the song, not the video release.

this is one of my favorite prince songs. this is the mature, wise prince dropping knowledge. listening to this song doesn't make me feel stupider than i was when i started.

interestingly, as the last real 'prince song,' it (like 'my name is prince' at the beginning of the album) contains elements of almost every style prince had played up until that point.

and it has good lyrics.

let us bow our heads and remember.

I like the ending of the song. It becomes nothing short of gospel. The backing vocals and prince's lead line are spectacular. "Although my legs are tierd, i gotta keep on walking down this road"

come on now people! this is a classic piece of work!

maybe he shoulda used the pitch bender on his voice and talked about how old he was.
[Edited 4/7/09 15:11pm]

Good song.

3121 said:

Word!

My name will be Vic-tor-tor-tor. Amen.

stanleylieber said:

:bowing:

this is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES EVER.

When are we getting married?



Even Tony M couldn't ruin the perfection that is this song! I can't think of another song where Prince goes to church so hard

Truly truly an amazing song


.
[Edited 4/7/09 16:26pm]

I never run out of goosebumps for this song

3121 said:

fucking profound

Joy Round the Corner

:tears:
[Edited 4/7/09 16:29pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

i'm saying

stanleylieber said:

That is just pure unadulterated worship, gratitude and joy.

You gotta go through it....

----->real tears<-----

anyone who's truly been through it feels the truth of this song. Damn, can't even say truly how much I love this damn song

.
[Edited 4/7/09 16:33pm]

really i love that whole ablum but his was such a great capstone to prince's career. info was sparse for me until the internet really kicked in. all i knew was he said prince was dead and he was retired. what a great eulogy.

i listen to this song when i am sad.

stanleylieber said:

Ironic that it came on the heels of his own "Slavehood". Do you think he saw that coming and that this was a pre-emptive strike of sorts?

.
[Edited 4/7/09 16:48pm]

stanleylieber said:

Me

too

I just listened to that ending like 10 times in a row. If you were here in person you would have seen a hysterical me

While I do really like Dreamer, the thing that I love so much more about this song is that it captured completely an era, a frame of mind, the struggle, and the dream and was able to be multilayered and not singularly focused like Dreamer or Dear Mr. Man.

Born in the time of racial division, courts recognizing the equality of the children, parents putting their children together to elminate fear, drugs in the inner city with the death of Dr King (literal Victor) who's sacrifice is the hope that helped change the past and which is shaping the future, even to this very day. All tied together in a hynmal throwdown.

This is serious shit and I just will never ever EVER get over this song!

.
[Edited 4/7/09 16:54pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

i think the album started out as something else entirely but (and maybe this was even after the recordings were all finished) he changed the context of the material when they were finalizing the visual elements and especially when working on the music videos. i think he knew he was at some sort of crossroads.

the name change thing i think was mostly to give the finger to wb. it just so happened that his most recent album delivered a nice segue into the new concept. part of prince's genius is taking something that already exists and putting a new spin on it. in this case i believe he did it with his own material. 'o(+>' can be read as telling the story of prince's entire career, if you listen carefully to the music. 'my name is prince' has samples from some of his earliest songs, then the album progresses through numerous styles, then culminates in prince defining his soul in '3 chains of gold,' and finally fades out by giving an overview of his lifelong struggle to reconcile all the facets of his personality with his place in the social hierarchy.

it even manages to end on an uplifting note, while still acknowledging the injustices that surround us all.

i always felt like he got a raw deal with this album. wb seemed to have ignited a subtle smear campaign against him. i remember seeing digs at him in 'entertainment weekly' and even strange remarks about prince's declining quality on wb owned television shows.

<- conspiracy minded

when the press release came out about him changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol i thought that was the coolest thing ever. he was taking away your permission to even speak his name.

he was that funky.

stanleylieber said:

I'm so glad I was there to experience it and not just taking someone's word on it!

Until now I never had even thought that he could have already seen the writing on the wall and if he did and this song was a response to what was coming, JUST. WOW!

Brilliant song to end a brilliant album!!

The sound of the snare gets me every time

TyphoonTip said:

Did you get your org handle from the hairdo of this time?????

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Wow.

When people accuse me of living in the past and this is the past I'm living in I'm SO NOT ASHAMED!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

i really want to believe

i think those last three songs on 'o(+>' are some of the best things he ever did. it's like he took the very core of rock, soul, lounge, choral/operatic music, and even his own minneapolis sound and sliced away everything but the essentials and then seamlessly stitched them all back together to make his case. these aren't the hardest, funkiest songs he has ever made, but on a pure melodic level they run the full spectrum. it sounds absolutely sincere in all of its overproduced, posturing glory.

(i think 'o(+>' is actually his best produced album. the clarity and separation is absolutely flawless. the mix and equalization are perfect. listen to it on a world class audio system and it sounds even better.)

i don't take the lyrics of the album too literally, but it really does work on multiple levels:

- parts of prince's personality. prince is prince. prince is mayte. prince is the bad guys coming to take mayte away from him. the 3 chains of turin are the things about himself he feels good about. kirstie alley is his common sense. somehow, he has to reconcile all of these facets.

- prince versus the record business. part of him wants to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh (fame). part of him wants to pursue his spirit. the three chains are music, religion and sex. prince is fighting to save his soul from his own negative tendencies, which are exacerbated and amplified by his celebrity. in this interpretation, kirstie alley is bart.
[Edited 4/7/09 17:33pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

this was prince.

as a resume/obituary it's a hell of an album.
[Edited 4/7/09 17:34pm]

I like this track a lot, but the recorded version has always seemed just a tad bit too restrained for me, up until the last minute and a half or so, when it really takes off.

I've always wanted to hear the complete performance that is teased on the Interactive CD-ROM. There's an urgency to it that I think the album version is lacking.

Interesting theory on the album as a whole Stanley!

TwiliteKid said:

i don't remember that one off the top of my head but i always liked the '93 live version as well, with the emphasis on the rhythm guitar. see the dna lounge aftershow.

We Sacrifice!

My favorite song off of the SYMBOL album along with AND GOD CREATED WOMAN. 2 MASTERPIECES in my opinion.

MRGee said:

'and god created woman' has been a staple of my mixtapes/playlists since release.