We are all here because we love Prince's music in one way or another. One thing that has been discussed here continually has been Prince's lyrics, especially in the last few years. Fans love them, fans hate them. A lot of you in here have different views on Prince's lyrics so I wanted to ask all of you in here these questions:

-How important are Prince's lyrics to you?

-Why are they important to you?

-If they are not important to you, why not?

-Has his lyrics helped you in any way in your life?

I want to understand where all of you are coming from when you guys talk about his lyrics and why they are great, why they suck or why you don't care one way or the other. Share what you want to share. I hope that we can have some good discussions about this topic and that we can learn some more things from each other in the process.

Here's my take on this. Personally, I've never made a big deal about Prince's lyrics. To be honest, I don't think Prince is the greatest when it comes to lyrics but I respect them and I like them for the most part. I've always been about the music and if I could bop my head to it and I'm like that for music in general. If the music grabbed me, then the lyrics followed.

If I went by lyrics alone, then I probably wouldn't have become a Prince fan. I've told the story here on the org before that my mother brought "Parade" for me when I was 7 years old and that was my first Prince album. I liked the music a lot but a lot of his lyrics went over my head & made me do this: . Of course this would happen to me at 7 and it continued with other Prince albums that I got when I was around that age after getting "Parade" but I still enjoyed the songs, even with the wild, silly or confusing lyrics. When I got older, a lot of those songs from the 80's started to make sense to me & I'm glad they did but I still don't put lyrics, especially Prince's, on a high pedestal as others do but I respect other fans views on them. Maybe with this thread I can see where all of you are coming from with this. We'll see.

It's the music that is first and foremost with me, I don't take too much notice of most of the lyrics. There's no doubt that he's written some great lyrics but there's a fair amount of cheese too and the religious message hammered home in most of the more recent songs can be a bit much. Fortunately, I can still appreciate great tracks like The Word, or Colonised Mind, without being put off by the lyrical content.

I think he's an amazing lyricist.

He's one of those guys who can be extremely poetic, extremely graphic and blunt, or banal and ambiguous.

If there wasn't any depth to his lyrics, I wouldn't be able to follow him. Music has to say something to me, has to be from the artist's soul. Sometimes Prince doesn't wanna do anything other than jam, and that's cool, but other times, he has things to say.

I've read people talk about how he's not the greatest at song lyrics, but I disagree. There are people who are undoubtedly genius at songwriting - like Dylan or Springsteen or Costello, but there's also something to be said for straddling the line between poignant words and rousing music.

Many great lyricists to me end up having lackluster music that doesn't draw me in. Maybe what they're saying is great, but it works better as a poem than a song.

Prince does both well. He understands it's a song, but still gets across an emotion and a feeling and many times, a story.

Look at 'Little Red Corvette.' Great lyrics. 'The Beautiful Ones,' 'Shy,' 'The Future,' 'Electric Chair,' '2 the 9s,' 'Money Don't Matter 2nite,' 'Call My Name,' and on and on and on. I can't even begin to name them all.

In the end, for me, it comes down to is he saying something important. In the case of Prince, the answer is yes, but usually it's saying something about relationships or about himself and his life, how things are for him, not necessarily how things are universally for everyone. But in those specific discussions about his life, I find a way to connect with my own wife.

Now, I've never been a big fan of his political stuff as much, lyrically. I don't think he's so great when it comes to that, but 'We March' is still entertaining and gets across a solid message. But probably not nearly as subtly as some other more talented lyricists could have accomplished.

But then, would those musicians have written music as great? Maybe not.

What I find astonishing about Prince's music and lyrics is that they always seem to go hand in hand. He expresses the same feelings with an instrument as when he sings about it. In my opinion that's something very unique, because usually pop-artist write a song and add the lyrics or the other way round, so modern day society listens to the lyrics and thinks "Wow they're nice, I like the music too" or they say "This music is funking cool, I don't have to care about the lyrics", but in Prince's case it's different I think. Music and lyrics complement each other. His words sing what his instruments talk about.

