His lyrical content in the 80's was magical. Full of lust, sex, spirituality, hyperbole, imagery, mystical metaphors...

Then the 90's came, had some great songs, but never really captured the same lyrical content he once had... Since the 2000's I can't really think of a song that had a strong lyrical content from his songs in the 80's... It seems while some of the music of different time periods in the 90's was some what semi consistant especially the 93-94 era... I feel his lyrical content wasn't and hasn't been so for many years... Even the lyrical content on the Batman album is so much more sophisticated on songs like Vicki Waiting then most of his work in the 90's...

Belive it or not, even though I know this isn't a loved song on the org... I feel Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance was a really creative in a lyrical sense, different, quirky, even dare I say brilliant for the standards of his music in the 2000's... Reminded me of his 80's works.

NorthC said:

^I agree, that one was funny! Off the same album, Call My Name has some good lines too. (Just can't stop writing songs about U) and Dear Mr. Man is also good. And drinking champagne from a glass with chocolate handles on 3121... No, I don't think he's lost his touch, just that he's not trying very hard anymore.

Depends what you compare it to I guess... Even the songs that aren't that loved here, for example, Temptation... Is it one of his strong songs from the 80's... No... But the lyrical content of a song like Temptation surpasses most of his works from the 90's and beyond just in terms of lyrical creativity...

Oh, he's just all about the groove nowadays....

or...at least it's assumed........

I think on every album he has some strong lyrical content. You look at Purple Rain as far as lyrics go Purple Rain, The Beautiful Ones, Darling Nikki and When Doves Cry are the only ones whose lyrics stand out to me. They are creative, thought provoking and Nikki is one hell of a story! If you look at Musicology (since it was brought up) I think Illusion, Dear Mr. Man (lyrically probably Prince's best political song), The Man In Your Life/Marrying Kind lyrics are better than Baby I'm A Star, Let's Go Crazy or Take Me With U. Not saying the Musicology songs are better than those musically but lyrically they are.

Lyrical content has been a mix bag for the last 9 years or so. Sometimes great, to okay, to just plain cringe worthy. I think Prince's muse sex has been avoided do to religous restraints. He doesn't have to talk about sex, but he can use sex as his muse to create more interesting lyrics and music.

He grew up. It happens to every artist.

RodeoSchro said:

You know who else has lyrics that are nowhere as great as when they first hit the scene decades ago?

Everyone. No one is writing better lyrics than they used to. For sure, Prince's lyrics are less inventive and compelling than back in the day, but he's been at it forever and like everyone else with a 30 year + career plus the utter lack of any lyrical supertalent out there in 2015, you have to put things in perspective.

Songs simply are not as much about lyrics as they used to and this says more about us than it does about artists, which only reflects our times

feeluupp said:

His lyrical content in the 80's was magical. Full of lust, sex, spirituality, hyperbole, imagery, mystical metaphors...

Then the 90's came, had some great songs, but never really captured the same lyrical content he once had... Since the 2000's I can't really think of a song that had a strong lyrical content from his songs in the 80's... It seems while some of the music of different time periods in the 90's was some what semi consistant especially the 93-94 era... I feel his lyrical content wasn't and hasn't been so for many years... Even the lyrical content on the Batman album is so much more sophisticated on songs like Vicki Waiting then most of his work in the 90's...

"Money don't matter", instantly shows a more mature and politically aware Prince. It's not Bob Dylan - but from the guy who had his guitar wired for on stage ejaculations... it was pretty deep. Insatiable makes most peoples top 5 Prince ballads. Also on the same album 2 of his biggest pop hits. This continued...

C&D is pretty weak in terms of writing, but that was kind of the point. Emancipation is fairly solid overall. "My Computer" is a song about internet dating in 1996... Maybe once he realized he could do more with the internet than just music... i.e. get women. That would account for the next 20 years.... He was still experimenting lyrically, and at the same time delivering more solid songs "Somebody's Somebody" etc.

The Truth - pretty much all these songs are lyrically great. No catchy pop hits, but a strong argument to be had that this is his best album, based on lyrical content.

