BillieBalloon said:

GeniusLuv I'm talking about Patrice Rushen.

Oh okayy...sorry then wasn't sure

CalhounSq said:

BanishedBrian said:

This song is definitely not about Mayte - in fact, I don't believe any of the trilogy of "breakup" songs on Rave about her.

Rave was recorded in the spring of 1999. This is during the period when Prince had been cheating with Mani for more than a minute, and Prince was still trying to hide it all from Mayte. Prince was not writing bitter "breakup" songs about Mayte breaking his heart... it was more that he was losing interest in her at a time when she was busy being the young/naive one in the marriage.

After this album was done, Prince was out in Spain with Mayte talking up their marriage to InTouch magazine with the album playing in the background.

Separately, the incident at Float happened long after Rave.

Keep in mind that as of the Celebration when Kevin Smith was visiting, Prince was sensitive about playing songs about Mayte because he knew what he had done... he was not bitter about it but, rather, clearly feeling guilty because he knew what he had been doing with Mani behind Mayte's back for all that time.

I am pretty sure "I Love U But..." is about Vanity, but whether it is isn't, it definitely isn't about Mayte. Same thing with "Come On," which people also used to try to say was about her.

[Edited 6/28/16 14:58pm]

I hate to ask, since EVERYONE here is simply speculating, but... what is "the incident at Float"? I suppose I should just do an Org search? **NEVERMIND**

Goodness, how "we" crawled up this man's ass for every detail, it's kinda weird Not saying this about YOU in particular, BanishedBrain, but just the general speculation that went on around everything in his life. It gets to me sometimes, like nothing could be just for him. Fans want to know everything. Must have been bizarre.

[Edited 6/28/16 19:21pm]

I hear what you're saying... I actually wasn't paying attention at the time (it was reported in some NY tabloids), and only read about the Float incident a few years ago here on the Org, when there was a discussion here about Prince and Mayte and Mayte's friend (and Prince's former employee) meltedman started dishing (essentially explaining about how rumors of Mayte cheating were b.s.). Given that we're fans of the man's music, it's only natural that we're always curious about the meanings of songs. If you treat every Prince song as just some impersonal, fictional creation, his work doesn't have the same heart IMO. So I don't feel like it's an invasion of privacy to want to understand the real life inspiration for heartfelt songs.

I will say too that I had some personal knowledge/verification of Prince and Mani's adulterous relationship back in early 1998, and never spilled the beans or talked about it, so I'm not the type to engage in rumor mongering about Prince's personal life. But when I hear people still trash Mayte to this day and impugn her actions without any basis or evidence, suggesting that she was the "player" of that era, I think it's fair to speak up.

purplegirl00 said:

beachy said:

He played this song at his very last concert in Atlanta and after the phrase "good old days" said "the 80's?" so he was directing the song to his favorite protege in the 80s, not Mayte. I think it was Vanity. She cheated on him after he cheated on her. And she got married without telling him.

I'ma sound real callous here: Uhm... what? Since when does anyone get to dictate when their ex gets married? And really? Once you cheat on someone, you lose the right to complain if they hand you that shit back. Several seats: they await the one who thinks this is a thing.

Now there appears to be a general concensus forming that this song is about Vanity, perhaps we can discuss the most glaring thing the listener is being told by the song:

.

I remember meeting U here in the good ol' days (the 80's)
I would never pick the flower of my favourite protege
Maybe if I would have then U would not treat me this way
U tricked me - but U will not anymore
No, no, I love you, but I don't trust U anymore

.

This can be interpreted as, while he's with Vanity he didn't cheat on her with the people he worked with and potentially, that he would never have a relationship with any of his proteges at any time. In hindsight, he's questioning his actions - maybe, if he had cheated on Vanity, she wouldn't have hurt/deceived him. He's implying/alluding that Vanity was unfaithful but just what's happened is uncertain.

.

And, isn't it interesting that he's choosing to tell Vanity this in the late 90's - that he loves her but he doesn't trust her anymore. All at a time when Vanity's divorcing, Prince is married (this ends at some point in the near future) and if they wanted to, they could be together.

.

A number of the songs on this album appear to be about Vanity too - Hot Wit U (uses Vanity's image in the video) and The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (looks like it's a Vanity Mirror Theme video).

.

If you're interested in Vanity's Mirror Theme there's more info on threads: http://prince.org/msg/7/426877 and http://prince.org/msg/5/424143

.

[Edited 7/13/16 4:45am]

if what you guys says is true and if what you say is true banishedbrian, then I have to stand up and clap for mayte', being friends with manuela, after her husband cheating on her with manuela and mayte was friends with her, mayte' is truly a angel

[Edited 7/3/16 22:54pm]