"We're all members of the animal kingdom, leave your brothers and sisters in the sea". when you say it out loud it does sound kinda corny, but I still like the song.
[Edited 5/29/08 15:42pm]

tricky99 said:

Yes, absolutely - on the surface of it they're juvenile, and well below the standard of the average Prince lyric. But you're right, it doesn't really explain the vehemence with which the song is usually denounced. As I said, it's possible to look beyond them and appreciate the song on a purely musical level.


I can try, and I've been thinking about it. Reading the lyrics, they're not that bad, so perhaps it is to do with the delivery as well. I think there are some lines in particular that let the song down, like -

"If God wanted milk in me
The breast I suck would have a line around the hood"

"Leave your brothers and sisters in the sea"

and those are the ones that stick in the mind, and so the song gets dismissed or lambasted because of them.

And yet -

"Who told us we should eat the swine?
U can bet your final money it damn sure wasn't no friend of mine
What about the clams on the shore?
Souls in progress, here come the fisherman - soul no more"

isn't a particularly objectionable verse. There's only three verses as well, so now that I think about it, it's hard to pin down just what is so wrong about them. Perhaps it's a combination of a few terrible lines, the way they're delivered, and - getting back to your original point - that maybe because of the subject matter it's seen as Prince jumping on his soap-box.

Certainly, for me, it's not Prince giving his view on killing animals that makes it cringe-worthy, I think maybe it's that he's making an important policitcal statement and failing so badly. Which brings me back to the chirping - regardless of how weak a lyric like "Leave your brothers and sisters in the sea" is to bring home your point, it is hard to take seriously with ack-ack-ack-ack-aa tweet-tweet going on in the background.

So I still haven't concluded anything, sorry, all I can say is I find the lyrics objectionably simplistic for such an important statement. Maybe it's that if I were trying to deliver the same message that I feel I could do a better job with the lyrics - and that shouldn't be the case.

eye actually lyk tha song.especially wen he got 2 tha swine prt.

AsylumUtopia said:

Thanks for the reply. I found what u said interesting. In my own opinion the preachyness in this song is on par with the lyrical content of his other preachy songs. I don't think the lyrics need to be complicated to get his meaning. As a matter of fact I think the simple and direct approach of the lyrics is what turned a lot of folks off. They can't pretend they don't know exactly what he is talking about.

Prince has never been a wordsmith so to apply such concentrated hatred to this one song will never stick on purely lyrical grounds.

Dsoul said:

this is just me - i don't like any of the song at all. i don't like the arrangement of the vocals. i don't like the music; it's just not something i enjoy listening to at all.

i haven't based my judgment on the lyrics, because i really don't know them since i don't listen to it because i dislike it.

4849 said:

aint that the TRUTH

Dsoul said:

What the hell? Prince is an incredible wordsmith. That's why silly, sophomoric bullshit like Animal Kingdom gets harshed on the way it does.

If he doesn't want any bleu cheese, that's fine. But he should have some principles. If he isn't prepared to eat cheese himself, he shouldn't serve it to others and expect them to eat it.
[Edited 5/29/08 10:25am]

..
[Edited 5/29/08 10:24am]

I can try, and I've been thinking about it. Reading the lyrics, they're not that bad, so perhaps it is to do with the delivery as well. I think there are some lines in particular that let the song down, like -

reading the lyrics before hearing the song actually made me want to hear it but when I heard is what made me like disgusted