Love2tha9s said:

He talked about GOD before, he talks about Religion now. His message before used be abstract and INCLUSIVE, so even an atheist like me could appreciate and tolerate it. NOW, he's semi-seperatist and overly orthodox.

bellanoche said:

Speaking only for myself here, I don't think that's it. He still sings about sex. "Turn Me Loose" is all about butt sex, for example. Even on TRC, his major JW religious work, he sings about going down and eating out a woman. I don't think he's capable of not singing about sex. Throughout his career, whenever Prince has "cleaned up" his act, his take on cleaning up is always very risque.

"Colonized Mind" is a great song musically. I absolutely love it. But as I said before, I'll ignore the lyrics because they kind of turn me off. My big problem with it is the idea that we need God to make our laws. Um, no. No, we don't. (The incessant complaining about the record industry is tiresome too, and I've never seen how the record industry problems he has have paralleled the problems of the entire world anyway, but that's another issue.)

I'm glad you enjoy the religious views he expresses in this song; that's cool. There are many, many of his religious or spiritual songs that I love the lyrics to, though, and I have throughout the years. I'm sure there'll be more too, just not this particular one.

Rockability said:

And I'm saying that Dylan and Jimi should have aspired to reach Prince's level.
Prince is a one of a kind special, gifted man.

bellanoche said:[quote]

Love2tha9s said:

So you prefer an unorganized religion then.

Lammastide said:

theres just nae pleasin some cats iz there?

Revolution said:

weejimmy said:

Not hating, just stating my personal impression. It's getting a decent response overall. I'm glad others are feeling it.

4th day and my 5th listern/play.....better speakers ...volume a bit higher following the lyrics this time ...being objective...

Dam....wet myself again ...this track rocks ...sh*t ...ok Prince you win..your the MAN...

This song is amazing. He did this song at the Charity show he had here in NYC in October and I couldn't make out the lyrics then but I knew it was deep just in the music. Hearing it again in studio form confirmed what I thought to be true. I'm not much for lyrics but the lyrics here are deep and a lot to digest and I'm down with that. Makes you think and the music is just incredible. Prince did the damn thing with this song. I mean look at all the people who are talking about this one song alone. It's struck a chord with us.

pald1 said:

My point was twofold: 1) there are far more progressively "democratic" political models that have come into existence since the US established its political model and constitution in 1776 (I'm not ignoring the ammendments to it, but I talking at the level of the fundamental structure laid out in that founding document); and 2) that the biggest obstacle to the "best" isn't the worst, but settling for a sad mediocrity merely because its functional. People who don't recognize obstacles to growth don't grow. Thats my point. So, why criticize someone for believing something can be improved upon?

And with regards to the rest of what you wrote. Fascism, Totalitariansm, and communism have nothing to do with this discussion. No two nations have the same model of democracy. No two! Not the US and Canada, not the US and the UK, not the US and Germany, not the US and Japan, nor any other two nations you can compare together. Songs that invoke revolution (change), whether they be by Dylan, Havens, Rage against the Machine, or whoever else should be recognized for what they are. They voice the discontent people feel, whether they be a minority or majority opinion, they're always something a country should address as opposed to ignore.

The music and the vibe are cool, i dig that he has a point of view and is passionate about.
The difference between something like this and "The Rainbow Children" I couldn’t get past the corn-ball-ness and the silly pretentious cheese that was the RBC, this one I dig regardless of message….granted it sure helps that the message isn’t ignorant as TRC

The best song of the lot. Almost a great song. Real nice guitar. Crazy lyrics that make no sense. Obviously he is dissing Barack Obama and his fans.

udo said:

I think the comparison Prince makes to fascism is WAY out of line. The fascist regimes that have ruled countries have killed Millions of innocent people. Sure, there is a lot to complain about recent American politics (as there is in more countries in the world) but to compare it to fascism is inconsiderate...

eaglebear4839 said:

Pretty much nailed it right there. But I guess that sort of contradiction is part of what still makes him an intriguing artist.

eelco said:

Hmmm, well if you start adding up the bodies in Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait...

--spelling edit
[Edited 12/21/08 12:12pm]

....1st upload-download...a group of the same kind of animals...plants...or one-celled organisms living and growing together...organisms live in colonies for their mutual benefit and especially their protection....mulicellular organisms may have evolved out of colonies of unicellar gelatinous envelope....


....2nd upload-download...any people or territory separated from BUT subject to a ruling power....


....3rd upload-download...any group of individuals having similar interests..occupations..etc...usually living in a particular locality..community...


....4th upload-download...the aggregation of bacteria growing together as the decendants of a single cell...


....5th upload-download...microbiology-a visible growth of microorganisms...usually in a solid or semisolid nutrient medium.....

....if u look...u're sure to find...

...mzsexybaby

MendesCity said:

It appears to me that Prince's mind is far from "colonized". The fact that he speaks his mind (even though some do not like what he has to say) and his views may not be "politically correct" is evidence. His choice of religion is really what irks some of you. The fact that you have no faith is proof of your colonization--without faith you're subject to lock-stepping.

Prince is a religious slave and here is his lecturing us.

bellanoche said:

of course.... I'm not saying the Us politics are/were perfect. They are far from. The point I was trying to make is that the facist totalitarian regimes of the world (Germany, Italy, Argentina, Chile to name a few) have SYSTEMATICALLY and PURPOSEDLY killed millions of jews, communists, homosexuals and political opponents. By making the comparison I get the feeling that he sort of downplays that aspect of fascism. Anyway, don't mean to start the whole 'Holocost Aside" and TRC debate again.....
[Edited 12/21/08 12:31pm]

Twinkly1 said:

Wow. I can't decide if the worst thing about that comment is the assumptions it makes, its judgmental nature, or its condescension. So I'll just stick with all three.

