Actually, the song starts like that:

"Excuse me sir, what's your family name? (Gershvin)
's not bad
We gon' change your name 2night
Your new name is "Blackburn"
U cool with that? Ehh
What's your name Madame? (Rebecca!)
And what's your last name, Rebecca? ([Shechler])
Ah, we gon' give U a new name 2night, Rebecca - "Outlaw" (Whoo!)
"Rebecca Outlaw""

This - to me - is the song starting as a direct conversation with people pictured as jews, no doubt about that. The tone ("U cool with that?") is implicitly offensive.

"U might say, "what U mad about?"
But U still got your family name
Pleased 2 meet U, Mr. Rosenbloom
I'll be John Blackwell, oh yes, just the same
What's your family name?"

.. is not something leaving to much room for interpretation. It's a fictional dialogue between the protagonist and a jew, the latter saying "what U mad about" (pointing at the Holocaust, and nothing else, cause everything else obviously is nothing to be "mad about"), and getting the response "But U still got your family name." This IS relativizing the Holocaust, and there simply is NO excuse for that, neither politically nor aesthetically...

If anybody would come up and say that black history and centuries of slavery was something "better" than the destruction of Jewish people in Europe, it would be hostile and inacceptable, of course. But if somebody comes up and says it's the other way around, it's exactly the same. Misanthropic and not to be accepted in any way.

My two cents..

First clue is on the title track when he says the Rainbow Children are flying on the wings of the "New Translation". That is the version of the Bible that JW's use. It's unlike any other translation. It debunks Christ being the son of God in being the Savior of the world. They don't fully acknowledge the trinity of God, Son, and Holy Spirit. (You can even see a pic of his New Translation bible in the 21 Nights book.)

The banished ones are those who don't believe in the JW g-d, and dispute the word of g-d. Unlike Protestant religions, JW's believe they are the ONLY ones going to heaven, and yet out of 300,000,000 people just in America, apparently only 144,000 in total are going to heaven. I've yet to find where Christ said THAT in the New Testament. It's heresy.

As far as the voice...well, who knows. Maybe he just didn't want HIS voice on it, but rather a deep, more g-d like voice, telling the story.

JudasLChrist was right about the Goldberg thing and the anti-Jewish statements. Yes, we know blacks had their names changed when they came here. But so did anyone else who showed up at Ellis Island 80 years ago. It's very segregated thinking on Prince's part.

He chants about theocratic order and how women are below men. Well in some regards, the Bible has referred to women as the "weaker vessel", but that doesn't mean they're less able to perform any function a man can. Women are very prominent in the Bible, as teachers, preachers, apostles, etc. JW's refuse to acknowledge this.

It's basically Prince saying "My way or the highway." He's even chanted about dead blood (JW's don't believe in blood transfusions) in another song not on TRC. (Slaughterhouse?)

I few things I have learned about the JW's;

They do not believe in the Trinity.

They DO believe that Jesus is the SON of God and refer to him as the Ransom Sacrafice because they believe that he was sent by the Father to save the human race.

They do not believe Father and Son are the same being.

They believe that 144,000 will go to Heaven where they will be like angels in that they will not have bodies.

The remander of those that accept Jesus as their Savior, according to JW's, will remain on earth. Earth will turn into the Eden that they believe Jehovah meant it to be. Jesus will be the ruler of this Earth/Eden and the 144,000 will help him rule from their posts in Heaven.

Those on Earth will no longer be sick or old. They may also be sexually active; something the 144,000 will not be able to do since they like angels will be sexless.

The JW's seem to also believe that the 144,000 will consist of those that lived their life on Earth as either men or woman. They also believe that the majority of these future leaders have been chosen a LONG, LONG time ago.

The earth will not only exist, in their view, after the apocolypse but also florish.

Once I took the time to let them explain their beliefs to me they didn't sound like a "DRINK THE KOOLAID" type of faith any longer.

...Doesn't look to sexist to me. Looks to me like he's saying he'll listen to his woman and do whatever she wants to please her.

The whole sexist thing just comes about from taking something on it's own, without understanding, or considering the whole... If you look at the whole, you see that it isn't the case and maybe the album isn't really as horrific as you might have first thought.

dollwoman said:

You don't counter white supremacy with anti-semitism. End of story.

It's about shopping the fuck around

Alej said:

and walking it the fuck out

JudasLChrist said:

Be careful with your accusations. Prince isn't advocating any harm to come to Jews. He just seems to be having issue with a perceived lack of balance in what we're taught of American history.

I know a bunch of people hate it because they say its preachy and its in code about religion or jehovah witness stuff but honestly i've listened all the way through it at least once and I don't know truly the point he's trying to get across so could someone who does understand it and its ticked off by the message simply tell me wtf he's actually talking about?

No B.s. here i'm honestly confused. I wanna know.

All I get is Banished Ones, Rainbow Children and a Darth Vader narration.

Its as clear as mud to me.

It is about Larry Graham and his beliefs. Before then, there were no banished ones and naysayers. It was about love for all. I was at that cd release party "Rainbow Children" at Paisley. I have not felt the love since.

spiritandtruth, are you still a Jehovah's Witness? I ask this because I wonder sometimes how JW's who are prince fans deal with some of the very sexual thing in Prince's songs SINCE becoming a JW. Like that whole thing in Rainbow children about watching the Muse make"circles around the toy". He really walks along the very edge of what any JW would think is acceptable.

whodknee said:

I am very careful with my accusations. The sentiment of the song is anti-semitic. It pits blacks against Jews and seeks to minimize the holocaust. It's a travesty. One of Prince's lowest moments.

JudasLChrist said:

The sentiment is frustration. Anti-Semitism comes from hate which in turn comes from fear and ignorance. Prince may be guilty of the latter, but not likely the former in this case. Was the song misguided? Yes. Hateful? I don't think so.

Love2tha9s said:

Cause it's NOT.

Graycap23 said:

Their is no Anti-Semitism in the CD why this media made up story hangs around no one knows but i guess just like the made up Anti-Gay stories the media are trying to split Prince's fan base and kill of his career as they did with the king of pop.

Face Down was Prince's answer to the music media and god bless the man is still here...

whodknee said:

That's a pretty classic apologist argument. Listen, wherever his anti-semitism is coming from, it's hurtful and offensive and dangerous. It's not acceptable. Persons who actually care about a world without racist bullshit have no business defending it.

JudasLChrist said:

I guess I'm a classic then.

LondonStyle said:

No. Not even close. The assessments being made here have nothing todo with 'the media'.