I have wondering how does Prince put his songs together?

Does he start with the lyrics, and then figure out the melody, the reverse?

A combination?

Or maybe just depending on the song,

it varies,

I am just curious what you guys think?

I'm not sure. I think Prince may hear a melody and then start building a song around it.

Maybe Prince has the whole song just come right into him...That has happened to me before with poetry. I realize poetry is just the top layer of a whole song...although I know what it is like to have a poem run into me, and stream out of my fingertips onto a piece of paper.

It's quite an amazing feeling because U feel as if God has given it 2 U.

Yes Tame I have also experienced that feeling of inspiration that it seems to write itself,
Unfortunately I have not been able to fully produce some of my pieces but that part I am working on,

I do know that when inspiration hitz you gotta catch it

Sometimes i have to work to make a song happen, at least initially, and sometimes the song comes to me, tells me what to do, i do it, and its great. It writes itself, and thats when you know youre in the zone. Its very passive and you just feel like youre being guided the whole time. Im sure the same happens with him.

Both. We've seen lyrics that Prince has written that have not become songs, and we've heard songs like The Beautiful Ones with different "template" lyrics.

I guess there is no specific formula to making music, but I like to wonder about his methods

Close2u said:

What kind of music do u write Close2 u...What instrument do u play fluently?

I am learning guitar, I have played the drums and other percussion instruments since I was little, and I am also taking vocal lessons.... I have not really classified my style and I don't think I will, Music genres are so limiting

I have to say this...because I remember being in tenth grade choir...sitting in my seat 15 minutes before class began...It was the 7th of February,1982, I was 16.

I opened a notebook and wrote a poem from beginning to end extrememly fast. It's called, "Shadowed Dreams." I gave it to a guy that became my first boyfriend when he played it on piano and sang the song two days later.

This is a piece of it.

Shadowed dream can you hear me
I am calling you
Your alive in my mind
and my soul is left unkind
Your'e the voice in my head
Your'e the soul in my bed
Your'e the cast of my tears
Your'e the spell of my fears
by the moonlight's beam
I will find you shadowed dream.~T

This was just the chorus...what was strange about it....was that I wrote it so quickly and not one word was changed. I knew then...and later got closer to the Holy Spirit, that Love had residence in my spirit.

I have to say this...cause this particular time...when I say fast...I'm saying...my hand was moving faster than I could think or read...It was channeled. And it was miraculous.

This very thing...is kind of how I think about the song, "Colonized Mind," or a feeling that I get from that song.

"Colonized Mind," has more of a serious thread running through it...although "ART," I believe is also a part of that intricate weave between creator and child. (In whatever form) we are blessed to self express.

I am impressed that you remembered that poem for all these years,

I always enjoy your poems Tame

As Prince himself said, "When the toothbrush starts shakin', you gotta put it down and grab a bass."

Close2u said:

Thanks.

That's one of the many things I often wonder

Also has a lot of priority as one of the questions I'd ask him if I ever got the chance.
Ain't interested in nothin' but the music

Knowing him, though, and the fact he lives and breathes music... the melody comes first or one of the instruments. A certain rhythm, a set of keyboard notes, a guitar solo that comes spontaneously at rehearsal... any of those things can trigger an entire song, from my understanding

So maybe colonized mind is a song that spoke to Prince in the same way that your poem did, it does have a strong message and not to say that Prince himself is not capable of writing strong lyrics but maybe itwas channeled through him in much the same way as for you

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I often think the Title come first for some reason, like maybe an idea for a nice song comes to mind (or is channeled) and then hops in the melody, I am just guessin here

I have to be a smartass , but I'll bet it's something like this, only he's looking in the mirror or watching CNN!!

I think he said that he lays down the drum beat first and then builds upon it, he has also done that with laying the bass first.