didn't see anyone mention "gold standard" yet... sure sounds like somethings being smoked there!!

Chaos And Disorder

Not a song, but the "Doctor" on the cover of the ATWIAD album holding the "ladder" in his hand.

"Dr. Everything'll be alright, will make everything go wrong, pills and thrills and daffodils will kill."

From Fascination:

And the headache that you moan about feels much better than the treatment would
The pills gonna leave a side effect
That'll take another pill to correct
And the whole thing is leaving you feeling less than good
And you still high

donnyenglish said:

SanMartin said:

TwiliteKid said:

donnyenglish said: There are no drug references in June - only some crackpot theory that it's a reference to the horse line in SOTT.

It doesn't seem too crackpot to me. It was never unusual for Prince to make direct or indirect allusions to previous songs, and it seems fairly obvious that the burning pasta in June has a deeper meaning (though I have yet to figure out what). Just to clarify, I'm not by any means saying the song is actually about horse, but a Sign o' the Times reference -which isn't exactly an obscure reference to make- wouldn't have to be taken literally.

Then you're a crackpot (I KID!) -- but I don't think it's "fairly obvious" that the pasta line has a deeper meaning at all.

rogifan said:

I'm not exactly what the OP means by "going there". Are there any drug references in his music that would be considered pro-drugs?

I think they mean considering Prince died of drugs, specifically pills, that it could be a sensitive topic to approach right now. I don't think the OP was saying Prince was pro-drugs in his songs, or was advocating for their recreational use. But just in general, maybe they thought others figured it might be insensitive. I don't think it is - it's a conversation for us all to have, and maybe even remember a song we forgot about it, reading through the post.

SanMartin said:

TwiliteKid said:

donnyenglish said: There are no drug references in June - only some crackpot theory that it's a reference to the horse line in SOTT.

It doesn't seem too crackpot to me. It was never unusual for Prince to make direct or indirect allusions to previous songs, and it seems fairly obvious that the burning pasta in June has a deeper meaning (though I have yet to figure out what). Just to clarify, I'm not by any means saying the song is actually about horse, but a Sign o' the Times reference -which isn't exactly an obscure reference to make- wouldn't have to be taken literally.

I also think it's a reference to Sign O The Times. Only because nothing else makes any sense and it would be a very Prince thing to do - to reference his own song, he did it numerous times.

lynx said:

SanMartin said:

It doesn't seem too crackpot to me. It was never unusual for Prince to make direct or indirect allusions to previous songs, and it seems fairly obvious that the burning pasta in June has a deeper meaning (though I have yet to figure out what). Just to clarify, I'm not by any means saying the song is actually about horse, but a Sign o' the Times reference -which isn't exactly an obscure reference to make- wouldn't have to be taken literally.

I also think it's a reference to Sign O The Times. Only because nothing else makes any sense and it would be a very Prince thing to do - to reference his own song, he did it numerous times.

Really? NOTHING else makes sense? How about the fact that the song was recorded in June?

Cold Coffee And Cocaine

TwiliteKid said:

SanMartin said:

It doesn't seem too crackpot to me. It was never unusual for Prince to make direct or indirect allusions to previous songs, and it seems fairly obvious that the burning pasta in June has a deeper meaning (though I have yet to figure out what). Just to clarify, I'm not by any means saying the song is actually about horse, but a Sign o' the Times reference -which isn't exactly an obscure reference to make- wouldn't have to be taken literally.

Then you're a crackpot (I KID!) -- but I don't think it's "fairly obvious" that the pasta line has a deeper meaning at all.

The reason I say it's obvious is that the first line of the song is "Pasta simmers on the stove in June/makes no sense yet but it will soon". Prince explicitly tells us it has a symbolic meaning.

.

I've been thinking about this a bit today, and for now my interpretation is that the pasta serves as a simple day-to-day example of Prince's feeling somehow excluded from the normal passage of time (thus he lets the pasta burn) as well as the time he lived in (the lack of interest in celebrity birthdays, for example, or wishing he had been born -or spiritually reborn- in another decade).

.

If that's so, it's not too far-fetched to suggest that the very end of the song when, seemingly surprised, Prince recalls what month it is, might be a reference to SOTT. After all, apart from being one of his most famous songs and an easy reference, SOTT is also about a feeling of alienation with respect to the time we live in.

.

Obviously I could be completely wrong. Maybe you're right and we're literally just dealing with some burnt spaghetti. But Prince's lyrics are rarely as ambiguous as they are in June, and this is a song that's very much open to interpretation.

