this song is highly under-rated imo (apologies 2 those who dig it)

thoughts go 2 respect of sign o the times, colonised mind is in the same mind;

prince sincerity in speaking 2 reality

what about the guitar...surely some of his best, officially released solos are here.

his vocals (layered) with alto

respect to LotusFlower as a whole...I enjoyed it far more than 20ten

If u look, ur sho gonna find, throughout mankind's history, a colonised mind

(blind leading the blind?)

Musically I agree - it has some fantastic guitar! LotusFlow3r in general is full

of lovely guitar.

The only thing that can make it better for me are probably lyric choices.

I can't stand behind some of the rhetoric.

For example, I don't agree that democracy is a form a facism

in which nothing changes and we don't have a voice.

It is probably one of my most listened to tracks on LotusFlow3r

All time classic rip off is all. No sooner was Miriam Makeba dead then he released this copy of her song, just added his own horrible, ignorant lyrics into the mix:

One day, when Prince fans have gotten over the 80s and 90s music, this song will be a classic.

I think expanding upon someone's original idea is a sign of respect and he did a lot with it. It could be even a tribute to her.

I love the lyrics. Of course they're contraversial depending on your political views but they do challenge you to look at things in a different light. Everything has positives and negatives. It's the yin/yang of life. Whether one wants to break down their own hypothesis of what is and question it, is another story.

The song also states some things that many cognitive psychologist would agree with.

The music is great. Ten seconds of the intro and I'm sold.

Bohemian67 said:

One day, when Prince fans have gotten over the 80s and 90s music, this song will be a classic.

I think expanding upon someone's original idea is a sign of respect and he did a lot with it. It could be even a tribute to her.

I love the lyrics. Of course they're contraversial depending on your political views but they do challenge you to look at things in a different light. Everything has positives and negatives. It's the yin/yang of life. Whether one wants to break down their own hypothesis of what is and question it, is another story.

The song also states some things that many cognitive psychologist would agree with.

The music is great. Ten seconds of the intro and I'm sold.

No matter how you slice it, it's still a rip-off! Prince fans (not necessarily you, Bohemian) are the first to scream bloody murder when ANYONE comes out with something that possibly remotely sounds like anything Prince recorded or hummed, but when the shoe's on the other foot, it's "showing a sign of respect"? Lol! Okay.

NelsonR said:

this song is highly under-rated imo (apologies 2 those who dig it)

thoughts go 2 respect of sign o the times, colonised mind is in the same mind;

prince sincerity in speaking 2 reality

what about the guitar...surely some of his best, officially released solos are here.

his vocals (layered) with alto

respect to LotusFlower as a whole...I enjoyed it far more than 20ten

If u look, ur sho gonna find, throughout mankind's history, a colonised mind

(blind leading the blind?)

Great Prince trax inspired a lot by "Hey baby (new rising sun)" by his father Jimi HENDRIX!

It might be a classic if he had released it as an instrumental. The lyrics aren't controvertial, they're ignorant. Evolution is a scientific fact and no amount of pointing at a bible can change that. Lumping anti-evolution religious rubbish in with more griping about the record industry makes the lyrics even worse, turning Prince into a paranoid street preacher who cannot pull off a creative sermon because he thinks corporate interests are out to get him.

Dsoul said:

All time classic rip off is all. No sooner was Miriam Makeba dead then he released this copy of her song, just added his own horrible, ignorant lyrics into the mix:

Yes, CM sounds almost exactly like this song, but it is still a great song. I also think it's a Prince classic.

Unlike the horrible ignorant lyrics of abominations like TRC, the composition and production on this song is awesome. It's fine ART regardless of the ideology. Whereas TRC is cheesy no matter how you tilt your head or squint your eyes.

I think this is the best song in Lotus Flower (which I consider a great album), one of his 5 best of the decade, and it would probably make it into my all time Prince top 50.

I have noticed that some orgers strongly reject Prince lyrics when the subjects are religion or politics. They even see preaching and dogmatism in lyrics as sweet as those of Lion Of Judah, for example. Whether one agrees or not with what Prince says in Colonized Mind, I frankly prefer these kind of lyrics to the sex-party ones, repeated ad nauseam during his career.

NelsonR said:

this song is highly under-rated imo (apologies 2 those who dig it)

thoughts go 2 respect of sign o the times, colonised mind is in the same mind;

prince sincerity in speaking 2 reality

what about the guitar...surely some of his best, officially released solos are here.

his vocals (layered) with alto

respect to LotusFlower as a whole...I enjoyed it far more than 20ten

If u look, ur sho gonna find, throughout mankind's history, a colonised mind

(blind leading the blind?)

