I love the song , but i dont understand it what so ever...please help!!!

it is about oh... 5 minutes

It's about the hypnotic quality of love - and how you don't always have to be searching for something new once you've found it.

I like Genesia's take on it ...

I have always found "joy" to be a very poetic song .

Mysterious ... yet revealing ...

about the simplicity of life ... when it all boils down to "love" ...

he talks about her repeating 2 words ... (seemingly "fuck me" ... )

and then it turns out to be "love me" ....

which says alot about my dirty mind ...

Genesia said:

It's about the hypnotic quality of love - and how you don't always have to be searching for something new once you've found it.

Its about wanting to repeatedly re-live the magic moments of Love that you enjoy,

ie. example you keep kissing, you are enjoying the repetition of kissing each time and savouring it. In the songs case, its about the joy of holding someone...

[Edited 5/20/11 15:10pm]

Definitely too many civilized answers in this thread?!

Not only Prince is getting old as it seems!

It's a good love story,

How she repeats "love me" is how I feel oftentimes,

And the sound of the words and the music, it's just enchanting, guitar is sooo good, his voice depicts the emotion of the song. I don't think I'm making sense here, however, maybe you understand.

It's my favorite song. It's on replay often

ufoclub said:

It is about the terrible eternal longing for love, for her, and him. They are both lonely and unfulfilled at the end and reduced to a mantra. Her pleading "love me" and him screaming "why can't you love me?" as he seems to be reduced to a mantra of frustration and passion. I wouldn't say this is a happy song. It's a scary song.

Beautiful interpretation. And my experience uptill now with love is exactly what you describe. Not being able to meet eachoter need for love and not hearing or understanding eachother.

For me it still is a good love story, in the way that it represents love in a good way.

It's about the fact there is "joy" in "repetition"

eireboy34 said:

It's about the fact there is "joy" in "repetition"

Yes, however, to me it's not only about the physical side of love. It's also the need and longing for the heart love, I think.

Genesia said:

It's about the hypnotic quality of love - and how you don't always have to be searching for something new once you've found it.

beautiful answer.

ufoclub said:

It is about the terrible eternal longing for love, for her, and him. They are both lonely and unfulfilled at the end and reduced to a mantra. Her pleading "love me" and him screaming "why can't you love me?" as he seems to be reduced to a mantra of frustration and passion. I wouldn't say this is a happy song. It's a scary song.

so where is the joy in repetition in all this?

veronikka said:

ufoclub said:

It is about the terrible eternal longing for love, for her, and him. They are both lonely and unfulfilled at the end and reduced to a mantra. Her pleading "love me" and him screaming "why can't you love me?" as he seems to be reduced to a mantra of frustration and passion. I wouldn't say this is a happy song. It's a scary song.

so where is the joy in repetition in all this?

The joy could be the drive for an endless cycle of relationships or love, to hope for one over and over again.

"Holding someone is truly believing, there's joy in repetition"

Take the tone of the music (slow voodoo like atmosphere) and the actual words that are said at the end ("Why can't you love me? Come on and love me!"), this is a song that might be about trying over and over again, the joy is seemingly a spell-like, possibly tragic thing. It's more like addiction. So the use of the word "joy" might be the same as saying there's joy in heroin addiction.

But of course only Prince knows for sure what it means to him.

It's about getting porked.

ufoclub said:

veronikka said:

so where is the joy in repetition in all this?

The joy could be the drive for an endless cycle of relationships or love, to hope for one over and over again.

"Holding someone is truly believing, there's joy in repetition"

Take the tone of the music (slow voodoo like atmosphere) and the actual words that are said at the end ("Why can't you love me? Come on and love me!"), this is a song that might be about trying over and over again, the joy is seemingly a spell-like, possibly tragic thing. It's more like addiction. So the use of the word "joy" might be the same as saying there's joy in heroin addiction.

But of course only Prince knows for sure what it means to him.

Yes, I think you've nailed it by bringing up the aspect of an endless cycle and comparing it to an addiction. I tried to write a similar response, but couldn't come up with as good an explanation as you did.

It's certainly not about "joy" in some simplistic, one-dimensional sense. Prince's vocals at the end of the track should be a direct indication of that. The performance conveys a strong sense of despair and even suffering. I'd like to know what he was reading at the time, because the idea and especially the title of the song ("joy in repetition") seem to reflect several central psychoanalytic ideas. I doubt Prince was really gettin' his Freud on at the time, but perhaps he was into something else that employed those thoughts.

to become as good a musician as prince in there is endles endless repetition. the mechanical physical practice of mastering the music....the end musical product being his ultimate expression of joy, all kinds of emotion and thought...connected to the attempt at mastering the human condition of love....