Dream Factory nobody mentions this song. Pop Life

TwiliteKid said:

lynx said:

I also think it's a reference to Sign O The Times. Only because nothing else makes any sense and it would be a very Prince thing to do - to reference his own song, he did it numerous times.

Really? NOTHING else makes sense? How about the fact that the song was recorded in June?

Because in June, the Earth is at its Northernmost pivot towards the sun - they named a tropic after it. Heck, the man was born in June he was probably rapping about his mom and dad!

[Edited 11/10/16 16:49pm]

am i missing something?

i dont get the drug reference in that??!?

getwild180 said:

Let's give a toast to the host with the most. Jam of The Year.

[Edited 11/10/16 17:17pm]

The love we make. Put down the needle, put down the spoon.

luvsexy4all said:

TwiliteKid said:

lynx said:

I also think it's a reference to Sign O The Times. Only because nothing else makes any sense and it would be a very Prince thing to do - to reference his own song, he did it numerous times.

Really? NOTHING else makes sense? How about the fact that the song was recorded in June?

Well yeah, it's a long shot I know. Maybe Prince was considering entering rehab about his drug problem and this was his way of singing about it?

Purple Rain is the obvious one.

.

superfunkycalifragisexy

of all the ones listed I think this is at the top of the list..... right????

Poorlovelycomputer said:

Prince was able to hide his drinking or whatever he was doing for years. It started to show in the 90's [Edited 11/11/16 7:10am]

You need to knock off your trolling. Jesse Johnson said Prince could not hold his liquir and was clowned by the guys in the Time and people who worked for him at Paisley Park said he would not allow liquer in the building. No one thinks he never had a drink or even smoked some weed in his entire life but you do not work at the pace and quality that he did being an alcoholic or drug addict.

I belive he was problem with pain meds was due to pain. I don't know how anyone can look at this work history and belive he addiction issues for 20 or 35 years.

darkroman said:

Purple Rain is the obvious one.

.

How so? Do you think Purple Rain is a drug?

I don't think June is about drugs.
.

It seems to me that it's about himself, his life, his yearning for normality, his loneliness, and reaching the end of his life.
.

The first line - 'Pasta simmers on the stove in June
Makes no sense yet, but it will soon' - is about himself, surely?
.

HE is the pasta; he was born in June - and at that point, his life / talents / reason for being born make no sense: his talent, his life's work is simmering, just waiting to be revealed, or 'served up'. And in addition, he has suggested many times that we only really come to understand our purpose in life once we're dead and meet our maker; in the grand scheme of the universe, 57 years of life to death IS soon; it's a mere blip!
.

The next few lines - 'Conversation starters come way too hard
Nobody wants to be the martyr,
playin' the wrong cards' - don't necessarily have to be about a lover, but just about him wanting to make amends for past wrongs; someone to whom he hasn't spoken in a long time.
.

'Why did you come to this planet?
Why did you come to this life?
How can you be everybody's dream,
and still be somebody's wife?
Tell me, what did you have for lunch today?
That's right, how would I know?
How would I know?'

.
I think he is questioning HIMSELF, rather than anyone else: it's a commonly used artifice, the rhetorical device of referring to oneself in the second person; he is looking at himself / his life from an objective perspective; struggling to understand the reason for existence...I'd go further and say that even the reference to 'wife' is about himself - how can a person be 'known', adored, loved, a figment of everybody's fantasies, and yet also be a REAL person, trying to lead a normal life?
.

'You are off somewhere, being free
while I starve in the lonesome cold.
Our bodies got used to each other
Now they're used to the sound
of Richie Havens' voice on the vinyl,
spinning round and round, round and round
Sometimes I feel I was born way too late
Shoulda been born on the Woodstock stage'


I wondered if the above segment was about the freedom of the after-life (death) compared to the 'lonesome cold' of living. This might be a stretch, but I wondered if he was thinking about his mother...Their bodies did get used to each other, as he grew in her belly, but now all he has is the sentiment expressed in Richie Havens's version of 'Motherless Child'. He is lonely, in emotional (and physical?) pain and it goes on and on and on.

.
The lyrics of 'Motherless Child' also include the repeated refrain, 'A long ways from home' - and we know that Prince yearned for a 'Way Back Home' - to his Mother, to heaven, to God. Like the other stars 'born' on the Woodstock stage who have already passed, he wonders if he is living in the wrong time, and that surely NOW it must be up? Surely now he can go and join them and be free? (It's worth bearing in mind that Richie Havens's 'Motherless Child', as performed on the Woodstock stage, is also known as 'Freedom' - and Prince is clearly yearning for it), 'But I'm just here, waitin', and waitin', and waitin''.
.

