Enlarge Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Prince performing at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in 1985.

I was born in 1970, sprung from one of the most aspirational generations America has ever produced: The Hip-Hop Nation. With decades of rap music anthems dedicated to our fantastical transition from poverty to prosperity, we rarely celebrate our wealth without looking back on our meager beginnings. The American Dream, for us, always represents the possibility of success and affluence on our own terms — with a watchful eye toward our hardscrabble origins. Before Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wore his hoodie on the Nasdaq floor, my generation started the trend of storming corporate boardrooms in comfortable jeans and sneakers, redefining the visual style of American achievement. We are the Jay Gatsbys who, in a twist on Fitzgerald's classic, embrace both high society and our often-darker backgrounds.

But the tune that best represents my version of the American Dream isn't a hip-hop song at all. My pick is "Sign o' the Times," the spartan, apocalyptic electro-blues by Prince, certainly the most prolific all-around pop superstar of the 1980s. Prior to the song's début in February 1987, Prince recorded occasional political statements on his mainly sexual, hedonistic albums: "Ronnie, Talk to Russia," "Free," "America," even "1999." And long after his mainstream '80s fans stopped paying as much attention, Prince would continue, with songs like "Get On the Boat" (2006) and "Resolution" (2007). "Sign o' the Times," the singer-songwriter's subdued Reagan-era elegy, still represents the most spot-on American observations of his long-spanning career.

The through-line that makes "Sign o' the Times" an American Dream anthem for the Hip-Hop Nation is its honest glance at the nation's ills. Like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" of the Vietnam era, Prince's "Sign o' the Times" examines a litany of problems then plaguing the country. "In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name," Prince sings, mentioning AIDS — relatively new in the world at the time — in the very first line. "By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same," he continues, with a heroin allusion. The first verse ends with references to crack, machine guns and Chicago's Gangster Disciples gang.

However disconnected Prince may have looked in his high heels, fey wardrobe and chemically relaxed Afro, "Sign o' the Times" stated his continued concern for the community of his roots. The black community.

"It's silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly," Prince observes in the chorus, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986 still fresh in the nation's consciousness. "Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly, neighbors just shine it on," he sings, not about the George Lucas sci-fi trilogy, but Ronald Reagan's infamous Strategic Defense Initiative. "But if a night falls and a bomb falls, will anybody see the dawn?"

In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Sign o' the Times" one of the 500 greatest songs of all time (#304, specifically). Number one on the list belongs to Prince's fellow Minnesota-bred brethren Bob Dylan (for "Like a Rolling Stone") and though Prince and Dylan practice distinct styles of songwriting, they're both first-rate mouthpieces for their main audiences. The late Nina Simone sang "Sign o' the Times" for her final studio album, A Single Woman, with the same emotional heft as her famous Beatles and Dylan covers. Taking a page from the plainspoken blues tradition, Prince even seems to channel funk forebear Sly Stone in crafting his dark observation of the American landscape. Still, by song's end, he's optimistically falling in love, getting married and having a baby. "We'll call him Nate, if it's a boy," he promises.

Leaning towards optimism, Prince turns what some might consider a nightmare into an ultimately hopeful, lucid American dream.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/06/14/154848630/my-american-dream-sounds-like-prince?ps=mh_frhdl1

I just checked this on NPR. Definitely a good fit in their series on the American Dream. If there were a Prince song that embodied my idea of the American Dream, I will have to think about that...

I would have to give my vote to Mountains...

Once upon a time in a land called Fantasy
17 mountains stood so high
The sea surrounded them and 2gether they would be
The only thing that ever made U cry

U said the devil told U that another mountain would appear
Every time somebody broke your heart
He said the sea would one day overflow with all your tears
And love will always leave U lonely

CHORUS:
But I say it's only mountains and the sea
Love will conquer if U just believe (Oh yeah!)
It's only mountains and the sea
There's nothing greater (oh), U and me

Once upon a time in a haystack of despair
Happiness is sometime hard 2 find there
Africa divided, hijack in the air
It's enough 2 make U wanna lose your mind

CHORUS

Guitars and drums on the 1, huh
(Bobby on the drum-ah)
Yeah!

It's only mountains (oh yeah) and the sea
(And the girls say)
There's nothing greater (oh), U and me

(Starvation)
Ow!

Mountains , uh

I always thought he was saying Salvation there at the end, but I guess it's Starvation?

