Honest to God, where do y'all get these things?

You can always reference PrinceVault.com about these things, of course.

It's just a religious song, and oddly when you google the lyrics, a lot of JW references come up. It's probably just a religious song within the sect itself.

I see themes he used--ones he used long before he became involved with the Witnesses specifically--but not in any remarkable way that strikes me as "Princely." There were rumors that he'd recorded guitar for some Kingdom Songs recordings a few years back--I can't remember titles, but I know there were videos of them out there. I didn't hear anything distinctively him on those either. But that doesn't prove anything either way--he could I'm sure perform and write capably but "anonymous-sounding" if he wanted to.

But I doubt he had anything to do with this.

It would only appear on the Princevault site after it had been pretty well established that he was involved (whether the contribution was officially credited or not). There have been things where others involved in a recording have explicitly said he took part in the creation of a track that still haven't shown up there. That's not a complaint--they just want to be conservative in their attributions in order to keep things from getting out of control. But it's always a good place to start when you have this type of question (if only so you can say at the beginning of the question, "I looked on Princevault and it didn't say anything, but...").

The idea that he would write something for the Witnesses to use makes sense to me. As a fan, I'd certainly be interested in hearing anything that could be confirmed to be his. That said, people hear Prince in lots of things he doesn't seem to have been part of.

wildgoldenhoney said:

All the songs in the JW song book are written anonymously by various witnesses. But it's just the timing of it. Previous to this new book coming out (maybe a year or so before it came out in 2009) Prince visited the JW headquarters in Brooklyn and 'dropped something off'. I never thought anything about that visit but when the song book came out, this song made me wonder since it's a bit different than other songs in the book. If he wrote it, he definitely wouldn't leave his signature on it but would write it with the fact that we sing this in our Kingdom Halls in mind. And i figured that since he writes love songs that if anything, he would write a live song for the book. Idk, I just thought that Prince fans would be able to recognize his style of writing, maybe? And why would it be in the Prince vault if he wrote it anonymously? . [Edited 10/10/16 20:46pm]

It would make sense that he wrote something for them considering how strong his faith was, and this is the guy who wrote Purple & Gold so he could go for old timey-stately if the mood took him. It'd be kind of cool if he had written a few hymns anonymously for the JW.

Listening on the website there its not a million miles away from some of the stuff he's done in the 2000's, but it's also similar to hymns i'd know in general. What makes it a bit different to the other songs sung by the JW? I'm not a member so wouldn't have a clue how/if their hymns differ musically to other christian denominations.

[Edited 10/10/16 22:01pm]

I have always wished he did as some of the new songs were not so good. I did read somewhere where he re-worked them then got into trouble due to copyright.

I also used to wonder if he cringed when he heard some of them and was re-arranging them in his head? He said once he cannot listen to someone else's song without doing that.

I bet there are some lovely Kingdom Melodies he did do though in that vault.........

[Edited 10/10/16 23:37pm]

After reading the lyrics and listening to the YT video, I can't possibly see any reason in the world why this could, or should, be attributed to Prince any more than any other random gospel song.

Could he have composed it? Well I guess anything is possible, after all he did write Purple & Gold.

Is there anything in that song that suggests he did compose it? No.

Some people have way too much imagination.

OperatingThetan said:

I was once given an album in the early 2000s that included Prince covering the JW song 'Life Without End At Last' as an instrumental. It was unmistakeably Prince and utilised many of his sounds at the time. The entire album seemed to have been organised by George Benson & friends, and Prince reportedly also guested on other tracks, though this was not obvious to me. The album was never released as the Watchtower Society didn't approve of the new versions.

U still do have it, don't u?

It's got to be Prince based on the sexual nature of the lyrics:

"Bone of my bone"

"provided a partner"

"now we can be... together"

"Seasons of joy, may we come/cum"

Yep, subtle nasty Prince to the core.

cb70 said:

It's got to be Prince based on the sexual nature of the lyrics:

"Bone of my bone"

"Bone of my bone/Flesh of my flesh" He used that on "God created woman". They're biblical referrences.

"provided a partner"

How is this prince-related?

"now we can be... together"

Well now I'm sold... unless someone can name another human who enjoys companionship

"Seasons of joy, may we come/cum"

You're re-writing things to try and make it fit.

Yep, subtle nasty Prince to the core.

No.

cb70 said:

It's got to be Prince based on the sexual nature of the lyrics:

"Bone of my bone"

"provided a partner"

"now we can be... together"

"Seasons of joy, may we come/cum"

Yep, subtle nasty Prince to the core.

