CalhounSq said:

I didn't like the music any less, & I only missed the cursing when he'd sing old songs & replace the words/make it clean. I never loved the restrictions he put on himself, but respected his decision to follow the path he was on.

^^^THIS^^^

But I respected his journey and growth.

He actually never stopped being vulgar entirely. He did stop cursing though...

purplerabbithole said:

He actually never stopped being vulgar entirely. He did stop cursing though...

It was never about the swearing or explicit language.

I wasn't a fan of the hypocrisy. Because you say "fudge" doesn't mean you are not saying "fuck". The way people deal with language, in the US especially, is just horrible.

Rhyming and then leaving out the "bad" word is just as much having that word as if you'd say it. And the idea that some words should not be said is ridiculous anyway. Concepts might be hurtful and offensive, but the words themselves are not.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I did not miss it, I just hated the hypocrisy.

Prince still implied some of the same sexual advances and actions in his later songs. He insinuated a lot and the songs often still had the same meaning. The only content difference was that often he sang more about marital sex. I see your point. I actually think Prince was really trying to slip smut past his JW brethern (SIC)... I don't mind the lack of vulgarity in newer songs because sometimes it is harder and more imaginative to imply rather than directly state. But he should have left the original songs' lyrics alone. I respect the self discipline though.

My 11 year old son tries to use words like "freaking" and I always tell him not to because it is basically the same thing as using the orginal words. But maybe Prince didn't even like that kind of swearing either.

I did once hear Prince sing "Girls and Boys" and he just simply left the word "ass" out and let the audience that was singing along with him fill in the blank. The audience laughed so I imagine Prince wasn't too upset.

I am not a big fan of the over usage of curse words--not because I am a prude (I curse pretty badly when I am angry) but because it is unoriginal, ugly and unpleasant when used constantly. But when used sparingly, bad language can have a major impact. In the long run, they are just words.

Plus there is a difference between cursing and cussing. My grandfather was a methodist pastor and he once told my mom to say 'fuck' rather than the word she had just used in vain 'Jesus Christ". He couldn't abide words like 'God Dammit" but had no problem with the word "Shit". In his mind, OMG was worse than "motherf'er. I am surprised Prince didn't see the difference seeing as he was a religious man.

mediumdry said:

I wasn't a fan of the hypocrisy. Because you say "fudge" doesn't mean you are not saying "fuck". The way people deal with language, in the US especially, is just horrible.

Rhyming and then leaving out the "bad" word is just as much having that word as if you'd say it. And the idea that some words should not be said is ridiculous anyway. Concepts might be hurtful and offensive, but the words themselves are not.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I did not miss it, I just hated the hypocrisy.

[Edited 10/10/16 5:46am]

NouveauDance said:

It was never about the swearing or explicit language.

I was very sad that he didn't perform classic songs like Head or Darling Nikki anymore.

[Edited 10/10/16 5:45am]

YES!

I agree. Prince did still sing about sex. But I think i get why songs like those got left off the list...After all, Darling Nikki doesn't even have any curse words. They both are about cheap little sexual rendevous' with no emotional and spiritual connection. "Head" does towards the end I guess. But Darling Nikki is pure carnality. I love those songs but I do get it. But I am not sure why he released "Turn Me Loose" later. That song is actually dirtier than the other two.

ludwig said:

NouveauDance said:

It was never about the swearing or explicit language.

I was very sad that he didn't perform classic songs like Head or Darling Nikki anymore.

[Edited 10/10/16 5:45am]

TweetyV6 said:

Yeah. There is very little doubt in my mind that his raw sexual aggressiveness led to a better edge in his music.

CalhounSq said:

I didn't like the music any less, & I only missed the cursing when he'd sing old songs & replace the words/make it clean. I never loved the restrictions he put on himself, but respected his decision to follow the path he was on.

The correct answer.

It didn't even really bother me when he changed the lyrics.

DarkKnight1 said:

Yeah. There is very little doubt in my mind that his raw sexual aggressiveness led to a better edge in his music.

I agree and his music was much more interesting in the 80s and 90s

I rarely found hm vulgar. On occassion perhaps, but it usually seemed tongue in cheek.

When he changed "The Cross" to "The Christ" it didn't bother me at all. Same thing.

But in "1+1+1=3" when he says "we don't gve a duck what you got on" C'mon, you're fooling nobody. When you put pen to paper you wrote "fuck" then crossed it out and wrote duck, because "Give a duck" isn't a thing.

IIRC Prince commented on it directly during an interview. Where he stated the reason he didn't swear was because his friends brought their children to his shows. Which is understandable in a way, but at the same time, why would his friends bring their kids to see someone who's obviously at the more adult end of the pop spectrum.

With songs like "Turn me Loose" and "Screwdriver" it became obvious the rudeboy was still around.

Not at all!

Not at all, I admired how he evolved and stayed true to that, did what he needed to do. And that aside, I'm not big on swearing anyway so that's not something I'd be inclined to miss in any event.

Noodled24 said:

IIRC Prince commented on it directly during an interview. Where he stated the reason he didn't swear was because his friends brought their children to his shows. Which is understandable in a way, but at the same time, why would his friends bring their kids to see someone who's obviously at the more adult end of the pop spectrum.

cool!

maybe because all his other amazing qualities to emulate so outshine any 'adult' themes that might seem questionable 4 children?

I feel like what attracts me to prince is his multitalent, mystique, multilayered meaning and so much more... and the sexual themes and cussin were just on the perimeter of my idea of him, just something on the surface to engage everyone's prejudgement. just something i mostly looked past in listening to the voices and instruments. i've experienced that word choice creates one's future, so was glad to see prince change what he wanted to change. i'm always rewriting songs to be better and better. they're his songs, parts of his soul, and he has a right to evolve them/himself.

Personally, I don't like profanity used in music. Prince said he wasn't proud of things he did early in his career. I think we all go through that "phase" in our life, but we evolve, grow and learn from our experiences. He stopped cursing too, which I think was very commendable.

I was glad when he cleaned up his music. Prince was super talented and did not need to add cursing and vulgarity to make his music great.

While I have no problem with him not using curse words in his new music, I do feel his use of curses in some of his old songs gave them a particular edge that they wouldn't have had "clean." I mean, "I sincerely want to make love the taste out of your mouth" or even "I sincerely want to bang the taste out of your mouth" just doesn't have the same memorable punch as that one carefully dropped word, you know?

-

I think it's fine if he didn't want to perform those kind of lines anymore, and I get there's a different impact in a 50+ year old singing vs. a 25-year-old, but I don't think there's any shame in many of those songs (there are some exceptions where I think his use of curse words was a little sloppy).

Damn right, I missed his swearing. Yes I did, because when he was swearing, it actually meant something in the concept and context of the songs and wasn't there just to fill in the word count or because he couldn't think of anything else to say. As what seems to be the case with most songs that contain swearing in them today.

Besides, nobody and I do mean NOBODY could say, "I sincerely want to fuck the taste out of your mouth." And make that sound so deliciously inviting as Prince could.

I think he was playing it safe from 2001 to 2004-2005 but he always had that "charm", it never left

I don't know if this means anything but i noticed during Girls & Boys on P&M tours, he would say "ass" and even though it's not so much of a swear/vulgar word...I could of sworn he wouldn't say it when he performed G&B years prior and thought it was kind of shocking it to hear him say it now