This track reminds me of the movie Taxi Driver. The night, the isolation, and paranoia was so vividly portrayed. Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999 all felt like a trilogy of gritty, noir albums.

callimnate said:

Just another reason why 1999 is his BEST work ever.

.

AMEN! My favorite ablem, by far!

bookwomen said:

lrn36 said:

This track reminds me of the movie Taxi Driver. The night, the isolation, and paranoia was so vividly portrayed. Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999 all felt like a trilogy of gritty, noir albums.

Yes, Taxi Driver. You shpuld add Purple Rain too, is a kind of dark album.

RiotPaisley said:

bookwomen said:

I'll have to look for LCD live- I don't think I've heard it. Is there a specific version or tour that you recommend? I think I mostly just keep them in separate categories. Like I'd make two best of CDs- best of Studio and best of live.

The one from the 1999 tour is the easiest to find. Private org me if you would like links. It is the only time he played the whole song. Other concerts he played clips or instrumental.

Enjoy

[Edited 6/21/16 13:19pm]

Ona nother thread of Live vs Studio Prince a poster mentioned that on reason they did not Prince Live was that he changed the songs from the studio albums. Now normally I do not mind but when he did Lady Cab Driver live he did change the lyrics and it bothered me.

Don't like it.

TheEnglishGent said:

Don't like it.

well, we can't try to rehab you on every thread

TheEnglishGent said:

Don't like it.

Whot? really, you don't like it?

214 said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Don't like it.

Whot? really, you don't like it?

Yeah, we covered my issues in the other thread.

TheEnglishGent said:

214 said:

Whot? really, you don't like it?

Yeah, we covered my issues in the other thread.

TheEnglishGent said:

214 said:

Whot? really, you don't like it?

Yeah, we covered my issues in the other thread.

So I finally listened to Lady Cab Driver as an album cut and I cannot...stop...laughing.

The backstory in my head is that either a real woman is just totally annoyed and making porn noises so he just comes already and leaves (or to hide her laughing) or it's some weird Night Rider/Siri/Google self driving car fantasy, with the car supplying a library of foley moan noises after picking him up from a party. (The synth horns sound like car horns to me.)

What cab driver drives a cab for "no money at all" and has a "mansion"?

that simple yet oh so Purple beat ... those beats back then were perfect with their simple complexities

and the wet guitar solo mmmmm

Prince was definately drawing a picture of Uptown, and this song helped take us there. By the time the Purple Rain movie comes out and shows us a side Erotic City. This song always feels like early morning daylight, in the city

People, do not forget it's a sort of sad song really, isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration. A cry for help.

214 said:

People, do not forget it's a sort of sad song really, isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration. A cry for help.

A lot of Prince songs have that feeling

OldFriends4Sale said:

214 said:

People, do not forget it's a sort of sad song really, isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration. A cry for help.

A lot of Prince songs have that feeling

This is a cry for help? Sure, if Letters to Penthouse are a cry for help...

Like, of all the Prince songs to file under "cry for help"...this isn't it.

[Edited 7/6/16 13:51pm]

lrn36 said:

PurpleBabied said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

A lot of Prince songs have that feeling

This is a cry for help? Sure, if Letters to Penthouse are a cry for help...

Like, of all the Prince songs to file under "cry for help"...this isn't it.

[Edited 7/6/16 13:51pm]

direct that[cry for help] reply to 214

I still say a lot of Prince songs have that[isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration] feel

PurpleBabied said:

So I finally listened to Lady Cab Driver as an album cut and I cannot...stop...laughing.

The backstory in my head is that either a real woman is just totally annoyed and making porn noises so he just comes already and leaves (or to hide her laughing) or it's some weird Night Rider/Siri/Google self driving car fantasy, with the car supplying a library of foley moan noises after picking him up from a party. (The synth horns sound like car horns to me.)

What cab driver drives a cab for "no money at all" and has a "mansion"?

[Edited 7/6/16 16:45pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

PurpleBabied said:

This is a cry for help? Sure, if Letters to Penthouse are a cry for help...

Like, of all the Prince songs to file under "cry for help"...this isn't it.