The clunky lyrics tend to be in his go nowhere party songs, because as everyone knows, you can't write a funk song without using the word "jam" at least 3 times. I'd concede that the ballads suffered somewhat too since he began to lean more towards traditional RnB ballads rather than his own salatious take on RnB.

I believe he's gotten old, and immune.

Not old only in the number of years but that he can't have his heart broken ever again.

He can still play his guitar better than ever and make an interesting variation of an older song (LRC) but when it comes to writing the lyrics I don't know what would or could inspire him these days.

We still buy every new release but are taking more of a listen to some older albums that we didn't rave about so much upon release (Emancipation Rave, CB) in search of those lyrics.

Aerogram said:

You know who else has lyrics that are nowhere as great as when they first hit the scene decades ago?

Everyone. No one is writing better lyrics than they used to. For sure, Prince's lyrics are less inventive and compelling than back in the day, but he's been at it forever and like everyone else with a 30 year + career plus the utter lack of any lyrical supertalent out there in 2015, you have to put things in perspective.

Songs simply are not as much about lyrics as they used to and this says more about us than it does about artists, which only reflects our times

No offense, but this post is too heavily biased towards Prince.

Lots of people aren't writing lyrics as good as they did in their heydey, but their lyrics are better than Prince's. Prince's lyrics are honestly so juvenile and corny in a bad way, and have been since Musicology. AOA's lyrics aren't all that bad, a little refreshing after the crud of the 21st century... and this coming from someone who didn't even like AOA. Prince's immature lyrics don't even begin to compare to peers such as Bruce Springsteen (whose latest CD is really good).

And "lack of lyrical supertalent"? Yeah, if you're judging by pop tarts like Katy and Kesha. But there's a lot of talented bands and artists today who are writing compelling, great songs that aren't half as shitty as Prince's "make this woman screaaaam" (I like the song, but come on..).

Again, your last sentence is true only in regards to mainstream pop music. There's a lot of acts out there with great lyrics.

Then again, AOA showed a little improvement from pompous shit like 20Ten, so who knows where he's going?

NorthC said:

RodeoSchro said:

He grew up. It happens to every artist.

I sooooo wish I could agree with that. That Prince in his fifties would write songs about growing up, living and loving as opposed to "Oh, I'm so cool!" or "Let's take all the guns away" or "I'm gonna make this woman scream!". I really wish you were right and Prince would make an album like Bob Dylan's Tempest or Solomon Burke's Don't Give Up on Me. I know he has it in him, he has the talent and talent never dies, but so far, he hasn't. [Edited 8/5/15 14:38pm] [Edited 8/5/15 14:40pm]

and these are recent songs... the songs he released from 2000-2010 contained worse.

he said this was a FUN album....

KingSausage said:

CharismaDove said:

Aerogram said:

You know who else has lyrics that are nowhere as great as when they first hit the scene decades ago?

Everyone. No one is writing better lyrics than they used to. For sure, Prince's lyrics are less inventive and compelling than back in the day, but he's been at it forever and like everyone else with a 30 year + career plus the utter lack of any lyrical supertalent out there in 2015, you have to put things in perspective.

Songs simply are not as much about lyrics as they used to and this says more about us than it does about artists, which only reflects our times

No offense, but this post is too heavily biased towards Prince.

Lots of people aren't writing lyrics as good as they did in their heydey, but their lyrics are better than Prince's. Prince's lyrics are honestly so juvenile and corny in a bad way, and have been since Musicology. AOA's lyrics aren't all that bad, a little refreshing after the crud of the 21st century... and this coming from someone who didn't even like AOA. Prince's immature lyrics don't even begin to compare to peers such as Bruce Springsteen (whose latest CD is really good).

And "lack of lyrical supertalent"? Yeah, if you're judging by pop tarts like Katy and Kesha. But there's a lot of talented bands and artists today who are writing compelling, great songs that aren't half as shitty as Prince's "make this woman screaaaam" (I like the song, but come on..).

Again, your last sentence is true only in regards to mainstream pop music. There's a lot of acts out there with great lyrics.

Then again, AOA showed a little improvement from pompous shit like 20Ten, so who knows where he's going?

