With the ME's report out today, I still think that we don't have the full answers. Frankly, there will always be a Prince sized hole in our hearts and having the full answers won't bring him back.

But I don't think you can listen to AOA or some of his other statements and not think that there was something else going on with his health. Fentanyl, while often abused, is not something that is prescribed for run of the mill joint pain. It is usually prescribed for terminal patients dealing with acute pain. While the fentanyl was the immediate cause, I still don't believe it was the underlying cause.

Prince was nobody's fool. He knew the effects of drugs, medication and heck, even red meat. To think he would start up a fentanyl addiction for years and not seek help until it was one day too late strikes me as hard to believe.

He may have taken too much fentanyl the night of April 20/21, but I firmly believe there was something else going on for which he took the fentanyl. (Oddly, to me this gives me comfort because it says that Prince was controlling his pain and he had the power to control his fate as his days were dwindling.)

But the thing that really sticks out to me are the lyrics in AOA (and even in the second half of Black Muse). And when I compare them to David Bowie's Blackstar and Queen's Innuendo, what I think is really interesting is the attitude taken in the face of death. All three artists (Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Prince) were immensely talented, non-conventional and iconoclasts. They all faced their demise with remarkable courage - writing music, performing and continuing on.

But the one thing that stands out about Prince is how uplifting he is in his lyrics.

Art Official Cage - the artificial cage is the body, but the spirit still soars. This is analogous to Mercury's "my soul is painted like the wings of butterflies, fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die, I can fly, my friends."

"Determined to free my mind from this art official cage..."

Breakdown - "See there's a door that you can walk through, where there used to be a wall/ I don't care, it's cool, as long as you catch me baby/(Catch me when I fall) if there is ever a fall/Closer to the breakdown, the closer we get."

Here Prince is falling through to another plane of existence, as in Bowie's Blackstar, "Something happened on the day he died, his spirit rose a meter and stepped aside, somebody took his place and bravely cried/I'm a blackstar, I'm a blackstar."

Way Back Home - This reminds me a bit of Mercury's Mother Love. This is about going back to the beginning, to the feeling of comfort you had in childhood before you leave. Poignant.

Black Muse - This is my personal theory (and can be undercut by the genesis of these lyrics if they started in W2A in 2010 instead of in the studio last summer).... but "There ain't nothing better than you looking for me/and seeing you seeing me/ seeing you in the mirror/ 1000 light years away from here." He is essentially uplifting here, and exhorting us to rememer that he is still with us even if he is "1000 light years away from here". This is what is remarkable. He lived his life as an exercise in joy through music. He left his life the same way - and he pushes us to live the same way.

Now, none of this is to say that he knew he was going the night of April 20/21, but I do think he knew his time was limited - and I think that is reflected in his lyrics. He was a consummate musician and intensely private. He would never want to make a show of his passing - but he did courageously leave Easter eggs for all of us. And in that, I find the greatest comfort.

Prince has made his transition. And I do believe he let us know before and after his passing (rainbows at Paisley Park) that he is at peace.

PS - I don't need some people coming on here telling me this is a "stupid" thread or that it is somehow shameful, etc. If you don't like the thread, nobody is forcing you to read it. So please just move along and keep your sanctimony to yourself.

PPS - Sorry for the paragraph thing...

Agreed on immediate vs underlying reason.
I'm in the "he knew" camp, thinking there was a chronic issue.
Not because it alludes to some delusional conspiracy.
The details seem to add up to a man who chose how/when he would pass on.
Especially if he was struggling with severe chronic pain.
Can't imagine him in hospice.

Regardless - he took powerful painkillers for a reason.
He was clearly in terrible pain.
I'm glad he's no longer suffering.
[Edited 6/2/16 18:19pm]

FUNKNROLL said:

Agreed on immediate vs underlying reason. I'm in the "he knew" camp, thinking there was a chronic issue. Not because it alludes to some delusional conspiracy. The details seem to add up to a man who chose how/when he would pass on. Especially if he was struggling with severe chronic pain. Can't imagine him in hospice. Regardless - he took powerful painkillers for a reason. He was clearly in terrible pain. I'm glad he's no longer suffering. [Edited 6/2/16 18:19pm]

Completely agree. Terminal patients may die of pneumonia - but it was the underlying disease that caused the downward spiral. If that was the case, I respect Prince more for working until the very end and being in control. It must be enormously tough to pull off - and I admire him all the more for doing it (if that is what happened).

_

Plus, those AOA lyrics are not your run of the mill lyrics about partying, love, sex, jealousy, etc. They are deep - and they are deep for a reason.

DUDE, if a man rock up to the Guardian comment section under the name "1ludacris" and say in so many words "the man is done", then the man is done.


If a man rock up as stringerbell on prince.org then we know we have a problem.

The man was made of glass y'all. What did he need to prove just to remind you he existed?

stringerbell said:

Black Muse - This is my personal theory (and can be undercut by the genesis of these lyrics if they started in W2A in 2010 instead of in the studio last summer).... but "There ain't nothing better than you looking for me/and seeing you seeing me/ seeing you in the mirror/ 1000 light years away from here." He is essentially uplifting here, and exhorting us to rememer that he is still with us even if he is "1000 light years away from here". This is what is remarkable. He lived his life as an exercise in joy through music. He left his life the same way - and he pushes us to live the same way.

It's two songs from W2A in 2010 mashed together. At the final show in Atlanta, he said 'mind if I talk to my sister? family meeting' sung the black muse part of the song and said 'family meeting over' after he was done.

Strive said:

stringerbell said:

Black Muse - This is my personal theory (and can be undercut by the genesis of these lyrics if they started in W2A in 2010 instead of in the studio last summer).... but "There ain't nothing better than you looking for me/and seeing you seeing me/ seeing you in the mirror/ 1000 light years away from here." He is essentially uplifting here, and exhorting us to rememer that he is still with us even if he is "1000 light years away from here". This is what is remarkable. He lived his life as an exercise in joy through music. He left his life the same way - and he pushes us to live the same way.

It's two songs from W2A in 2010 mashed together. At the final show in Atlanta, he said 'mind if I talk to my sister? family meeting' sung the black muse part of the song and said 'family meeting over' after he was done.

So my theory is wrong. That was me projecting. Thanks for setting me straight. The AOA lyrics still hold though.

stringerbell said:

Strive said:

It's two songs from W2A in 2010 mashed together. At the final show in Atlanta, he said 'mind if I talk to my sister? family meeting' sung the black muse part of the song and said 'family meeting over' after he was done.

So my theory is wrong. That was me projecting. Thanks for setting me straight. The AOA lyrics still hold though.

are you 1ludacris from the Internet? You could be all of a GCHQ Call Center for all I know. Or as they say in a merry land: "please stop hurting me most of this phone call is unnecessary"