Who is he referring to when he sings that line about "little babies with make up terrorize the western world ? "

KoolEaze said:

If the liner notes on the NPG Crystal Ball booklet are anything to go by the lyrics appear to have been prompted by feelings of insecurity.

Some of those lyrics also addressed the pervading political situation of the day, as the song was written more or less as a reaction to the bombing of Lybia by Reagan's administration and how those tit-for-tat military shenanigans were compromising the security of innocent civilians abroad, particularly of Americans.

I think Prince counted himself amongst those civilians, as the bombing curtailed his plans to remain in Europe because of fears over personal safety.

The reference to "little babies in make-up" could be a coded reference to war mongering politicians who should know better, but that's just a guess.

Hi Giotto ! Good to see you back ...( missed you on those Dark Knight threads)

Thanks for replying, I already knew the bit about Ghaddafi and Reagan and Prince flying back to the USA earlier than expected but I still wonder who the "little babies " were or which warmongers, according to your theory, he could be singing about ? I mean, I can´t recall ANY terrorist or warmonger of the 1980s that resembled a baby in make up.This lyric has kept me wondering for years, ever since I first heard that line.
I even thought about characters from horror movies, like certain characters from certain films that are occupying the minds of the people living in the western world but I guess that would be a bit far fetched and out of context as it doesn´t fit into the overall war theme of that song.

Given that at the moment there is no way to verify the motive for such an intriguing lyric we can only speculate wildly as to its exact meaning.

The imagery of "little babies in make-up" could have been induced by feelings of anxiety or a recurring bad dream calling to mind certain people's phobias of clowns or people wearing war-paint - i.e. make-up.

But then again that is just one way of interpreting an elusive lyric.

Can all the ones who think the PM&M forum is lacking, please speculate and answer this question, cause I wanna know the answer too.



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[Edited 8/7/08 18:13pm]