Anyone know what he's talking about from the song White Mansion?

MY TAKE: After I recently read about George Clinton selling his publishing rights to Armen Boladian, it gots me to thinking is it a reference to that situation?

Or is it something completely different?

Bo Jackson I think was his name-great sports guy who did alotta commercials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Jackson

[Edited 3/5/12 13:50pm]

and yes it's about his publishing rights Love the song.

Dandroppedadime said:

Anyone know what he's talking about from the song White Mansion?

MY TAKE: After I recently read about George Clinton selling his publishing rights to Armen Boladian, it gots me to thinking is it a reference to that situation?

Or is it something completely different?

At the time the song was written, there was a national television ad campaign for Nike, featuring Bo Jackson, based on the slogan, "Bo Knows..."

So when Prince sang...

Sell my publishing what a laugh

I don't know Bo but I do know math

it was a reference to that ad campaign.

Thanks for the info. As I live in UK it wouldn't of meant anything to me.

^ You're welcome.

Dandroppedadime said:

Thanks for the info. As I live in UK it wouldn't of meant anything to me.

I live in the UK but did know about the ads. Don't ask me how though because I'm really not sure

Dandroppedadime said:

Anyone know what he's talking about from the song White Mansion?

MY TAKE: After I recently read about George Clinton selling his publishing rights to Armen Boladian, it gots me to thinking is it a reference to that situation?

Or is it something completely different?

It's a reference to Bo Jackson and his "Bo Knows" Nike commercials.

nursev said:

and yes it's about his publishing rights Love the song.

to me there wasn't much on Emancipation to like but white mansion was one of the gems..

Genesia said:

Dandroppedadime said:

Anyone know what he's talking about from the song White Mansion?

MY TAKE: After I recently read about George Clinton selling his publishing rights to Armen Boladian, it gots me to thinking is it a reference to that situation?

Or is it something completely different?

At the time the song was written, there was a national television ad campaign for Nike, featuring Bo Jackson, based on the slogan, "Bo Knows..."

So when Prince sang...

Sell my publishing what a laugh

I don't know Bo but I do know math

it was a reference to that ad campaign.

^^ You must have a copy of this answer on file, so you can quickly insert the post whenever this thread/question comes up! I could have sworn this was the same thread from a few months ago (was wondering how it could still be active) and that you answered exactly this on that previous one.

Wonder how far into 2012 we'll get before the inevitable "what songs for my wedding?" "how did P & Mayte's baby die?" and "P dressed like Bryant Gumbel."

Genesia said:

Dandroppedadime said:

Anyone know what he's talking about from the song White Mansion?

MY TAKE: After I recently read about George Clinton selling his publishing rights to Armen Boladian, it gots me to thinking is it a reference to that situation?

Or is it something completely different?

At the time the song was written, there was a national television ad campaign for Nike, featuring Bo Jackson, based on the slogan, "Bo Knows..."

So when Prince sang...

Sell my publishing what a laugh

I don't know Bo but I do know math

it was a reference to that ad campaign.

Wow! U just solved a 15 years-old mystery (it was one to me at least!!!). Thanks

databank said:

Genesia said:

At the time the song was written, there was a national television ad campaign for Nike, featuring Bo Jackson, based on the slogan, "Bo Knows..."

So when Prince sang...

Sell my publishing what a laugh

I don't know Bo but I do know math

it was a reference to that ad campaign.

Wow! U just solved a 15 years-old mystery (it was one to me at least!!!). Thanks

Its not quite true to say that the song was written at the time of the ad campaign - from what I can gather, the ad campaign predates the song by about a decade!

The phrase "You don't know Bo Diddley" had become well-used by the time Prince wrote White Mansion and had originated from a very old phrase, "You don't know diddley-squat". Its a clever play on words by the advertisers, as they had both Bo Jackson and Bo Diddley, so they altered the phrase to "Bo, you don't know diddley", referencing both of the Bo characters and the old pharse. This embedded itself in popular culture and now few people seem to use the original phrase and instead will say either "You don't know Bo Diddley" or just "You don't know Diddley". Prince took it a stage further and changed it to "I don't know Bo".

And, yes, it is a reference to his publishing. A lot of artists have been fooled in to selling their publishing rights, which often turns out worse for the artist. Prince is better off constantly receiving a revenue stream from his publishing, rather than selling the rights for a one-off lump sum and he knows it - hence "I don't know Bo, but I do know math".

lezama said:

nursev said:

and yes it's about his publishing rights Love the song.

to me there wasn't much on Emancipation to like but white mansion was one of the gems..

agreed