Interesting ... This photo gives the exact vision of that song ...

aiden said:

Agreed. I love how the left side of this track including drums has heaps of reverb (echo). This album is awesome and suffered from being part of a 3 disc set. When this leaked with Crimson & Clover I must admit it was the most excited I had been about Prince for over a decade. Massive thumbs up from me.

I know that some people have issues with the themes/messages of The Rainbow Children, but it seems as if, or when Prince chooses to deliberately be serious (as in tackling social issues) some of his best grooves come out. I could be wrong.

The Rainbow Children and LotusFlower side-step the commercial aspects, though a few tunes there could be said to be radio friendly.

Then again with LotusFlower, it could be the strong guitar presence. From Boom, to Crimson and Clover and Dreamer...his ax screams.

Dsoul said:

All time classic rip off is all. No sooner was Miriam Makeba dead then he released this copy of her song, just added his own horrible, ignorant lyrics into the mix:

i never heard this (original song) b4 & i'd be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed with prince.. but i loved colonized on first listen, his vocals, the guitar work is savage.. the lyrics don't bother me too much either, just prince being all angsty

DoffieParker said:

Dsoul said:

All time classic rip off is all. No sooner was Miriam Makeba dead then he released this copy of her song, just added his own horrible, ignorant lyrics into the mix:

i never heard this (original song) b4 & i'd be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed with prince.. but i loved colonized on first listen, his vocals, the guitar work is savage.. the lyrics don't bother me too much either, just prince being all angsty

Prince is a musical genius, with hundreds of songs he deserves credit for, this is not one of them.

proof that Prince still has it, too bad that he cannot release his new music properly anymore...

Dsoul said:

DoffieParker said:

i never heard this (original song) b4 & i'd be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed with prince.. but i loved colonized on first listen, his vocals, the guitar work is savage.. the lyrics don't bother me too much either, just prince being all angsty

Prince is a musical genius, with hundreds of songs he deserves credit for, this is not one of them.

Whoa, are you serious??? You really think there is really enough there to call this a rip off? The basic riff is damn similar, but that's because the basic riff isn't all that original. In fact it's very basic. The way the lyrics are sung (as well as the lyrics themselves) are totally different. In particular, the upload-download theme is particularly unique, not to mention the ending where the two songs aren't even romotely similar.

Those two songs are similar the way two reggae songs would be similar because they have the same basic riff. No rip off at all, and no homage either.

shayde said:

Dsoul said:

Prince is a musical genius, with hundreds of songs he deserves credit for, this is not one of them.

Whoa, are you serious??? You really think there is really enough there to call this a rip off? The basic riff is damn similar, but that's because the basic riff isn't all that original. In fact it's very basic. The way the lyrics are sung (as well as the lyrics themselves) are totally different. In particular, the upload-download theme is particularly unique, not to mention the ending where the two songs aren't even romotely similar.

Those two songs are similar the way two reggae songs would be similar because they have the same basic riff. No rip off at all, and no homage either.

Are you serious? Never encountered anyone who denies it being a ripoff before once they've heard the original.

It's not a similar riff as much as the same instrumental to a tee and to even deny he's heard Mariam's song? At 1.45 listen to the "no responsibility" line! Lifted as part of the upload/download response structure.

[Edited 4/9/11 7:03am]

Dsoul said:

shayde said:

Whoa, are you serious??? You really think there is really enough there to call this a rip off? The basic riff is damn similar, but that's because the basic riff isn't all that original. In fact it's very basic. The way the lyrics are sung (as well as the lyrics themselves) are totally different. In particular, the upload-download theme is particularly unique, not to mention the ending where the two songs aren't even romotely similar.

Those two songs are similar the way two reggae songs would be similar because they have the same basic riff. No rip off at all, and no homage either.

Are you serious? Never encountered anyone who denies it being a ripoff before once they've heard the original.

It's not a similar riff as much as the same instrumental to a tee and to even deny he's heard Mariam's song? At 1.45 listen to the "no responsibility" line! Lifted as part of the upload/download response structure.

[Edited 4/9/11 7:03am]

Oh this was an ear opener.
A clear rip off!!

The intro and the verses are similar, but not the chorus. He should have openly acknowledged it as an inspiration and credited the people behind the Makeba song as co-writers. It's also possible that he has bought the rights to use the song in any way he wants without having to credit anyone.