'Somebody famous had a birthday today
All I saw was another full moon'
.

Prince chooses to objectify himself, this time using the third person - he is the famous person who has had yet another birthday (something he refused to acknowledge, as a JW); all he sees is yet another day / night passing - and he has become weary of it. His use of the third person here is interesting - it suggests he has no real love for his fame; he recognises it as fleeting, meaningless, artificial - and he is so tired of being seen as 'famous, 'everybody's dream' - instead of a real person, a real person who is lonely and yearning to be free...
.

'What's that?
Something's burning on the stove
Must be the pasta
Must be the pasta
Oh yeah, it's June'
.

He is brought back to the realisation that he (the pasta) is still here; it's June - another month of life here on Earth has passed - but he is 'burning', past his best; his life is coming to an end. He is resigned to the fact that he is still here, but the suggestion is that it won't be long.

.

Wow, this is intense Dibblekins. Need some time to think this over.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Dibblekins said:

I don't think June is about drugs.
.

It seems to me that it's about himself, his life, his yearning for normality, his loneliness, and reaching the end of his life.
.

The first line - 'Pasta simmers on the stove in June
Makes no sense yet, but it will soon' - is about himself, surely?
.

HE is the pasta; he was born in June - and at that point, his life / talents / reason for being born make no sense: his talent, his life's work is simmering, just waiting to be revealed, or 'served up'. And in addition, he has suggested many times that we only really come to understand our purpose in life once we're dead and meet our maker; in the grand scheme of the universe, 57 years of life to death IS soon; it's a mere blip!
.

The next few lines - 'Conversation starters come way too hard
Nobody wants to be the martyr,
playin' the wrong cards' - don't necessarily have to be about a lover, but just about him wanting to make amends for past wrongs; someone to whom he hasn't spoken in a long time.
.

'Why did you come to this planet?
Why did you come to this life?
How can you be everybody's dream,
and still be somebody's wife?
Tell me, what did you have for lunch today?
That's right, how would I know?
How would I know?'

.
I think he is questioning HIMSELF, rather than anyone else: it's a commonly used artifice, the rhetorical device of referring to oneself in the second person; he is looking at himself / his life from an objective perspective; struggling to understand the reason for existence...I'd go further and say that even the reference to 'wife' is about himself - how can a person be 'known', adored, loved, a figment of everybody's fantasies, and yet also be a REAL person, trying to lead a normal life?
.

'You are off somewhere, being free
while I starve in the lonesome cold.
Our bodies got used to each other
Now they're used to the sound
of Richie Havens' voice on the vinyl,
spinning round and round, round and round
Sometimes I feel I was born way too late
Shoulda been born on the Woodstock stage'


I wondered if the above segment was about the freedom of the after-life (death) compared to the 'lonesome cold' of living. This might be a stretch, but I wondered if he was thinking about his mother...Their bodies did get used to each other, as he grew in her belly, but now all he has is the sentiment expressed in Richie Havens's version of 'Motherless Child'. He is lonely, in emotional (and physical?) pain and it goes on and on and on.

.
The lyrics of 'Motherless Child' also include the repeated refrain, 'A long ways from home' - and we know that Prince yearned for a 'Way Back Home' - to his Mother, to heaven, to God. Like the other stars 'born' on the Woodstock stage who have already passed, he wonders if he is living in the wrong time, and that surely NOW it must be up? Surely now he can go and join them and be free? (It's worth bearing in mind that Richie Havens's 'Motherless Child', as performed on the Woodstock stage, is also known as 'Freedom' - and Prince is clearly yearning for it), 'But I'm just here, waitin', and waitin', and waitin''.
.

'Somebody famous had a birthday today
All I saw was another full moon'
.

Prince chooses to objectify himself, this time using the third person - he is the famous person who has had yet another birthday (something he refused to acknowledge, as a JW); all he sees is yet another day / night passing - and he has become weary of it. His use of the third person here is interesting - it suggests he has no real love for his fame; he recognises it as fleeting, meaningless, artificial - and he is so tired of being seen as 'famous, 'everybody's dream' - instead of a real person, a real person who is lonely and yearning to be free...
.

'What's that?
Something's burning on the stove
Must be the pasta
Must be the pasta
Oh yeah, it's June'
.

He is brought back to the realisation that he (the pasta) is still here; it's June - another month of life here on Earth has passed - but he is 'burning', past his best; his life is coming to an end. He is resigned to the fact that he is still here, but the suggestion is that it won't be long.

.

[Edited 11/13/16 4:50am]