At least that's how I see it.

bleutuna said:

U really have some great and interesting takes on Prince and his music. I agree with u on this point. Prince is an extremely good songwriter talking both music and lyrics. He is a very clever wordsmith. Almost every song he has written contains somthing funny or deep often times being a play on words. I bet if u read over the lyrics of PE u will find examples.

This is part of the reason 'Letitgo' is one of my favorite Prince songs.

1) The music if phenomenal to me. The sounds he uses, the use of the 'flute', the use of the percussion, horns, the backing vocals, and his phrasing is awesome.

2) The lyrics. I think they say something about Prince, about him not being happy with how his life has been, how he's kept people out, and sometimes he just needs to change things. And maybe he's finally able to.

This tells me WHAT Prince was thinking at the time. Where he was in his head, in his life, in his heart. This doesn't come from a place of thinking, 'Oh, I should write a song about something.' It comes from something in his life affecting him, and him feeling so strongly about it, he's got to get it out in song.

How can you not adore that? How can that not bring you closer to the Man? And most importantly, how can you even JUDGE him for that? I can't. It's his soul. He's willing to put it on out there for me to see. I thank him for it.

Until the end of time
I'll be there 4 U
U own my heart and mind
I truly adore U
If God one day struck me blind
Your beauty I'd still see
Love is 2 weak 2 define
Just what U mean 2 me

ENOUGH SAID!

Wow, this has been interesting so far.

purplecam said:

Good thread!

The music and the lyrics are equally as important. He's an utmost genuis at songwriting and can write a song about anything and make it funky. Some of his lyrics are profound, some are witty, some are funny and some were shocking. He encompasses every possible emotion in his writing.

Add a funky beat, a searing guitar or a wailing saxophone and you've got TRUE MUSIC.

Dave1992 said:

Thanks man!

'U offer me your love...So devine. And in return, girl, in return I will surrender.'

There are so many lyrics I love. It's always the music first. His lyrics got better with time.

rnljs said:

Baby, what are we gonna do?
I know you're in love with me too (doo-wah)
Should we go on living together?
Or should we get married right away?

--

Oh baby, baby, baby - if we got married, would that be cool?

Did they?


Nah, just joking.. it's true

I love the music first and foremost, but I have always enjoyed his lyrics. In the 80's when I was a teen, his sexy lyrics would shock and excite. His ballads use poetry to seduce and entice. Through his lyrics he exposes himself to us. He tells us who he is, what he believes, what he was thinking at the time he wrote the song. Why do we argue about Prince's politics when all we have to do is listen to "Dr. Mr. Man," "America," "1999," "Money Don't Matter", etc. Why did anyone ever think he was gay, when so many of his songs are odes to women? Listen to to the "Rave.. " cd and you will hear a man with a broken heart. "Emancipation", is a man in love. "Face Down," and "F.U.N.K." is a man with a beef. In all his music, his spiritual side is evident.

Listen to the lyrics and he tells us all we need to know...

I would go KOO KOO if I ANALYZED his LYRICS and Cared about how it will determine my LIFE GOALS. Some of his LYRICS are PURE FUN and make no SENSE. It's all about MUSIC to me. I don't care about his LYRICS as much as his MUSICAL FEEL.

purplecam said:

-How important are Prince's lyrics to you? Quite important,

-Why are they important to you? I love singing along to his songs.

-If they are not important to you, why not? I also love the way he composes his music, his guitar playing and his voice.

-Has his lyrics helped you in any way in your life? Yes, soothes me when I am stressed.

I was looking at what I had written earlier and I want to say that I do think that Prince's lyrics are very important to the songs and he is great with them but I just place music above lyrics. I don't know if I made it sound like his lyrics are crap cause I don't think that they are. I just wanted to make that clear. I am loving the responses and I hope we have more as time goes on.

