'Wow' is nothing short of superb. The chorus never fails to bring a smile to my face. The guitar makes me want to stand up and kiss someone.

Liz Warfield's vocal pyrotechnics may dazzle, but her performance leaves me empty. There's no sincerity in her voice. She also seems to be backed by some creaky sounding country band. Prince's delivery is on a whole other level and fits snuggly within 3rdEyeGirl's instrumentation. It's sheer ear candy.

To me, this is no love song. He's talking directly to us.

Hello. How are you?
You're lookin' so fine. No, it's true.
Remember the time we first met?
You think that was good?
You ain't seen nothin' yet.

(I remember. It was 1984. But we fell out in the early nineties.)

Like a bee to some honey; a moth to a flame.
You got an addiction and you got me to blame.
You never saw it coming 'cause I make no claims 'til now
You can call it the unexpected or you can call it... wow!
You can call it call it... wow!
You can call it call it call it... wow!
You can call it the unexpected or you can call it call it call it call it...

(I'm addicted. I hate myself for it sometimes. But I can't let your music go. I'd always hoped for some kind of return, but this is certainly unexpected.)

Sorry, I don't know what came over me.
The cycle of the moon affects the motion of the see what you did.
It's starting all over again.
We both want it now more than we did back then.

(I don't know if it's starting all over again. I can't help but doubt it. I'm older and far more cynical. But, yes, I want it more than ever.)

Gimme a minute.
Let me get myself together.
I'm never really out of control.
Really, I'm so much better.
Maybe it's your eyes, your stare lookin' like...
Lookin' like you wanna go somewhere.
You wanna go somewhere?

Something about the wild in me; it's never tame.
I think we're both alike; this is how we became.

(I don't want to think about what we became. But if you can get yourself together, if you really are better, let's go somewhere new together.)

Wow!

The funny thing is that Prince actually sounds way more country now than ever before on quite some of his songs if you listen to the arrangement, the hook, melody etc... if he'd change the overall sound and put some southern drawl on his vocals, it'd sound like country pop rock. You could also hear it on songs like Rock N Roll Love Affair. It's how he is wrapping it with the sound, the funky performance etc that is making people not hearing his country influences. I'm no country head, but I sure can hear that there's some of it there.

Wow sounds country? haha really?

To my ears it sounds like Prince meets Black Sabbath with a dose of Cream and Grand Funk Railroad.

I keep thinking that the 'Hello. How are you?' is not only directly to the listener, it's also a direct reference to Purple Rain, in that those are the first words of the backwards, spoken-word section at the end of Darling Nikki.

I'm probably reading too much into it.

thebanishedone said:

Wow sounds country? haha really?

To my ears it sounds like Prince meets Black Sabbath with a dose of Cream and Grand Funk Railroad.

that is no bad thing

Rimshottbob said:

I keep thinking that the 'Hello. How are you?' is not only directly to the listener, it's also a direct reference to Purple Rain, in that those are the first words of the backwards, spoken-word section at the end of Darling Nikki.

I'm probably reading too much into it.

I like that idea, but wasn't it written by Liv Warfield?

Dandroppedadime said:

Rimshottbob said:

I keep thinking that the 'Hello. How are you?' is not only directly to the listener, it's also a direct reference to Purple Rain, in that those are the first words of the backwards, spoken-word section at the end of Darling Nikki.

I'm probably reading too much into it.

I like that idea, but wasn't it written by Liv Warfield?

From princevault.com:

Replica said:

The funny thing is that Prince actually sounds way more country now than ever before on quite some of his songs if you listen to the arrangement, the hook, melody etc... if he'd change the overall sound and put some southern drawl on his vocals, it'd sound like country pop rock. You could also hear it on songs like Rock N Roll Love Affair. It's how he is wrapping it with the sound, the funky performance etc that is making people not hearing his country influences. I'm no country head, but I sure can hear that there's some of it there.

.

I thought this same thing about The One U Wanna C! That SO could have been a country-pop single. I think someone should cover it and pay me a 10% finder's fee.

there's a great country version of Take Me With U (sorry can't remember the artist - it's from the Austin Does Prince album)

Prince has been influenced buy country since way back.

Dandroppedadime said:

there's a great country version of Take Me With U (sorry can't remember the artist - it's from the Austin Does Prince album)

Prince has been influenced buy country since way back.

Cool. And I wasn't even aware of that album.

As long as it's the Johnny Cash brand of country, he gets a pass from me. I'm just happy he wasn't singing over Liz Warfield's band, which butchers the song to my ears.

I'm finding all the references to other genres and artists pretty dull these days. Everything influences everything. It's just that, on occasion, Prince wears his influences on his sleeve when he'd be better off tucking them discreetly in his pocket. I just try to listen to each song for what it is and not worry about categorising him.

Rimshottbob said:

I keep thinking that the 'Hello. How are you?' is not only directly to the listener, it's also a direct reference to Purple Rain, in that those are the first words of the backwards, spoken-word section at the end of Darling Nikki.

I'm probably reading too much into it.

Exactly. He didn't wake up 45 years in the future. He fell asleep when listening to Darling Nikki at some point in the mid-nineties. He's been sleepwalking ever since, but it seems that he might be awake again. I'll enjoy the moment.