Some say it is about Susannah,others say it´s purely fictitious, like many other songs (for instance Another Lonely Christmas) but, I know I read somewhere in Uptown magazine that this song was inspired by the death of a woman´s father in Prince´s camp and not really inspired by a break up at all. Thing is, I don´t remember off the top of my head which issue of Uptown magazine covered this story.

So, all you orgers out there, does anyone know more about this song?
And what´s your favorite version? I´d say his rendition during the Nude tour, especially the ones in Buenos Aires and in Tokyo, were by far the best versions ever....just Prince on the piano, no duet, no gimmicks, just a very emotional rendition that was far better, IMO, than any other version before or after.

Susannah.

Yeah, If it wasn't about Susannah, Prince has some explaining to do, as they were a couple at the time the song was written.

squirrelgrease said:

Agreed. It's just TOO personal of a song to NOT be about someone anyway. Same with "The Beautiful Ones". It's not a simple "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" or "Hot Thing" type song. It's more emotional than that.

ernestsewell said:

That could easily be said about a bunch of other songs, like, for instance, Another Lonely Christmas, and we know that that one is fictitious.
I agree about the Beautiful Ones though...that was also pretty well documented and agreed upon by various writers and insiders.

I guess I´ll have to go through my collection of Uptown magazines to find out...I just can´t be bothered right now.

KoolEaze said:

Go through whatever, but it's a fact the song is about Susannah, not an assumption. Even Susannah acknowledged it.

ernestsewell said:

I don´t doubt that. It´s just that I´m sure that I read in Uptown that there was more to it. Never said that you´re making assumptions.

Do you happen to know when and where Susannah acknowledged it?

KoolEaze said:

Yes, back earlier this year, while on a live web stream (video) with Paul and Susannah, from Doyle and Susannah's back patio deck, the question (in the adjoining chat room) was brought up about "NC2U". She said she always figured, and kind of knew, it was about her. She seemed a bit more unsure of "The Beautiful Ones". Even Paul said it "NC2U" and Susannah went hand in hand.

I heard it w/ my own ears, and saw it with my own eyes.
[Edited 11/18/09 13:52pm]

And who is Susannah?

porfyrivrohi said:

LOL Is that a joke?

Morris Day

Imago said:

ernestsewell said:

Not at all. I just don't know who she is. Can someone explain, please?

porfyrivrohi said:

She's Wendy's twin sister, and she dated Prince from about 1983/4 until 1986. Prince wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U", "The Beautiful Ones" about her, to name a few. He even named "Susannah's Pajamas" after her. He had proposed marriage to her as well, but they ended up breaking up around the time the Revolution was disbanded. Of course (for those of us who know), she was in The Family with St. Paul (of The Time, who replaced Jimmy Jam on keyboards), Eric Leeds, and Jerome Benton (of The Time, and later the Revolution)



She is now married to musician extraordinaire Doyle Bramhall III, and has some pretty babies w/ him. She is an absolute sweetheart too. Love her to death.

ernestsewell said:

Very informative, THANKS!

But how come she wasn't in his band then? Or play in Purple Rain the movie?

porfyrivrohi said:

She couldn't act, and the part was for Vanity, then eventually Apollonia. She was in his band after The Family broke up in 1985. The Revolution absorbed Susannah, Eric, Jerome, and adopted Mico Weaver, Wally Safford and Greg Brooks, into a 12 piece band during the Parade era. She's in the "Girls and Boys", and "Anotherloverholenyohead" video.

Pics here: http://prince.org/msg/7/298457

She was supposed to play the part of Mary Sharon in Under the Cherry Moon, but that's when they found out she wasn't great at acting, and was replaced by Kristen Scott Thomas.

She can also be heard on "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night", as well as different parts on SOTT and Parade albums.

Read your liner notes. She's all over the place.

KoolEaze said:

Nothing is stated in the first 40 issues of Uptown - I did a quick search of my PDFs. Maybe a later issue says something.

squirrelgrease said:

Um.....say, how many PDFs of the magazines do you have? HMMMM?????

ernestsewell said:

I bought the Uptown Days Of Wild book and a CD-Rom came with it that has the first 40 issues on PDF (though, for some reason a few pages are missing from them).

squirrelgrease said:

Thats because of the bootleg discography. Uptown agreed that they wouldn't be part of the PDF disc. Prince started dating Susannah in early 84 after Vanity left the Prince camp. Pretty much everything else is what people already said but I think it lasted into early 87.

joyinrepetition said:

I see. Do you know if this was done due to pressure from Prince's camp, at the request of the publisher or just a way to stay out of hot water?

ernestsewell said:

I think we can add If I Was Your Girlfriend and Condition of the Heart to the list of songs she inspired.

If you watch the Detroit birthday concert from '86 you'll see her doing back-up vocals and advanced hair-swinging. Basically, if we're talking muses, she was No.1.

I really don't see what Prince saw in her She looks like an average chick to me Now that I think about it they all looked that way except Vanity and Mayte'

nurseV said:

I never thought that was a good photo of her - she looks much better in the Girls & Boys video, and live she is beautiful. Her and Wendy have the most wonderful mouths.

nurseV said:

It isn't always about looks, you know.

GiGi319 said:

Nothing personal just sayin' she looks like an average woman down the block and she is proof that it isn't always about looks

I've been in a few of those live video chats with The Family/FDeluxe that ernest was referring to. Susannah is a sweetheart.

There's definitely more than a few Prince songs that are about her! IIRC, she's doing backing vocals on "Crystal Ball" as well.

vivid said:

Twins right? She has always looked the same to me, but still may be a very nice lady.

Not every song Prince writes is about someone real.

GiGi319 said:

That's right...U don't have to be beautiful to turn "Him," On.