A few thoughts on the track “June”, a track I always found special and clearly his most personal statement in his final few years… I believe on this track Prince was telling us he was going to die soon.
“It’s June”, the last lyric on the track, can be regarded as a reference to “Sign O The Times” - when he describes a “cousin” who was on a spiralling drug habit. Now, of course as far as we know P was not doing illegal drugs, but we now know he was facing a serious addiction to painkillers. Therefore, I see the word “June” not literally as the month of June, but as a metaphor for his state of growing addiction that he knew he could no longer control.

...
The track opens with the words “Pasta simmers on the stove in June” - I read it as “I’m living a desolate personal life, not eating properly, not taking care of myself while trapped in a growing state of addiction”.

Then he says “Makes no sense yet, but it will soon” - I think he meant we would not be able to understand the metaphor until he was gone and his final days would be scrutinized - we would then understand what the lyrics meant.
...

I also think that, in a way, the concept of a “Hit n Run” series of albums could be a sort of pre-emptive epitaph: he knew he would not last long under his secluded state of addiction, and may have decided to streamline his archives until at some point he would be gone. There would have been a phase 3, a phase 4, depending on how long he would be able to endure his situation… but what I see is there was no attempt to create a unique concept for each release, a coherent vision on each of the albums - it’s like AOA was meant to be his final conceptual statement, and everything else afterwards was going to be a series of footnotes.

...
Just a few thoughts on a track I still find haunting, and an intriguing approach to his final releases… Depression, pain, loneliness... it feels like he didn't know how to get himself out of this situation, and therefore accepted his coming fate

[Edited 5/3/17 15:07pm]

You are reading too much into this

To each his own, but you could make a double album of Prince songs that reference death and the afterlife. It wasn't something new on AOA.

Sweetie, get a hobby. Seriously.

Agreed, Doozer, to each his/her own. But let me say Genesia, I have plenty of hobbies and a busy life... and see nothing wrong with trying to interpret lyrics and metaphors. Just as people can discuss tracklists, releases, photos, etc, why not analyse the meaning of lyrics? You may or may not agree with the proposed interpretations, but please refrain from sarcasm; to my knowledge I said nothing offensive.

[Edited 5/3/17 15:15pm]

hyperpessimist, I thought the same thing myself. In fact, when I first heard the track, I thought it kind of seemed like he was saying that.

thedoorkeeper said:

Why would the month of June be a metaphor for his drug addiction?

On SoTT he sings "In September my cousin tried riefer for the very first time, now he's doing horse... it's June" - so maybe he was using "June" as a way of quoting the classic SoTT lyric about addiction. He was often cryptic, as we know, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch.

Damn, will you just stop this shit already! Prince had no plans to die... He had a lot left he wanted to do.

purplethunder3121 said:

Damn, will you just stop this shit already! Prince had no plans to die... He had a lot left he wanted to do.

Not saying he had plans to die... wanting to die and feeling trapped are two different things.

Genesia said:

Sweetie, get a hobby. Seriously.

says the user with 26 000 posts

purplethunder3121 said:

hyperpessimist said:

A few thoughts on the track “June”, a track I always found special and clearly his most personal statement in his final few years… I believe on this track Prince was telling us he was going to die soon.
“It’s June”, the last lyric on the track, can be regarded as a reference to “Sign O The Times” - when he describes a “cousin” who was on a spiralling drug habit. Now, of course as far as we know P was not doing illegal drugs, but we now know he was facing a serious addiction to painkillers. Therefore, I see the word “June” not literally as the month of June, but as a metaphor for his state of growing addiction that he knew he could no longer control.

...
The track opens with the words “Pasta simmers on the stove in June” - I read it as “I’m living a desolate personal life, not eating properly, not taking care of myself while trapped in a growing state of addiction”.

Then he says “Makes no sense yet, but it will soon” - I think he meant we would not be able to understand the metaphor until he was gone and his final days would be scrutinized - we would then understand what the lyrics meant.
...