I'm glad I clicked on this thread - it was a very nice, thoughtful piece.

I'll have to think about which song/artist best conveys my own American Dream. Interesting.

I like NPR news programing, even in all it's cheesy cultural story glory, but they should tone it down just a tad when it comes to culture. Most, if not all of their culture pieces are as cheesy as this one. I know, I listen to NPR to and from work. And it's cool and all, but whenever someone starts talking about whatever the hell is a Hip-Hop Nation is, like it's something we should all know about, it is so cringe-worthy your face stays mushed up till mid-day next Tuesday sometimes.

But at least it wasn't long winded. Lately NPR with heat over reporting news in a manner that upsets certain politicians has instead filled airtime with more than the usual inane long-winded "first person" reporting. It makes me want to send back my mug and tote bags. NPR, like FOX News and most news programs should try and stick basic news first. When they can get that righ,t maybe they can move on beyond that.

Anyhow, it's always cool to see Prince get the props he deserves.

[Edited 6/16/12 7:26am]

ARock said:

Enlarge Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Prince performing at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in 1985.

I was born in 1970, sprung from one of the most aspirational generations America has ever produced: The Hip-Hop Nation. With decades of rap music anthems dedicated to our fantastical transition from poverty to prosperity, we rarely celebrate our wealth without looking back on our meager beginnings. The American Dream, for us, always represents the possibility of success and affluence on our own terms — with a watchful eye toward our hardscrabble origins. Before Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wore his hoodie on the Nasdaq floor, my generation started the trend of storming corporate boardrooms in comfortable jeans and sneakers, redefining the visual style of American achievement. We are the Jay Gatsbys who, in a twist on Fitzgerald's classic, embrace both high society and our often-darker backgrounds.

Tell Us What Your America...ounds Like

But the tune that best represents my version of the American Dream isn't a hip-hop song at all. My pick is "Sign o' the Times," the spartan, apocalyptic electro-blues by Prince, certainly the most prolific all-around pop superstar of the 1980s. Prior to the song's début in February 1987, Prince recorded occasional political statements on his mainly sexual, hedonistic albums: "Ronnie, Talk to Russia," "Free," "America," even "1999." And long after his mainstream '80s fans stopped paying as much attention, Prince would continue, with songs like "Get On the Boat" (2006) and "Resolution" (2007). "Sign o' the Times," the singer-songwriter's subdued Reagan-era elegy, still represents the most spot-on American observations of his long-spanning career.

The through-line that makes "Sign o' the Times" an American Dream anthem for the Hip-Hop Nation is its honest glance at the nation's ills. Like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" of the Vietnam era, Prince's "Sign o' the Times" examines a litany of problems then plaguing the country. "In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name," Prince sings, mentioning AIDS — relatively new in the world at the time — in the very first line. "By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same," he continues, with a heroin allusion. The first verse ends with references to crack, machine guns and Chicago's Gangster Disciples gang.

However disconnected Prince may have looked in his high heels, fey wardrobe and chemically relaxed Afro, "Sign o' the Times" stated his continued concern for the community of his roots. The black community.

"It's silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly," Prince observes in the chorus, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986 still fresh in the nation's consciousness. "Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly, neighbors just shine it on," he sings, not about the George Lucas sci-fi trilogy, but Ronald Reagan's infamous Strategic Defense Initiative. "But if a night falls and a bomb falls, will anybody see the dawn?"

In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Sign o' the Times" one of the 500 greatest songs of all time (#304, specifically). Number one on the list belongs to Prince's fellow Minnesota-bred brethren Bob Dylan (for "Like a Rolling Stone") and though Prince and Dylan practice distinct styles of songwriting, they're both first-rate mouthpieces for their main audiences. The late Nina Simone sang "Sign o' the Times" for her final studio album, A Single Woman, with the same emotional heft as her famous Beatles and Dylan covers. Taking a page from the plainspoken blues tradition, Prince even seems to channel funk forebear Sly Stone in crafting his dark observation of the American landscape. Still, by song's end, he's optimistically falling in love, getting married and having a baby. "We'll call him Nate, if it's a boy," he promises.

Leaning towards optimism, Prince turns what some might consider a nightmare into an ultimately hopeful, lucid American dream.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/06/14/154848630/my-american-dream-sounds-like-prince?ps=mh_frhdl1

Sorry, but he needed to walk into MacDonalds and eat a whole lot of burgers w/ tons of fries on the side and wash it down w/many shakes