Except for all the idiocy about Abe Lincoln.

2freaky4church1 said:

(thanx 4 the link...)

Being French I'm not very aware of the hypothetical controversy about the lyrics... Could U sum up in few words ?

musicolog said:

There's an alternative historical take on Lincoln:

A. He only freed the slaves in specific southern states as a military strategy during the Civil War and not as a full freedom gesture. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free all blacks. This was accomplished by a constitutional ammendment.

B. He campaigned as Pro-Slavery prior to the Civil War. It is a revisionist read on history that places him as the "great emancipator."

C. He believed in sending all newly freed blacks back to Africa.

"Avalanche" is achingly beautiful and intelligent. I think the song is more about coming to terms with the truths in American history and our continued national denial of the "race problem." The avalanche metaphor is brilliant. The melody and piano forward the theme and metaphor as the song builds.

One of the mans greatest vocal performances on record. Period.

musicolog said:

There's an alternative historical take on Lincoln:


B. He campaigned as Pro-Slavery prior to the Civil War. It is a revisionist read on history that places him as the "great emancipator."


.

"Avalanche" is achingly beautiful and intelligent. I think the song is more about coming to terms with the truths in American history and our continued national denial of the "race problem." The avalanche metaphor is brilliant. The melody and piano forward the theme and metaphor as the song builds.

jdcxc said:

A Brit called William Wilberforce is the man most responsible for ending Slavery as it was, from what i have read.

interesting read

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ilberforce

A Brit called William Wilberforce is the man most responsible for ending Slavery as it was, from what i have read.

interesting read

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ilberforce

Marrk said:

Slavery in America, ended at a different time for those Africans taken to America and those Africans taken to the islands of the Caribbean. You are basically referring to the Africans brought from Africa to what is called the United States today, when you refer to Abe Lincoln. Abe, who in my opinion, I owe nothing to as far as "freedom", some would disagree, but that's a whole 'nother story.

I think people tend to forget there were two sets/groups (and more) of Africans involved in the transatlantic slave trade who were forced into slavery - the ones brought directly to the U.S and the ones taken to the many Caribbean islands; (both of which already had indigenous people living there); the latter often forgotten when discussions of the freedom of slaves takes place, although you also had African slaves taken from the Caribbean brought to the states to work as slaves. From what I've learned, Africans were brought to the Caribbean islands first to work as slaves, before the Africans taken by ship to America.

Getting back to the song "Avalanche". I agree with jdcxc. I believe it was more of a reminder that as a nation we still have a long way to go when discussing the historical facts of racism in America and the topic of race relations in America period.
[Edited 3/21/09 15:35pm]

snowflake

stanleylieber said:

x 1,000

myspace.com/supremiumusic

He was not or never had been in favor
of setting r people free
if it wasn't 4 the 13th Amendment
we woulda been born in slavery
He was not or never had been in favor
of letting us vote so u c...
Abraham Lincoln was a racist who said
"U cannot escape from history"

CHORUS
Like the snow comin' down the mountain
that landed on Wounded Knee
nobody wants 2 take the weight-
the responsibility

Hear the joyous sound of freedom
The Harlem Renaissance
Hear Duke Ellington and his band
kick another jungle jam
Ooh, do u wanna dance?
Who's that lurking in the shadows?
Mr. John Hammond with his pen in hand...
sayin' "Sign ur kingdom over 2 me
and b known throughout the land!"
But, u ain't got no money, U ain't got no cash,
So u sign yo name and he claims innocence
just like every snowflake in an avalanche...

CHORUS
Like the snow comin' down the mountain
that landed on Wounded Knee
nobody wants 2 take the weight-
the responsability

jdcxc said:

^^^knows his shit

While the Senate did pass the amendment in April 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6, the House declined to do so. After it was reintroduced by Representative James Mitchell Ashley, President Lincoln took an active role to ensure its passage through the House by ensuring the amendment was added to the Republican Party platform for the upcoming Presidential elections. His efforts came to fruition when the House passed the bill in January 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56. The Thirteenth Amendment's archival copy bears an apparent Presidential signature, under the usual ones of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate,[2] after the words "Approved February 1, 1865".
The Thirteenth Amendment completed the abolition of slavery, which had begun with the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Approximately 40,000 slaves remaining in Kentucky were freed by the Thirteenth Amendment.[3]

I have trouble even listening to avalanche because it's both so historically wrong and that it's so contrary to the message Prince had in songs like Race.

alandail said:

I get how people are made uncomfortable by Avalanche because it offers a counternarrative to the mythologized Lincoln-Great-Emancipator stories, but it's always interesting to me to hear people praise "Race," where Prince openly celebrates historical ignorance & ahistoricism in the worse ways.

RACE:
D-d-down with H-I-S-T-O-R-Y and all this BS propagandi
Keepin U from me and me from U as we grow
I don't wanna know (I don't wanna know)
Why those before us hated each other

I'd rather believe they never did
I'd rather believe (I'd rather, I'd rather believe)
That there's hope 4 a kid


Down with history? I don't wanna know?

Would you say that to a Holocaust survivor? Forget all about the past? It's funny to me (well not funny actually tragic) that some people seem to have the luxury of historical remembrance while others must "get over it and move on."

Except for all the idiocy about Abe Lincoln.

The only thing that you can glean from Prince's musically beautiful, lyrically obtuse Avalanche, is that he read "Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream" by Lerone Bennett, and took it as gospel. But then, Prince thinks that the Bible is fact-based.