[Edited 7/6/16 13:51pm]

direct that[cry for help] reply to 214

I still say a lot of Prince songs have that[isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration] feel

Yes, this is very apparent to me as well, I haven't counted but it seems to be the case for a great majority of his songs. Maybe this reflects his unfulfilled search of an ideal...

[Edited 7/6/16 16:35pm]

PurpleBabied said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

A lot of Prince songs have that feeling

This is a cry for help? Sure, if Letters to Penthouse are a cry for help...

Like, of all the Prince songs to file under "cry for help"...this isn't it.

[Edited 7/6/16 13:51pm]

This isn't it , why?

OldFriends4Sale said:

214 said:

People, do not forget it's a sort of sad song really, isolation, loneliness and desperation; and of course frustration. A cry for help.

A lot of Prince songs have that feeling

I know.

QueenofCardboard said:

PurpleBabied said:

So I finally listened to Lady Cab Driver as an album cut and I cannot...stop...laughing.

The backstory in my head is that either a real woman is just totally annoyed and making porn noises so he just comes already and leaves (or to hide her laughing) or it's some weird Night Rider/Siri/Google self driving car fantasy, with the car supplying a library of foley moan noises after picking him up from a party. (The synth horns sound like car horns to me.)

What cab driver drives a cab for "no money at all" and has a "mansion"?

.

.

"Will U accept my tears to pay the fare?"

.

In my perverted little mind, sometimes I envision a music video to "Lady Cab Driver" that goes something like this. He gets a ride in a cab, and the cab driver is a beautiful sexy lady wearing designer genes. He is sitting in the back of the cab, where passengers always sit, and she is in the front behind the steering wheel driving. Then we flash to a fantasy in which Prince is F-ing our beautiful and sexy cab driver on the back seat of the cab. Then we go back to reality, in which Prince is just a passenger and he gets out of the cab at an unknown destination, and she drives away.

.

It is like the Bible, if you take it literally, it makes no sense.

If you take it like it is a fantasy, it works just fine.

.

.

[Edited 7/6/16 16:45pm]

Of course it's a fantasy. Everything is a fantasy. Of course the cab driver is a sexy lady with designer genes who wears designer jeans. Just like the car is Siri/Night Rider/that chick from Ex Machina. Either way, it's funky and funny.

PurpleBabied said:

QueenofCardboard said:

.

.

"Will U accept my tears to pay the fare?"

.

In my perverted little mind, sometimes I envision a music video to "Lady Cab Driver" that goes something like this. He gets a ride in a cab, and the cab driver is a beautiful sexy lady wearing designer genes. He is sitting in the back of the cab, where passengers always sit, and she is in the front behind the steering wheel driving. Then we flash to a fantasy in which Prince is F-ing our beautiful and sexy cab driver on the back seat of the cab. Then we go back to reality, in which Prince is just a passenger and he gets out of the cab at an unknown destination, and she drives away.

.

It is like the Bible, if you take it literally, it makes no sense.

If you take it like it is a fantasy, it works just fine.

.

.

[Edited 7/6/16 16:45pm]

Of course it's a fantasy. Everything is a fantasy. Of course the cab driver is a sexy lady with designer genes who wears designer jeans. Just like the car is Siri/Night Rider/that chick from Ex Machina. Either way, it's funky and funny.

.

I guess I just don't know how you came up with the backstory in your head, or why you think it is funny. It makes me think of a runaway teenager.

.

"Will U accept my tears to pay the fare?"

QueenofCardboard said:

PurpleBabied said:

Of course it's a fantasy. Everything is a fantasy. Of course the cab driver is a sexy lady with designer genes who wears designer jeans. Just like the car is Siri/Night Rider/that chick from Ex Machina. Either way, it's funky and funny.

.

I guess I just don't know how you came up with the backstory in your head, or why you think it is funny. It makes me think of a runaway teenager.

.

"Will U accept my tears to pay the fare?"

To me that line is just part of him feeling super super sorry for himself, not "I'm a runaway teen." He just seems like he's ranting/complaining at the cab driver the entire song like people do at service workers sometimes because they can't leave. I don't think the "This is" rant is happening in his head while foley moans and springs are happening (because seriously, that rant would annoy so much, and no "My tip... is my tip" is not a tip, GTFO, I don't care how hot or desperate you are, eww). There's nothing aurally to indicate it.

