Found Blackguitarist's thread on the poss meaning of Darling Nikki, but he never explained it, and now I'm intrigued.
So much that I woke up the next morning and had an brainwave where I was certain I had cracked the meaning. Now i'm less sure, but blackguitarist if you're out there, see what you think...

Ok, Nikki = Old Nick = The Devil. She is lustful (masturbating with a magazine). Materialistic (she had so many devices everything that money could buy). Transient (come back nikki, come back...)

Prince's lust leads him to sign his soul away (sign your name on the dotted line). But the kicker is that he can never satisfy his lust and like a drug he is left only wanting more, screaming in torment like an addict in cold turkey.

Prince is saying that women are temptations placed on earth to stray the righteous ones off the true path to spiritual fulfillment in the purple rain. They'll lead you to hell rather than heaven. And that is why your friend was kind of taken aback by this interpretation of the song.

Now this could be right, esp if he was channeling some of his hurt and anger from the Vanity situation into a metaphoric FU song. And it is kind of the flip side to his normal idolisation of women, in stuff like TMBGITW and Pink Cashmere where he holds them up as gods. I mean if you can objectify women in a positive way, maybe that is still on some sort of chauvanistic sliding scale?

Over to you, blackguitarist - please tell me your friend's take on it before I lose anymore sleep!

cosmicslop said:

but he says "Come back nikki, come back
Your dirty little prince
Wanna grind grind grind grind grind grind grind grind grind"

so is that supposed to mean he wants to have sex with the devil?

Forgot to link with the original post - find it here:-

http://prince.org/msg/7/258975?&pg=1

Um, I don't think he wanted to have sex with the devil, I think he wanted another fix of something that was addictive but destructive. A short high that wasn't worth his name on the dotted line but that he can't escape from, cuz his body will never be the same...

But who knows? BG, that's who!

cosmicslop said:

You know what, Prince DID say something like that in a Guitar magazine article. That women were sin. You may be right!

Dayclear said:

Well then he sure must like sin.

There have always been those two opinions. Women will tempt you with desire, and Women are precious as rubies, and Prince also uses Proverbs 31:10 in "Muse 2 the Pharoah."

I like your post cosmicslop...Some girls are broad, others narrow.

there was an interview on that once. It was written for Pr but Niki sounded better that appels cuz the director asked him about it when he heard it at his house. They asked to write a mean and hurtful song for the script. When he asked P why Niki he said what dear Appels

Proverbs 7

7And I saw among the naive,
And discerned among the youths
A young man lacking sense,
8 Passing through the street near her corner;
And he takes the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10 And behold, a woman comes to meet him,
Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart.
11 She is boisterous and rebellious,
Her feet do not remain at home;
12 She is now in the streets, now in the squares,
And lurks by every corner.
13 So she seizes him and kisses him
And with a brazen face she says to him:
14 “I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
15 “Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
16 “I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
17 “I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 “Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.
19 “For my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a long journey;
20 He has taken a bag of money with him,
At the full moon he will come home.”
21 With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her flattering lips she seduces him.
22 Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.
24 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
26 For many are the victims she has cast down,
And numerous are all her slain.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.


I think you are right. Whether we're talking about "Darling Nikki" or "Shockadelica" I believe that Prince's song neither this verse has anything to do with women in the literal sense. I believe exactly what the passage above says about avoiding the path that the devil would desire for us to go down.

But, we fall for temptation or give in to our lustful (not just physical) desires anyway because of our evil nature, being deceived by what the devil offers mankind. He did it to eve and he's still doin' it today. He doesn't change, people. Jesus said the devil's main purpose is to seek, kill and destroy (every single soul) but the thank God, Jesus didn't forget to share the rest of this truth, that He (Jesus) came to we might have life and that more abundantly.

As I mentioned before, the devil is a deceiver and a liar. So, as he offered Eve, temporary satisfaction that cost her her soul, and just as he even had the audacity to tempt Jesus with temporal pleasures, he does so with us. AND you are absolutely right about it not satisfying. You can never ever, ever, be satisfied with any kind of lustful desire whether it's physical or material. You'll feel just as empty with guilt and shame to boot, that will cause a person to desire more and more...only to end up emptier and emptier. Nothing satisfies.

I should have posted this in the Politics and Religion Forum, but the question came up here, and I answered it, speaking the truth in love. Take it or leave it.
[Edited 9/3/08 18:44pm]
[Edited 9/3/08 18:46pm]

I think Nikki was just a sex fiend. So many devices: sex toys!

masina79 said:

i dont either (believe it's about women) .... and i dont like 'Nikki' cause of it's meaning ...

U pretty much answered the question yourself. (pretty much).

blackguitaristz said:

So you are still not going to tell us what the other girl told you she thought it meant?

..and I thought Darling Nikki was just about prince having sex with a Prostitute or something.


[Edited 9/3/08 23:14pm]

DANGEROUSx said:

Yeah right like Prince would ever pay for sex

Yes women are temptations…….Eve tempted Adam in the garden of Eden – Men are weak when it comes to lust – once Adam was tempted nothing was the same again he had fallen off the righteous path and was now more likely to go to heaven then hell along side eve (nikki) – he signed his name on the dotted line as soon as he took a bite from the apple – As soon as your tempted by Nikki you will never be satisfied once is never enough. Since the beginning of time women have tempted men and they have fallen for it

jodi081630 said:

The woman would be paying him

Well.. at least I would.