I recently threw out all my ancient cassette tapes. Among them was "The Gold Experience." I listened to it again recently on CD, after many years, and just as I had in the 90s, I didn't like the "Dolphin" song any better now than I did then. I used to just skip over it. But after reading on this site about P's war with Warner Bros. I started wondering if this song was some kind of sarcastic response to what was going on at the time TGE was made. Does anyone have any knowledge of this and why this forgettable song ended up with what I consider to be a lot of other great songs?

poetcorner61 said:

this thread may help> http://prince.org/msg/7/313087

it was gonna be released with the undertaker which never got to see the light of day, but it was a different version, much rockier. Iv always liked this song gets stuck in my head

I read the thread about Dolphin and I don't think the right answer is in there. I remember reading an interview with a band member (sorry, can't remember who it was) and it was asked what Dolphin was about. The answer was that it was about Prince's management. They were fired at some point (Cavallo c.s.). According to Prince they were "too much shark, too little Dolphin" or something along those lines.

johno2 said:

Very interesting thread! Sorry for asking the question yet again but I'm pretty new here, so thanks! Just goes to show that the relative meaning of anything really depends on the individual perception and context of it!

Funny.... that is my favorite song. Not sure why though.

The song was supposed to have been influenced by the Beattie eaddie book embraced by the light which is about her near death experience and reincarnation

poetcorner61 said:

dont worry i still dont really have a clue what its about..... sex or princes managment.....

It's always seemed a straight forward song to me. It's about the fact that he doesn't feel he's as popular (circa the 'Come' period when he probably put it together) as he felt he should have been.

It's all right there in the first verse:

How beautiful do the words have 2 be
Before they conquer every heart?
How will U know if I'm even in the right key
If U make me stop before I start?

He thinks more people should be listening to him. The 'dolphin' of the song is, erm, a red herring, being his possible explanation for his dwindling success given that the super-successful genius behind Parade, was now becoming too dang experimental to maintain the full attention of the cretinous public. And it does start to waffle by the 2nd verse.

I think it's one of Prince's classics all the same, a beautiful track. And probably the best thing on The Gold Experience. The big 'Oh-ho' shout before the final verse, wonderfully held back in the mix, being the highlight of the recording.

I believe that Prince was trying to heal the world with music and Prince does do that however he needed more control than he was getting.

I don't believe that the Record Companies could see Prince's range of desire for touching the human heart.

I wish I could have been there on that end and said, "go!...run!...sing!...heal!...
These individuals just had to shape and mold to their business liking when Prince was the artistic mind behind his plan.

Ya know...what it was, was that extention of GOD slowing Prince down. Prince is faster than his red corvette is. Life had to throw some gravel on the track.