OT, what his actual songs about being a runaway teen?

PurpleBabied said:

QueenofCardboard said:

.

I guess I just don't know how you came up with the backstory in your head, or why you think it is funny. It makes me think of a runaway teenager.

.

"Will U accept my tears to pay the fare?"

To me that line is just part of him feeling super super sorry for himself, not "I'm a runaway teen." He just seems like he's ranting/complaining at the cab driver the entire song like people do at service workers sometimes because they can't leave. I don't think the "This is" rant is happening in his head while foley moans and springs are happening (because seriously, that rant would annoy so much, and no "My tip... is my tip" is not a tip, GTFO, I don't care how hot or desperate you are, eww). There's nothing aurally to indicate it.

OT, what his actual songs about being a runaway teen?

.

I don't know what OT refers to.

Are you a cab driver? I agree. If he ever said all that stuff to a real cab driver they wouldn't be sympathetic, they would just kick him out of the cab. I don't think that this song is describing a real event. Don't take it literally. I hear him fantasizing about doing the lady cab driver who picked him up when he was leaving home after he was kicked out of the house. It is not funny.

.

Lady, cab driver, can u take me 4 a ride
Don't know where I'm going, 'cause I don't where I've been,
Just put your foot on the gas, let's drive

Lady, don't ask questions...
I promise I'll tell you no lies
Trouble winds are blowing, I'm growing cold
Get me outta' here... feel I'm gonna' die

Lady, cab driver,
Roll up your window fast
Lately, trouble winds are blowin' hard
And I don't know if I can last

Lady, I'm so lonely,
I know that's not the way to be,
Don't like isolation, but the air it makes me cold
Drive it baby, drive it, drive this demon out of me
Take me, to your mansion...
Honey let's go everywhere
Help me girl I'm drowning,
Mass confusion in my head
Will U accept my tears to pay the fare
.

ETC.

.

LyricWiki

QueenofCardboard said:

PurpleBabied said:

To me that line is just part of him feeling super super sorry for himself, not "I'm a runaway teen." He just seems like he's ranting/complaining at the cab driver the entire song like people do at service workers sometimes because they can't leave. I don't think the "This is" rant is happening in his head while foley moans and springs are happening (because seriously, that rant would annoy so much, and no "My tip... is my tip" is not a tip, GTFO, I don't care how hot or desperate you are, eww). There's nothing aurally to indicate it.

OT, what his actual songs about being a runaway teen?

.

I don't know what OT refers to.

Are you a cab driver? I agree. If he ever said all that stuff to a real cab driver they wouldn't be sympathetic, they would just kick him out of the cab. I don't think that this song is describing a real event. Don't take it literally. I hear him fantasizing about doing the lady cab driver who picked him up when he was leaving home after he was kicked out of the house. It is not funny.

.

Lady, cab driver, can u take me 4 a ride
Don't know where I'm going, 'cause I don't where I've been,
Just put your foot on the gas, let's drive

Lady, don't ask questions...
I promise I'll tell you no lies
Trouble winds are blowing, I'm growing cold
Get me outta' here... feel I'm gonna' die

Lady, cab driver,
Roll up your window fast
Lately, trouble winds are blowin' hard
And I don't know if I can last

Lady, I'm so lonely,
I know that's not the way to be,
Don't like isolation, but the air it makes me cold
Drive it baby, drive it, drive this demon out of me
Take me, to your mansion...
Honey let's go everywhere
Help me girl I'm drowning,
Mass confusion in my head
Will U accept my tears to pay the fare
.

ETC.

.

LyricWiki

I'm not taking the song literally. I'm actually detailing all of the reasons I think 1) it's a fantasy and 2) it's not a sad cry for help. We both agree the song isn't based in reality. We disagree as to the nature of the song and as to what story is happening in the song.

If the lyrics stopped where you stopped quoting, then I'd maybe agree it's a cry for help song with a funky beat. But they don't and the music doesn't stop there. I'm also not adding backstory in my head from what I know of his real life (he was kicked out of his house by his dad! maybe this is him fantasizing) to the song but treating it as a self contained story.

This is why I think it's song about a sad man with a funky beat that's funny as hell. It's just not sad to me without being funny.

OT means "off topic."