I don't deny his lyrics tend to be weaker but the standards that would satisfy his old time fans are just impossible. No one out there is recapturing the lyrical magic of their youth and it has a lot to do with the cultural prism of no longer being the "voice of a generation" they once were. Plus Prince was never a lyricist's lyricist like Dylan and played up the fact he wasn't the most literate out there with his Princebonics. Besides I fully believe that if he wrote something just as great as The Ballad of Dorothy Parker today, he'd be accused of being derivative of his own legacy. That said, he could try harder a lot of times, though it certainly has to do with his recording habits.

When I look back to his last 3 albums not including AOA and Plectrum Electrum...

20Ten

LotusFlow3r

Planet Earth

.... The lyrical content of those albums are just really low standards for an artist like Prince... 20Ten if you judge it by lyrical content his so elementary... The only track out of all 3 of those albums that im my opinion really represents Prince's sound was Sticky Like Glue.

feeluupp said:

Depends what you compare it to I guess... Even the songs that aren't that loved here, for example, Temptation... Is it one of his strong songs from the 80's... No... But the lyrical content of a song like Temptation surpasses most of his works from the 90's and beyond just in terms of lyrical creativity...

Temptation is not a song you can take seriously - music or lyric-wise, but it's great fun to listen to.

I'm talking about I'm talking about.... SEXUAL temptation

oh really?

Pentacle said:

feeluupp said:

Depends what you compare it to I guess... Even the songs that aren't that loved here, for example, Temptation... Is it one of his strong songs from the 80's... No... But the lyrical content of a song like Temptation surpasses most of his works from the 90's and beyond just in terms of lyrical creativity...

Temptation is not a song you can take seriously - music or lyric-wise, but it's great fun to listen to.

I'm talking about I'm talking about.... SEXUAL temptation

oh really?

Well the diversity in the lyrical content is far more superior than a lot of his songs from the 90's... That's why I used an example of Temptation... Not a strong song considered for his 80's works but if you read the lyrics they actually are a lot more creative and artistic than most of his recent output...

Pentacle said:

feeluupp said:

Depends what you compare it to I guess... Even the songs that aren't that loved here, for example, Temptation... Is it one of his strong songs from the 80's... No... But the lyrical content of a song like Temptation surpasses most of his works from the 90's and beyond just in terms of lyrical creativity...

Temptation is not a song you can take seriously - music or lyric-wise, but it's great fun to listen to.

I'm talking about I'm talking about.... SEXUAL temptation

oh really?

As flops goes, Temptation is still a majestically flawed experiment and I thinkwithout it there would be no Adore or The Ride. The Ladder is a similar creature, it's a miss with some great touches. I love the first two parts of these songs, the end is another story.

Although there's the received wisdom that it's all about youth vs aging, the truth of inspiration is that it's about discovery. You discover and are inspired.
Now when you've been doing the same thing for a long time (writing and recording songs) and have been around the world a few hundred times, it may take fresh approaches (like getting deliberately lost, say...something I favour and recommend as a way to find new paths) and all sorts of tricks to disconnect you from your stored patterns, enable discovery and produce inspiration.

When you have an idea to create something that you haven't before or create something in a new way, there's no problem lining it with lyrics and frills and finesse because you're back to making an artwork rather than tossing off another job.

Prince has been able to catch a little of this kind of 'release' and freshness but overall he faces a problem that comes with success and particularly with fame which is the limitations on movement.

Also, Prince has tended to be a bit of a 'homing pigeon', preferring his own collection of patterns at Paisley Park pretty much as people prefer eventually prefer their own living room to a night club.

In all this blah blah what I'm saying is that abilities do not degrade or fade but contexts of inspiration in which they all fire up become harder to encounter because of overfamiliarity with a lot of contexts.

RodeoSchro said:

He grew up. It happens to every artist.

I think the opposite happened. He gave into religion and accepted a more childlike mindstate; limiting himself based on rules set forth by an imaginary father figure.

At the same time, there's only so much one man can express lyrically. And he's talked about a lot. Easily one on the greatest poets... ever.

How would you guys feel if you found out Prince decided to use outside songwriters and focus on musical composition and vocal performance?