I constantly hear people explain the lyrics to "Sister" as being a literary exercise where Prince sang situationally instead of autobiographically.

Then, I hear often the same people say something like: "He couldn't be a misogynist. He wrote 'Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/wife.' " Or they'll point to his dig at online critics or "haters" as proof of some sort of reality or turning point in the world that is Princeland.

How seriously do you take his lyrics? Do you believe that talking in princebonics makes you closer to him because you've learned his language? When you quote his lyrics like Scripture here, do you think he notices and ranks you higher?

How deep is it for you?

I'll say while he was married to Mayte and wrote the beautiful love songs to her which were reflected in his ballads even go as far as to say songs written to his other muses.

I take his lyrics VERY seriously
People will tell you how I take them apart and such.

But there are times where you have to realize that you can't take everything in the literal sense.
"Sister" is one such case. I don't think you can quite take that seriously, as in that Prince actually wanted to or did bang his sister
Just the same, "Bob George" can't be taken to mean that Prince is a gangster that wants to shoot people up.

It's a matter of finding a balance between what is true, has truth to it or what is plain common sense

...and for some reason, I'm getting a sense of deja vu
have I seen this thread recently?

mzsadii said:

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Yes, I know about balance -- clearly Prince writes characters and situations often. But how does one decide when something is a literary device and when he's writing what he really feels? And, who on the Org feels qualified to declare such a distinction?

And, Org threads are never rehashed.

i still believe all prince songs are about himself. he has divided his personality into many different facets, and each individual mentioned in his lyrics are different facets of himself.

the clue, in the pre- 1996 music, was his princebonics.

bear with me.

= his spirit, his ego
u = his physical self, his id
2 = his gemini nature; indicates the following words have a dual nature

if you apply this to his old song titles and lyrics it actually fits.

in the following years he screwed all that up by adding many new symbols to the princebonics dictionary:

1
c
x

etc.

No

stanleylieber said:

So, love u in me. was about how his ego loves being shagged by his physical self and not about a sexy woman that wants him?

I'm sure some of his songs are based on his pure thoughts but there's a lot that are based on fiction, or others around him and their situations. If you look at his songs, there are loads of contradictions and things that we know aren't even slightly true. It seems to me that people find the 'real' Prince, wherever it suits them to find it.

TheEnglishGent said:

you have a lot of insight into this stuff. tell me more.

stanleylieber said:

and yes. it's a love note from his spirit to his body. prince is saying, "gee, i like you, body, i'm glad i've got you."

funny how the spiritual concerns become more important than the flesh right about the time the flesh starts to slow down.

i think there are multiple levels to many of his songs.

You're either high, crazy, or a fine comedian. It's one of them and I can't work out which.

TheEnglishGent said:

i think these things work on multiple levels

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

DRAEMMMYYYYY!!!!! Hi sweetness...how are things???

I don't think every song Prince writes is about his personal opinions/feelings on something and from what I understand some of his songs are stories from friends etc..
I would hazard a guess that sometimes it would be a case of putting ureself in someone elses shoes so to speak he is imagining himself to be that person hwo is thinking/feeling those things, much like an actor or a storywriter...after all song writing is story writing

chillichocaholic said:

hi chilli!

Some songs do,but others don't and could be Fluff,Fantasy, Covers.

ThreadBare said:

Not very deep at all. The song is a song. If I like it, I like it. I'm not trying to get to know Prince through these songs. I don't treat the songs like they are Science projects that I'm striving to get an "A" for. The lyrics are what they are. If they are deep, then cool. It'll be something to talk about. If they aren't, then fine. Being here on this site, it'll be up for discussion too. I don't mind if they are silly, funny or even stupid to a degree cause not everything is meant to be profound, I just hope they aren't embarrassing. If so, I don't play it and I go to the next track. If he explains the song and its meaning then great. It gives the song a new perspective for me. Simple as that.

In some songs I would say yes, in others I think he is capturing a feeling of a moment, not necessarily feeling it at that time. I also think he tries to please his audience and come up with something he thinks we will like.
[Edited 4/16/09 7:16am]

Do they reflect his feelings? Who knows. Does it really matter? I'm not trying to be a prick but who cares? I guess it comes down to what I said before, I'm not trying to study Prince like that. I imagine that there is something personal in the songs or else he wouldn't write them but to what extent, that's not for me to know unless he brings that out. It always comes down to one basic fact for me, do I like this song or not? Then I go with it, whichever way I feel about that song.

Just my additional

No

purplecam said:

OK, well, I'm glad you're not obsessing over this thread. Thanks.

ThreadBare said:

My pleasure

The thing I definitely know for sure...

When I listen to Prince's music, it's not like how it is with other artists. With them, I'm just listening to songs that I can see myself in. Situations that I can connect with personally.

With Prince, its more about him. He literally puts himself into his work in some way whether its a certain lyric, a sung note, or solo on guitar, drums, keyboards, etc.
His songs tell stories that I can picture him in whether they were from his own experiences, someone else's or its purely fictional.

That puts him on a level that few other musicians are on. It's one thing to write good music that applies to you personally, but its another to write great music that could be just as enriching as reading a book... or something like that

I might have lost what I was trying to say. Not enough words in the English language, my friends

Yeah, of course they reflect his feelings. Even when it's outright fiction, it still reflects his sensibility and interests. A song like "Sister," it doesn't really matter whether it's literally true or not. What's disconcerting about that song isn't that it talks about incest. It's how it's so free of judgment, sung from a confused victim's point of view (not society's). The incest is almost incidental. The real money line in the song is: "Don't leave me on the street again." The victim desperately clings to his tormentor, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome. Prince treats the incestuous relationship like any other relationship: Sad, complex, human. He doesn't treat is as a social stigma or an abomination. It's a love song, that happens to be about incest. That's what's so unsettling about it. It rejects social values completely. It lives up to his claim in "Uptown," that he refuses to let "society tell us how it's supposed to be." Compare it to "Papa," which is much more conventional and trite.

As for "Friend, Lover, Sister, Maid, Slave, Whatever," I don't know how it proves Prince isn't a misogynist. It's totally misogynistic. First of all, he's foisting upon his lover an impossible set of roles. It's demanding, not romantic, to expect all that from one person. And then he imagines that all his previous affairs were practice for Mayte. That it was all part of some cosmic plan. Think about that one. He's passing off his life of non-committal womanizing as credentials for monogamy. It's breathtaking in its cluenessness. You're supposed to renounce a life of debauchery, not glorify it and offer it like some wedding gift. And what's up with the line about "crossing others off my list"? What is he, Santa Claus? Sounds like Prince held a contest and Mayte won the Purple Pageant Sweepstakes by a process of elimination. This is Prince's idea of romance? A frickin' game show? If that's how he selects his wives, no wonder his music has no passion. That would also explain why he writes so many damn game show jingles. He's the Pat Sajak of love.

Just need to look at the lyrics to songs like Controversy, Dirty Mind, The Beautiful Ones, (& lots more) and most recently No Candy For You - His music most definitely reflects his feelings, moods, opinions, beliefs, etc. That's why Prince is an interesting musician!