Quit trying to force your beliefs over reality, embrace reality as it is instead. This is the key to sanity and happiness.

pah said:

If you simply read the lyrics of many Prince songs, they wouldn't seem to "work" as poetry. Both the rhyming patterns and the meter are frequently odd when read aloud, even though they sound great when sung. Ve

C'mon man, this vision of poetry by the meter has been given up on a century ago. Poetry isn't even required to rhyme anymore.

databank said:

OperatingThetan said:

I was once given an album in the early 2000s that included Prince covering the JW song 'Life Without End At Last' as an instrumental. It was unmistakeably Prince and utilised many of his sounds at the time. The entire album seemed to have been organised by George Benson & friends, and Prince reportedly also guested on other tracks, though this was not obvious to me. The album was never released as the Watchtower Society didn't approve of the new versions.

That was the one I found before! I didn't get a download of it but I did listen a couple of times before it disappeared from where I found it. If he's on it, I'd love to hear it again (well, more than hear, obviously). I wasn't convinced he was on it, but now that you mention the Benson connection, I'm more curious.

EddieC said:

OperatingThetan said:

EddieC said:

That was the one I found before! I didn't get a download of it but I did listen a couple of times before it disappeared from where I found it. If he's on it, I'd love to hear it again (well, more than hear, obviously). I wasn't convinced he was on it, but now that you mention the Benson connection, I'm more curious.

I wasn't convinced he was on all the tracks. I lost my copy in a very messy personal situation, but at least you can verify it existed because otherwise I'll probably be accused of inventing it any minute

I've never heard of it, so I can't verify unless it's listed on Princevault (if not I suggest u contacxt them), but I'm gonna take ur word for it.

A pity u lost it, it would cost a small fortune now on ebay (+ u could leak it for fellow fans)

pah said:

databank said:

C'mon man, this vision of poetry by the meter has been given up on a century ago. Poetry isn't even required to rhyme anymore.

Let me clarify. Poetry hasn't had to rhyme or have a strict meter for a long time, you're right. But hymns -- and even a lot of contemporary Christian music -- still generally do. They tend to be a lot more traditional, poetically speaking (and, frankly, in most other musical ways). That makes this hymn stand out to me, but it doesn't mean it's Prince. Just something they have in common. Like you say, plenty of other (secular) music doesn't follow traditional rules for poetry. Oh, and I'm a woman. EDIT: for clarification [Edited 10/11/16 8:27am]

Looking around, I see several earlier discussions on Prince.org about Life Without End At Last, going back at least to 2004. And then there are several other places its mentioned (often by JW's who seem to be playing it for each other) There are lots of different versions of its history as well.

I've also found a possible place where some of us might already have it in our collections. According to several tracklistings, it looks like "Life Without End At Last" is on CD 4 (the one with all the Computer Blues) of Vol. 9 of the Expanded edition of The Work. I don't know for sure, because I can't check my drive right now, but I think I have that. So I'll find out later.

wildgoldenhoney said:

All the songs in the JW song book are written anonymously by various witnesses. But it's just the timing of it. Previous to this new book coming out (maybe a year or so before it came out in 2009) Prince visited the JW headquarters in Brooklyn and 'dropped something off'. I never thought anything about that visit but when the song book came out, this song made me wonder since it's a bit different than other songs in the book. If he wrote it, he definitely wouldn't leave his signature on it but would write it with the fact that we sing this in our Kingdom Halls in mind. And i figured that since he writes love songs that if anything, he would write a live song for the book. Idk, I just thought that Prince fans would be able to recognize his style of writing, maybe? And why would it be in the Prince vault if he wrote it anonymously? . [Edited 10/10/16 20:46pm]

Isn't that interesting he actually went to you alls headquarters...

Well--my The Work Expanded only has 2 discs for Volume 9, and no sign of Life Without End At Last.

So. That's frustrating.

Astasheiks said:

wildgoldenhoney said:

All the songs in the JW song book are written anonymously by various witnesses. But it's just the timing of it. Previous to this new book coming out (maybe a year or so before it came out in 2009) Prince visited the JW headquarters in Brooklyn and 'dropped something off'. I never thought anything about that visit but when the song book came out, this song made me wonder since it's a bit different than other songs in the book. If he wrote it, he definitely wouldn't leave his signature on it but would write it with the fact that we sing this in our Kingdom Halls in mind. And i figured that since he writes love songs that if anything, he would write a live song for the book. Idk, I just thought that Prince fans would be able to recognize his style of writing, maybe? And why would it be in the Prince vault if he wrote it anonymously? . [Edited 10/10/16 20:46pm]

Isn't that interesting he actually went to you alls headquarters...

It'd be interesting to know when that was. It'd also be interesting to know how it's known he "dropped something off". Even more interesting to know why it's refered to as "something" as opposed to "A CD".