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What war? Dude was seriously obsessed with war for a period in the early '80s. Case in point:
'80 - "Party Up" - "You're gonna have to fight your own damn war, 'cuz we don't wanna fight no more"
'81 - "Do Me, Baby" - "I'm not gonna stop until the war is over"
'82 - "1999" - "War is all around us, my mind says prepare to fight"
WTF war is he referring to? The Cold War? The Afghan War? Is it a Gemini thing? Any insight? | |
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Cold war.
See: "Ronnie Talk To Russia" | |
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See, that's what I thought. But there wasn't much in the way of action in the Cold War, hence it's name.
Were the lyrics to "Party Up" just some shit to say?
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Well, I don't think he wrote "Partyup" - I don't think its been clarified what of the song was written by Morris.
But beyond the cold war, which he directly influences references, I think he's always been pretty aware of conflicts in the world. See the mentions of other conflicts in stuff like "Mountains" and "Crystal Ball"... Not American wars, but wars in general.
Edit: -ences edit [Edited 5/10/11 11:55am] | |
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This was during the Cold War when people were paranoid about a nuclear strike any minute...this idea has influenced many Prince songs, including 1999.
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Yeah Morris co-wrote "Partyup". | |
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He already mentioned 1999. | |
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oh yes . its just a gemini thing.
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You must be young enough not to have lived through nuclear paranoia.
Lucky soul!
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The effects of the doctor's gravity on my baby when she was born was much more powerful than any planet or star. Astronomy is bullshit. If Prince is exhibiting gemini-like tendencies, it's probably because he's a little schizo. That is all.
As a child of the 1980s, I can tell you that war, (especially nuclear war) was on EVERYONE'S mind. It was everywhere. | |
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If you want to get a taste of how serious it was, I think Sting's song "Russians" sums it up better than any other song I've heard about the subject. Why couldn't Prince write something truly insightful like that? | |
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There were tremendous attrocities being committed against the people of Central America during this time by U.S. backed right-wing military forces. It went on through most of the 80s. 70,000 were killed in El Salvador alone. | |
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don't forget the vietnam conflict started in 1955, three years before he was born. i' sure he remembers the draft that started in 1969 with post-draft registration again required in 1980. i do, i was born in 1957. we grew up in a time of war with dads, brothers, uncles, cousins , friends all going off to war. i remember moments of silence all though high school for students lost in the war that were on the football field the year before. it was a reality for us with saigon falling in april of 1975, cambodia from 1975 to 1980, and the lebanese cilvil war which also started in '75. combine that with the decades long cold war, prince wasn't obsessed just conscious of our reality. so take your pick, there was plenty to go around. | |
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There are wars occurring all over the globe at any time. Iran-Iraq war comes to mind as well. | |
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Prince would be largely if not completely unaware of this. Ronnie Talk To Russia is proof of his ignorance. | |
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The War 4 your mind, body and SOUL. | |
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Don't know if you are being sarcastic here, but the second verse od Ronnie talk to Russia is "We go to the zoo but we don't feed guerrillas, don't feed guerrillas, left wing guerrillas..." That is not "gorillas"....Ok steakfinger, I see what you do, I see what you do. Almost had me. | |
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I doubt Ronald Reagan or Osama Bin Laden can possess someone's soul, babe. | |
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co-sign... | |
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There's not been that many years in it's entire history where the USA has not been shooting at someone, somewhere.
Just saying. | |
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Stories about El Salvador and Nicaragua were all over the papers, on a front-page basis, until the run-up to Reagan's 2nd term. Then the whole thing went more or less underground, culminating in the revelation of the Iran-Contra scandal and the report of U.S. peace activists getting killed by U.S. backed mercenaries in El Salvador in the late 80s.
It's also worth mentioning that the Vietnam war ended less than 10 years before these songs -- the war was well within the memories of most at that time. And most folks knew Ronnie was no peacenik. | |
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Right. I don't know what he meant by that, but it's a safe bet he was referring to Central America at the time. | |
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Spinlight said:
Well, I don't think he wrote "Partyup" - I don't think its been clarified what of the song was written by Morris.
But beyond the cold war, which he directly influences references, I think he's always been pretty aware of conflicts in the world. See the mentions of other conflicts in stuff like "Mountains" and "Crystal Ball"... Not American wars, but wars in general.
Edit: -ences edit [Edited 5/10/11 11:55am] So possibly just referring to war in general? That would make the most sense. I just found it odd that for three years in a row he had made mention of it. LOL @ "ences-edit" | |
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bobzilla77 said: You must be young enough not to have lived through nuclear paranoia.
Lucky soul!
Umm, not so. I was, however, a lucky soul in the way that I didn't live WITH that paranoia in my crib. At 7 years old, I really wasn't concerning myself with socio-political events. | |
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steakfinger said:
The effects of the doctor's gravity on my baby when she was born was much more powerful than any planet or star. Astronomy is bullshit. If Prince is exhibiting gemini-like tendencies, it's probably because he's a little schizo. That is all.
As a child of the 1980s, I can tell you that war, (especially nuclear war) was on EVERYONE'S mind. It was everywhere. See above. | |
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mplsmike said:
Hence the gemeni question. | |
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sterling said:
don't forget the vietnam conflict started in 1955, three years before he was born. i' sure he remembers the draft that started in 1969 with post-draft registration again required in 1980. i do, i was born in 1957. we grew up in a time of war with dads, brothers, uncles, cousins , friends all going off to war. i remember moments of silence all though high school for students lost in the war that were on the football field the year before. it was a reality for us with saigon falling in april of 1975, cambodia from 1975 to 1980, and the lebanese cilvil war which also started in '75. combine that with the decades long cold war, prince wasn't obsessed just conscious of our reality. so take your pick, there was plenty to go around. Right. I get that. But my OP had a more specific question wherein I wanted to know what conflict(s) he was on about. The ones mentioned (other than the Red Scare) really had nothing to do with him in his little purple bubble. | |
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Spinlight said:
I doubt Ronald Reagan or Osama Bin Laden can possess someone's soul, babe. Does the Taliban count? They worship that fool. | |
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Marrk said: There's not been that many years in it's entire history where the USA has not been shooting at someone, somewhere.
Just saying. No, I hear you. I'M just saying P was singing like he was the frontline and shit. | |
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