Any artist can look back on their work and sometimes think that alterations could have been made.

I highly respect Prince as a lyricist. On a few songs I think Prince's lyrics aren't as strong as the song he has written.

Is there a Prince song you believe would be better if the lyrics were changed all together or altered some?

I feel this way about the song, "Fascination." I truly love this song and 80 percent of the lyrics.

Even though it's is a true statement that one pill is taken to correct the reaction of another pill...I think Prince could've left that out. Theres a few other lines that in my opinion just weaken the strength the song has.

Would any of you alter any Prince lyrics if you thought it would make the song stronger?

He has altered some of his lyrics

I cannot watch Rave Un2 The Year 2000 without skipping past the "Gett Off" part. The fact that he changed the lyrics to "23 scriptures in a one night stand" INFURIATES ME. If you want to appease your Jehovah cult master Larry, that's fine with me, but for God's sake, if you deem the lyrics inapropriate, CHOOSE A DIFFERENT SONG! Don't ruin a classic.

Acrylic said:

I cannot watch Rave Un2 The Year 2000 without skipping past the "Gett Off" part. The fact that he changed the lyrics to "23 scriptures in a one night stand" INFURIATES ME. If you want to appease your Jehovah cult master Larry, that's fine with me, but for God's sake, if you deem the lyrics inapropriate, CHOOSE A DIFFERENT SONG! Don't ruin a classic.

The "23 scriptures" alteration is probably the only one I can stand. That song is 100% sex, and to think replacing one word is going to change that is fooling yourself so much it turns into humour. The complete uselessness of that alteration made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still does

Prince shouldn't had The Cross altered though. I mean, who cares whether the Christ died on a cross or a stick. He died and he resurrected and that's the essence of it. Normally, I wouldn't even mind him changing the lyrics, but he really downgrades them here. "The Christ" doesn't flow half as good as "the cross".

mblevels said:

Acrylic said:

I cannot watch Rave Un2 The Year 2000 without skipping past the "Gett Off" part. The fact that he changed the lyrics to "23 scriptures in a one night stand" INFURIATES ME. If you want to appease your Jehovah cult master Larry, that's fine with me, but for God's sake, if you deem the lyrics inapropriate, CHOOSE A DIFFERENT SONG! Don't ruin a classic.

The "23 scriptures" alteration is probably the only one I can stand. That song is 100% sex, and to think replacing one word is going to change that is fooling yourself so much it turns into humour. The complete uselessness of that alteration made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still does

Prince shouldn't had The Cross altered though. I mean, who cares whether the Christ died on a cross or a stick. He died and he resurrected and that's the essence of it. Normally, I wouldn't even mind him changing the lyrics, but he really downgrades them here. "The Christ" doesn't flow half as good as "the cross".

See, I feel the opposite. I'm bothered by the alterations in "Gett Off", because it sounds ridiculous and makes no sense in the song. In the case of "The Cross", when he changed it to "The Christ", it, at the very least, was the same general concept.

If someone starts reciting scriptures on a one-night stand, I'm putting my pants on, and going the fuck home.

Acrylic said:

mblevels said:

The "23 scriptures" alteration is probably the only one I can stand. That song is 100% sex, and to think replacing one word is going to change that is fooling yourself so much it turns into humour. The complete uselessness of that alteration made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still does

Prince shouldn't had The Cross altered though. I mean, who cares whether the Christ died on a cross or a stick. He died and he resurrected and that's the essence of it. Normally, I wouldn't even mind him changing the lyrics, but he really downgrades them here. "The Christ" doesn't flow half as good as "the cross".

If someone starts reciting scriptures on a one-night stand, I'm putting my pants on, and going the fuck home.

Acrylic said:

mblevels said:

The "23 scriptures" alteration is probably the only one I can stand. That song is 100% sex, and to think replacing one word is going to change that is fooling yourself so much it turns into humour. The complete uselessness of that alteration made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still does

Prince shouldn't had The Cross altered though. I mean, who cares whether the Christ died on a cross or a stick. He died and he resurrected and that's the essence of it. Normally, I wouldn't even mind him changing the lyrics, but he really downgrades them here. "The Christ" doesn't flow half as good as "the cross".

See, I feel the opposite. I'm bothered by the alterations in "Gett Off", because it sounds ridiculous and makes no sense in the song. In the case of "The Cross", when he changed it to "The Christ", it, at the very least, was the same general concept.

If someone starts reciting scriptures on a one-night stand, I'm putting my pants on, and going the fuck home.

I guess I never really minded the lyrics in Gett Off, I don't mind most of Prince's lyrics anyway. I know them all by heart, but I listen to Prince for the music and that's what I focus on. Now, if that music gets interrupted by words that clearly never were intended that way and don't fit, it gets on my nerves so much I'd skip it, which is what I do with the Rave concert. And about Gett Off, I find Prince's humour so scarce, I actually appreciate a joke in his lyrics every once in a while. If he wants to read scriptures during his one night stands that's okay with me, I'm not dating him anyway...

To respond to the OP's question, I can't think of a song that should have it's lyrics altered that deserved the right to be written in the first place. I mean, I can think of some lyrics that could have been done better, but they usually go along with average music anyway, so I'm okay if Prince just leaves them and never plays them live again

Incense and Candles. I love this song, but I don't like incense at all, it's worse to inhale than cigarette smoke.

I think if Prince want to take a nice bath, he should stick with rose petals and candles.

I was listening to Nothing Compares 2 U and noticed the family org. and sineads version as well as others were all 15 days and I listend to a tidy sum od princes versions and it's always 13 days. I wondered if there's any significance, aside from 13 being unlucky.

mblevels said:

Acrylic said:

I cannot watch Rave Un2 The Year 2000 without skipping past the "Gett Off" part. The fact that he changed the lyrics to "23 scriptures in a one night stand" INFURIATES ME. If you want to appease your Jehovah cult master Larry, that's fine with me, but for God's sake, if you deem the lyrics inapropriate, CHOOSE A DIFFERENT SONG! Don't ruin a classic.

The "23 scriptures" alteration is probably the only one I can stand. That song is 100% sex, and to think replacing one word is going to change that is fooling yourself so much it turns into humour. The complete uselessness of that alteration made me laugh the first time I heard it and it still does

Prince shouldn't had The Cross altered though. I mean, who cares whether the Christ died on a cross or a stick. He died and he resurrected and that's the essence of it. Normally, I wouldn't even mind him changing the lyrics, but he really downgrades them here. "The Christ" doesn't flow half as good as "the cross".

I felt that same exact way about that. It's fuckin terrible, pointless, and juvenile. he does it a lot too. Pause where the obvious curse goes or put some silly word that still rhymes where the curse was or should be. Defeats the whole damn point.

0ne0n0ne said:

Incense and Candles. I love this song, but I don't like incense at all, it's worse to inhale than cigarette smoke.

I think if Prince want to take a nice bath, he should stick with rose petals and candles.

I was just joking around with this song. I really can't think of many things that I would change.

Trying to get into Prince's mind through his lyrics sometimes has been a mystery.

"I'm spiritually attracted 2 u" instead of "I'm physically attracted 2 u" on "I Feel 4 U".