Lorna Nelson was 32 years old when Prince was 16 years old. Is the song 'Sister' about her? I know that Prince was kicked out of his mother's house when he was 12 years old and that he lived with different relatives and friends after that? Does anybody know if he ever lived with his older sister Lorna?.

He went to NY when he was looking for a record deal and lived with a sister there for awhile. Don't know if that is relevant.

Do we know if the song is even real or if it was just maybe intended for shock value? That fact that it is sequenced right after Head leads me to believe the latter.

Personally, I think that the song is a gimmick of some sort. I never took it to mean that he actually had sex with his sister. Unless someone else knows the story behind that song and is willing to share it, we will never know.

Prince said Head was not serious but Sister was. Didn't he have a row (about money?) with his sister Sharon when he went to New York and end up having to leave? It sounds like he was very angry at the time.

I think it is based on things that really happened, and I think that Prince puts the age details in there to make sure that we don't think that it is about his younger sister Tyka or any of his other sisters that aren't 16 years older than him (like Sharon who is 18 years older). I also think that he wrote it to get even, and since he was only 16, and she was 32 he may see himself as the victim, or if not a victim, at least not the responsible party involved. He also said the she is the reason for his 'sexuality'. I think that this kiss and tell song is payback, for Lorna using him as a toy boy, and then kicking him out of her house after things got wierd. Only, I can't find out if he ever stayed with her.

They clearly have a very complex family.

sunset3121 said:

They clearly have a very complex family.

Or very, very close.

But seriously, the song is so beyond the general idea of banging one's hot sister. People need to listen & read those lyrics until they get it.

The thought that his sister wanted to prostitute him adds a whole new level of tragedy to the song, but I still think it may be based on real events, and I think that the song is about his half sister Lorna. Does anyone know anything about her other than that she was 32 years old when Prince was 16 years old?

Wow, some of you have wild imaginations. Now it wasn't just incest, she was pimping him out too! I don't see him as being that pliable at 16 years old! That boy knew his own mind.

Seriously though, why would he be living with Lorna when he was 16? Wasn't he firmly established at Andre's by then.

I can't remember which interview asked P about Head and Sister but he did reply that sister was serious (but Head was satiric). He also wrote about what he saw around him so it is not necessarily something he experienced himself. However, there is also a level of anger in that song that says it was personal.

[Edited 6/12/16 5:26am]

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I suspect the song is based on true events.

Elements of the song itself makes it clear this is no work of fiction:

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1. "I was only 16...my sister was 32." That is actually the exact ages Prince and Lorna would be. If this was just some wild attention getter song, why be so specific (and accurate) with those ages?

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2. The anger in the song is far too realistic for it to be just a guy singing an angry song. Take the song "Chaos And Disorder," for instance. Pretty hard issues in that one, and Prince does sing it with some anger. But does his voice sound as genuinely angry as it does in "Sister"?

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3. The music of "Sister" is also agressive and full of bite. It is essentially punk. You don't use that style unless you are really singing about something that truly bothers you. This is no faux punk. There's real anger in the music and playing. That angry music is used to amplify the feelings he feels. It ain't fake.

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4. The brevity of the song also gives a hint that this may be a real event. In other words, Prince wants to get someting off his chest. He doesn't turn it into a six minute jam. No. "Sister" is a minute and a half long. Bang. Says what he wants to say, unloads it off his chest, and done. You'd only do that for something that is really inside you.

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Is the song a 100% true document of events? No. But there is clearly a truth behind this tune.

I just found (guess I'm late) that Lorna tried to sue him claiming the song 'U Got The Look' had too similar lyrics to a song she had already written. And she lost.

FragileUndertow said:

Incest is everything it's said to be! That line got me everytime Damn Prince is freaky

That's not freaky. Incest is everything it's said to be. What exactly is incest said to be? Unnatural, illegal, disgusting, etc... It sounds to me like Prince is saying it's all those things and not enjoyable in any way.

[Edited 6/5/16 11:32am]

mrfog said:

The "Sun" had this photo of Lorna

PurpleMusic07 said:

its really a toss up as to whether this could be his own actual lived experience or him just throwing things out there for shock. at 16 he was living with andre #1, and #2 he was definitely know to play around with serious subject matter - examples: she's just a baby, the rapes in lady cab driver and extraloveable

I've always been confused about the song Lady Cab Driver. It is definately an angry sex song and a top/bottom song, but I never hear her scream 'stop!' at any point. The first time I heard it I thought it was a rape song, and I was very conflicted about it because the feminist side of me was very angry and disappointed in the side of me that was so electrified and so turned on by the song. I was also very shocked at Prince for writing and singing this song, because it was such a departure from his usual message, which is, 'I want you so bad and I will do my utmost to be the best you ever had, but I won't touch you until you ask me to'. He sure knew how to get under a girl's skin. Sorry about the departure of from the main subject of 'Sister'. 'Lady Cab Driver' is another song I have many questions about. I don't think that 'Lady Cab Driver' is based on real events that happened in Prince's life, but it may be based on events that happened to someone he knew, or just a fantasy he had when he was riding in a taxi cab. I do think that 'Sister' is too specific to be based on a fantacy, and it isn't a celebration of sexual pleasure or a seduction song, it is an angry story. It doesn't turn me on, it turns my stomach. Incest is not rare. It is so common that it is really easy for me believe that it happened to Prince since he wrote a song about it, and the fact that he had so many older half siblings makes it even easier to believe. Thanks for the picture of Prince and Lorna. I have heard so many different stories about where Prince lived when he was 16 it my head spin. I wish I knew which one was true.

QueenofCardboard said:

Yes, extraloveable is vile. As for 1999 - I loved that album when I was a kid but I usually stopped it in the middle of Lady Cab Driver - for the sensibilities of my parents. I haven't listened to the album version since I was a schoolgirl (I had played it to death by then) and playing it again, it does make uncomfortable listening. It wasn't until Purple Rain where Appolonia was so wimpy traipsing around after him when he'd been playing mind games at the lake and then after hitting her (never mind the woman in the dumpster), that my feminist side really started to get a bit pee'd off (in whose universe do women behave like that?) I still loved the film though, I just rewrote a few scenes in my head and my version was much better. The thing is, I was usually so vocal about any slight to women that my family thought I hated men (they were very wrong (not that I would have told them that), I was just having a hard time with the image of men portrayed to me, more so on film and TV than the ones in real life - although I had quite a lot to say about them too). It's funny then that even when I noticed P's sexism it was instantly forgiven and the obsessive listening to his music, videos and films continued.

sunset3121 said:

PurpleMusic07 said:

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I'm saying the delivery is punk. Take the line you mention. "My sister was 32, lovely, and ...loose." It's a clipped delivery. No melody. Staccato. That's a punk (and yes, new wave) kind of thing.

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And the music is punkish. New wave is commonly associated with keyboards/synths. Doesn't every song on "Dirty Mind" have a keyboard/synth on it? Well, the one that doesn't is "Sister." Simply guitar/bass/drums/vocal. Punk.

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Tongue in cheek? As I said above, the specificity and accuracy of the ages -- 16 and 32 -- kind of remove it from being tongue in cheek. If he were just having a laugh, why be so precise and dead on with his own situation?

There does seem 2 halves to this song. The first half seems jokey and the 2nd half seems angry. The 2nd half could be about the sister who lived near New York (Sharon) and their fight.

[Edited 6/12/16 5:22am]