As an artist myself, Prince is one of the few artist that actually spur my own creative output. Depending on the mood that I am in, I could be focused on many different aspects of Prince's material. 2 answer your question, the lyrics are as important as any element in the song, but 4 me, the VIBE is the most important factor. If I don't feel the groove of the song, the lyrics become irrelevant 2 me. In Prince's case, that is RARELY the situatiom.

To be honest, his lyrics are not important to me in the least. Not that I don't think he has some great lyrics, but I never pay that much attention tothem. If the music is great, I just don't care, though I supposed great lyrics add that much more.

The lyrics are extremely important to me because, as a writer myself, I can relate to the hard work that goes into finding exactly the right words for what you want to say, turning a phrase just right, or even coining a new expression. There have been times that I have literally caught my breath at something Prince has said or sung.

I can admire his ability to write music but, because I can't actually do that myself, it isn't as relatable for me. By contrast, when I hear some particularly good lyrics, I always wonder if he had to work at them or...as sometimes happens when you're very, very lucky...they just flowed from his heart to his brain and out through his pen.

And when the lyrics are bad (as I felt they were on several songs on Planet Earth), I cringed as I sometimes do when I go back and read something I've written that wasn't particularly good. I shouldn't - but I almost take it personally.

purplecam said:

Prince is a beautiful poet and songwriter. Prince has always been very expressive and I respect that it is his heart that he is sharing.

Prince has something 2 say, He says it beautifully. The lyrics have been sometimes comical, very loving, intellectual, and spiritually insightful.

Oh man,lyrics really matter, but it's not always the means to the end for me. I could go on here....maybe when I get my thoughts more together.

marrakech said:

I look forward to hearing what you have to say on this.
[Edited 1/14/09 22:18pm]

I would say that the lyrics don't mean as much to me as they used to. When I was young I could actually relate to the lyrics. From about Controversy through Purple Rain I could relate to lyrics about sex, love, and God. Controversy had songs I could dig like the title song, "Sexuality", "Do Me Baby", and "Let's Work". Of course I love ALL of 1999! That is probably THE album I can relate to the most.Most songs are about love and sex which I was quite interested in being a teenager new to sex at the time. And, of course, Purple Rain was a smash with great lyrics, 12" mixes and more b-sides. But lyrically he broadened with Around the World in a Day and Parade. Though both of those albums are musically awesome, and the lyrics painted pictures like no other, "Paisley Park", "Condition of the Heart", "The Ladder", etc., songs like "Around the World In A Day" and "Tamborine" had me scratching my head at the lyrics. (Though of course now I can appreciate them more). Parade, to me, is when the lyrics started really going out there. I enjoyed the imagery but could no longer really "relate" to the lyrics anymore. No more "we can fuck until the dawn" types of vibes which I still really dug as a teen. Even boots like "Wonderful Ass", and "Extra Lovable" I used to love because I could relate. Whenever Prince would say "Can U relate?" I used to think 'Oh, Hell yeah!'
So I guess since then, though Prince has come up with great words and clever lyrics, they no longer are as important to me as they were. I can't "relate" to his lyrics like I used to anymore. Almost not at all. I love his music and the way he sings, but the lyrics no longer hold me in captivity the way they used to.

I'm a big fan of artists like Tool and Matthew Good, who are known for great lyrics, and I also write poems regularly. Lyrics are very important to me.

Prince is a great lyricist because he's often been able to convey different moods in the same song. He's been able to come across as playful while romantic (Adore, Good Love), paradoxical while concise (I Hate U, If I Was Your Girlfriend), sexually menacing while vulnerable (Let's Pretend We're Married, Darling Nikki), rousing while somber (Purple Rain, Anna Stesia), and so on and so forth.

His best work has always showcased his own complexity as a person without feeling overbearing.

coltrane3 said:

I'm with you on that.

They used to be really important to me when I was young and tryin' to be all deep and artsy. As I got older I realized that I was really smart whether I knew what Prince was talkin' about or not.