'Holding someone is truly believing there's joy in repetition.'

there's a wonderful hypnotic deep meditative state one can enter when you're in a state of repetition. it's blissful if you're in love with whatever or whoever you're doing....

at least that's what i think it means.

keep at it until you get it right ?

novabrkr said:

ufoclub said:

The joy could be the drive for an endless cycle of relationships or love, to hope for one over and over again.

"Holding someone is truly believing, there's joy in repetition"

Take the tone of the music (slow voodoo like atmosphere) and the actual words that are said at the end ("Why can't you love me? Come on and love me!"), this is a song that might be about trying over and over again, the joy is seemingly a spell-like, possibly tragic thing. It's more like addiction. So the use of the word "joy" might be the same as saying there's joy in heroin addiction.

But of course only Prince knows for sure what it means to him.

Yes, I think you've nailed it by bringing up the aspect of an endless cycle and comparing it to an addiction. I tried to write a similar response, but couldn't come up with as good an explanation as you did.

It's certainly not about "joy" in some simplistic, one-dimensional sense. Prince's vocals at the end of the track should be a direct indication of that. The performance conveys a strong sense of despair and even suffering. I'd like to know what he was reading at the time, because the idea and especially the title of the song ("joy in repetition") seem to reflect several central psychoanalytic ideas. I doubt Prince was really gettin' his Freud on at the time, but perhaps he was into something else that employed those thoughts.

Well, he was going through a really rough time, by most accounts, with Susannah at the time of this recording.

It's about going into a seedy bar in a bad part of town and seeing some chick that you dig then you throw her over your shoulder and run out the back door into an alley and get y'all freakinastinessexing on! It's very poetic!

Definitely a personal favorite of mine, Joy In Repetition. like many 'mysterious' Prince songs, is open to a myriad of interpretations. For me, it is a song about a woman whose plaintive wail of Love Me resonates and captivates a man who, like everyone else in the bar, had overlooked and underappreciated her.

This woman, so desperate, so longing for love, screams out for someone, anyone, to love her. It is a cry for unconditional love. And this man, who wasn't necessarily searching for her, hears her. He understands her. He apparently wants someone to love and she needs to be loved.

As far as the meaning of the title, I think it also can be interpreted in a number of ways. For me, the Joy In Repetition is that she is perfectly happy and content only crying to be loved. How does the line go - 'no one was watching her and she didn't seem to care'? There can be joy in pain, joy in longing, joy in repeated heartfelt angst. It's great song for anyone who just wants to be 'loved'.

Spinlight said:

Well, he was going through a really rough time, by most accounts, with Susannah at the time of this recording.

Yup, very much a part of those legendary 1986 sessions. "The Cross", "Sign O' The Times", "Joy In Repetition", "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" and "Everybody Wants What They Don't Got" were all done within the same week, mid July 1986.

This week commenced just 8 days after the theatrical release of "Under The Cherry Moon" and it would have been quite clear at that point that the movie was not getting the reception that Prince wanted.... to put it lightly. No doubt he was very frustrated in many ways at the time and this spurred the creation of some of his most inspired work.

Creeeeepy... this song came up on shuffle just as I was reading this.

It's about dish soap.

ufoclub said:

It is about the terrible eternal longing for love, for her, and him. They are both lonely and unfulfilled at the end and reduced to a mantra. Her pleading "love me" and him screaming "why can't you love me?" as he seems to be reduced to a mantra of frustration and passion. I wouldn't say this is a happy song. It's a scary song.

very interesting observation, this song (and also couple other of my favs) joins those two seemingly opposites: love and frustration / lust and desperation / companionship and lonliness in ONE song. This is the unbalancing part. There is tons of songwriting on one OR the other subject line. Prince combines them in a very tricky way, where there is only a thin line between those two extremes.

Computer Blue is kind of like this, rollercoasting almost like an opera from the full spectrum of emotions, the killer example for me is the end of the guitar solo where the high note goes from crying (sad) to screaming (mad) although it´s the same note, just the way he plays and places it. Spooky but geniously arranged. If you listen to the Long Version of She is always in my hair or pay close attention to the lyrics (maybe I marry her, maybe not, maybe I will not be lost...) you will also find those opposites again.

I like Joy in Repetition also for the unique lyrics and hypnotic chords. The song is almost like you keep listening to a story because you really want to hear the end.

eyewishuheaven said:

Creeeeepy... this song came up on shuffle just as I was reading this.

It's about dish soap.

Well now we know!

I love all the responses, what you all felt and think from this song.

In the end eyewishuheaven nailed it.

It allways has been one of my favourites, after all these interpretations, song is in my top 3.

If you love enough, it just might catch on.