23/08 11:25am]

because prince once used to be a daring and intersting artist?

Didn't Prince live with a lot of friend's families when he was younger? So his 'sisters' were not actually his sisters?

You might want to consider not all of Prince's lyrics are based on reality...

And I never cared much for the song. The music is forgetable, the lyrics too lame, just there for the shock. Still working, obviously.

shock value

Dewrede said:

Is what I said.

yes , you were a few seconds earlier

Dewrede said:

Yes. Speed of light. Oooh! Bowie.

As in, that made me think of Bowie's Speed Of Life. I love LOW.

I've always thought it was anti-incest.
The line, "Incest is everything it's said to be." says it all.He's not praising it, he's calling it disgusting.
I'm also not sure the "sister" in the song is a sibling
"don't put me on the street again."
"I know what you want me to do, put me on the screen and make me blue."
Sister may be someone who was supposed to be looking our for him but
was actually using him to make a quick buck.

Its meant to be literal and i think its about an older half-sister who he lived with in NYC when he was young.

Doent mean anything actually happened but he at least thought about it.

SUPRMAN said:

could be; wikipedia said it was an 'ode to incest' but then again they arent the person that actually wrote it. And u guys are right about the 'shock value' thing

emesem said:

Half sister/full sister their still related

He did it so people would debate like we are now. I will tell yall this song got me a few a$$ whippings as a kid. My granny would overhear this no matter how low or loud I played it.
[Edited 5/23/08 12:33pm]

Personally, i think people here far too quickly label this song as 'shock value'.

I have read several biographies about Prince that tell about him staying in New York with his half sister,while chasing for a record contract.

I feel that song deals with that period: his halfsister (twice his age) seducing him to have sex with her. This 18yo (the shock value here: bringing that age down to 16) musician, a shy, sensitive fellow feeling both attracted to the idea, and at same time feeling disgusted.

When you listen to the lyrics of 'sister' you notice the confusion and deception Prince went through. The central message from this song IMO: Halfsisters shouldnt persuade shy, immature adolesecents going into sex, because they don't know what they are dealing with.

So, not just simple shock value here, a real experience being used to create an imago, a way to label himself as an artist. IMO Prince has often showed a love-hate relationship with sex in his lyrics, and 'Sister' in essence gives some insight where that comes from.

or just he had a fantasy of such while living with his half-sister and wrote it as a song, either way for the time it was a groundbreaking confessional or a groudnbreaking twisted fantasy. Its amoung his most inspired 2 minutes as an artist. I still get a kick of the thrashmetal version he did during the Lovesexy concerts.

Riverpoet31 said:

When DIRTY MIND was released in 1980 and people heard songs like "Sister" and "Head" it blew their minds. At the time, there really was no one singing about stuff like that. Its small potatoes nowadays but back then.....

I loved the way Prince and his band played "Sister" live on the Lovesexy tour. On album it sounds dated. "Head" is still awesome.

Dewrede said:

Exactly!!

Adam and Eve had no other choice but to go in two different directions at a certain point. Spiritually they were always One. Of One...Yet physically they were torn for the sake of getting back to full circle...A sacrifice, for the children of the world.

Adam and Eve must have commited incest, or where did Cain and Able come from?? Come to think of it, where did cain and ables children come from?
[Edited 5/23/08 14:48pm]
[Edited 5/25/08 18:58pm]

emesem said:

I agree with that. Prince used to say what was on his mind. Maybe at that time, incest was something he was questioning. It's a human nature feeling most people repress but many of us have thought of it which doesn't mean we want it.

Does that make sense?

I agree with whoever said shock value.
But the song also presents a rather interesting story or someone in pain rather than "pro incest" or something dirty like I've seen so many people say. And there's also some kind of cynicism in the song I think. It's such a poppy song and yet it deals with something so traumatizing, its almost satirical...

i can't imagine his sisters were best pleased when they discovered this song..

He Lies and calls Her Sister...
so things turn our Better 4 Him.

I always thought he meant "sister" in the broad sense--not a relative.

Dayclear said:

I told this to the nuns at sundayschool at age 7 and was expelled. For life.

First time I heard the song it knocked me on my ass.

And I went out the next morning and tracked down the "Dirty Mind" album, and bought it.

Kinda contributed to the purple passion I've been in the last couple of years.

malbena said:

What do you mean by that? Do you think that no longer says what is on his mind? Or do you think that it is that people are not thrilled with what is on his mind now because it contradicts the Prince of old? Just curious.

2IZ1 said:

I always wonder about posters like you, who post as if you know the guy or have some special insight the rest of us don't. I never know what to make of you.