...we are all souls in an envelope of flesh....the spirit speaks and it is ur soul who has listened....that's the beauty of God's work...we were born to live together...i can not live without prince's music..because the isolation kills me...who says i don't love prince?....i respect his love...i want him in my life...if anyone listens...happiness...God please always take care of this love...i want to sing...i want to tell the world...i ask God to take care of my life...with devotion....

...mzsexybaby

lezama said:

I think you just agreed with me, right?

bellanoche said:

I don't have as much time as you to go into all of this but suffice to say that for me to come on a Prince fan site and have to explain, justify even, his take on the thematic relationship between sex and God is a good enough indicator of how far his music, fans, everything has spiralled over the last few years. To say "some people found it easier to dismiss Prince's God/Biblical references as long as they could skip ahead to the next song about sex" is a fantastic misunderstanding of the man's work. The combination of the two is EXACTLY what made him different and they were hardly ever seperable within the context of a song. When he writes songs now, either just about sex or just about God, it naturaly makes them one-dimesional and a shadow of the stuff he wrote in the past. It's as simple as that. To say, only, that people have a beef against his songs now because the songs are overtly-religious is intellectualiy naive.
[Edited 12/21/08 13:26pm]

My favourite of the bunch. The mix makes it sound live. Yum Yum. Definately something of interest to people other than Prince fans i think.

Electrostar said:

Totally agree, this is the only one that may appeal to non fams.(just edit out that "i want to talk about it" part at the beginging)

pald1 said:

I think that you do not have the time "to go into all of this" because there is nothing you can really say. Surely you have time to post and post and post about how "one-dimensional" Prince's current music is and how "intellectually naive" his fans are.

I never said that some of the religious backlash was because people were simply "anti-religious," anti-JW, possibly but not anti-religious in general. I was speaking with regard to the dislike of Prince's religious-themed new music. Actually, if you were intellectually astute enough to comprehend my posts, you would see that I said that I am not a religious person. However, I do enjoy Prince's religious/God/spiritual-themed music, as it has ALWAYS existed. Contrary to some beliefs, for the most part his current music is not any more "religious" than before which I pointed out on earlier posts. The themes of a love of God, salvation, redemption, Creationism, everlasting life in Heaven, etc. are nothing new. Again, the only difference is that he has nixed the overtly sexual lyrics and has publicly acknowledged his JW affiliation.

I am sorry, but you are completely wrong when you say that the two - sex and religion/God - were "never separable in the context of a song." That is, as you put it, a "fantastic misunderstanding" of the man’s work. He has had multiple songs that are solely God/religious themed and make no mention of sex just as he has had numerous sex-themed songs that make no mention of God. So, what are you talking about?

I never said that you had to justify his "thematic relationship between sex and God" because I get it, I always have. I also get that he is no longer 25 or 30. He is a 50-year-old man who would sound ridiculous singing about sex like a man half his age. In contrast to people like Madonna and Mick Jagger, Prince is actually showing maturity - he no longer has to push the "sex" envelope. However, he can continue to sing about God as his faith and conviction grow. Like I said, I get it. I am sorry that you don't. However, all is fair in love, war and Prince music listening. You will have your beliefs and I will have mine. The only difference is that I like to base mine on fact.

Now I see why I rarely post on this site any more. I love great conversation and opposing/challenging views/insights. However, I do not like irrational, unsupported opinions that resort to condescension. What's the point?

eelco said:

Yeah, I agree with you. I think it might be best to avoid this discussion because the USA has "SYSTEMATICALLY and PURPOSELY killed millions" along with obliterating entire cultures - mine in particular - along with LEGALLY oppressing and dehumanizing millions of its own inhabitants for centuries. I do not think that he is downplaying the effects of fascism in other countries. However, I do think he is pointing out that for far too long the effects of our own fascist regime have been downplayed. Just because we call our fascism democracy doesn't make its effects any less horrendous. But this is a discussion for Politics & Religion, so yeah let's just leave this one alone.

(I was trying to find a handshake emoticon but could not so the peace sign will have to do. )

great post ! Made me realise that prince has come a long way from the "one song''-speech where he stated "Ideas contrary to this goal should not be blamed or persecuted, just simply ignored..." (which is VERY humanistic in nature and a great , yet somewhat naive, statement)

Here we are 9 years later and Prince has sunk into condescension all the way. Gay bashing, using the term fascism in a very inapropriate manner, you name it. Nothing wrong in my opinion with religious themes in songs, His use in the past was actually thought provocative but nowadays it's condemning others all the way. Such a shame for a man who , I think, was (/ is?) actually very good at writing lyrics about different aspects of interpersonal relationships.

That being said, I think musically all the songs are a lot better than anything from the 00's by Prince.....

...the mind is expanding...new ideas are comming in...especially for the midwest..everyehere..religion vs science...where is the law?..God vs the big bang....isolation ....computer loves in blue.....general and personal feel to it....

...mzsexybaby

bellanoche said:

You spend quite a lot of time about what you don't say and precious little concerning what you do....I love the bit about 'showing maturity.' Why is it a given that, as we grow older, things that get watered down is a sign of 'maturity.' If that's the case, give me irresponsible, immature Prince any day.

In any event, I'm still not sure what your real point is because you obfuscate it behind so many bland denials..."your not religious but..." etc. I have no idea what any of this means...My ability to comprehend, or your general incoherence? What's the point?