I also think that, in a way, the concept of a “Hit n Run” series of albums could be a sort of pre-emptive epitaph: he knew he would not last long under his secluded state of addiction, and may have decided to streamline his archives until at some point he would be gone. There would have been a phase 3, a phase 4, depending on how long he would be able to endure his situation… but what I see is there was no attempt to create a unique concept for each release, a coherent vision on each of the albums - it’s like AOA was meant to be his final conceptual statement, and everything else afterwards was going to be a series of footnotes.

...
Just a few thoughts on a track I still find haunting, and an intriguing approach to his final releases… Depression, pain, loneliness... it feels like he didn't know how to get himself out of this situation, and therefore accepted his coming fate

[Edited 5/3/17 15:07pm]

I agree 100%. Each time i listen to this track, this is exactly what i think !

there was a lot of discussion here on the org

Listen to 'JUNE', I think it could be Prince's 'Blackstar'

luv4u said:

You are reading too much into this

Mods, you can edit this however you want, but I'm typing it anyway.

You folks, and this goes only for the ones doing it, need to stop romanticizing his death. There's nothing romantic about dying in an elevator, alone. Stop reading into shit to try and make sense of it. It doesn't make sense at all, yet it makes perfect sense. You people act like he planned to lay his narrow ass down in that elevator and give up the ghost, and he left messages from over two years before as a trail of breadcrumbs. Who the fuck does that?! It's stupid, far-reaching, and frankly disrespectful. He knew he was going to die? Pumpkin, we all know that. That's not some princely revelation.

The death of a genius doesn't make sense, because he had so much more in him. His has logic in it because he was addicted to a very powerful medication, and had other stuff in his possession that was even stronger and under the guise of aspirin or something lesser.

As someone noted, you can make an album of songs about death. He was as fascinated with death as he was life and the afterworld, spirituality, etc. Go listen to his music. ALL of it. He was Prince front to back: spiritual, religious, sexual, funny, sexy, wanted to fuck, wanted to lick a vagina, wanted to submit, wanted to rule the world, braggart, humble, political, social, or just funky. AOA was nothing different in that regard. "June" had as much meaning as "Crystal Ball" or "All My Dreams" or "1999" or "I Would Die 4 U".

Maneuver in the truth, not conjecture, conspiracy theories, or other such bullshit. Just stop.

Well said.

TrivialPursuit said:

luv4u said:

You are reading too much into this

Mods, you can edit this however you want, but I'm typing it anyway.

You folks, and this goes only for the ones doing it, need to stop romanticizing his death. There's nothing romantic about dying in an elevator, alone. Stop reading into shit to try and make sense of it. It doesn't make sense at all, yet it makes perfect sense. You people act like he planned to lay his narrow ass down in that elevator and give up the ghost, and he left messages from over two years before as a trail of breadcrumbs. Who the fuck does that?! It's stupid, far-reaching, and frankly disrespectful. He knew he was going to die? Pumpkin, we all know that. That's not some princely revelation.

The death of a genius doesn't make sense, because he had so much more in him. His has logic in it because he was addicted to a very powerful medication, and had other stuff in his possession that was even stronger and under the guise of aspirin or something lesser.

As someone noted, you can make an album of songs about death. He was as fascinated with death as he was life and the afterworld, spirituality, etc. Go listen to his music. ALL of it. He was Prince front to back: spiritual, religious, sexual, funny, sexy, wanted to fuck, wanted to lick a vagina, wanted to submit, wanted to rule the world, braggart, humble, political, social, or just funky. AOA was nothing different in that regard. "June" had as much meaning as "Crystal Ball" or "All My Dreams" or "1999" or "I Would Die 4 U".

Maneuver in the truth, not conjecture, conspiracy theories, or other such bullshit. Just stop.

I agree with everything you said, however folks grieve in their own way, so comments "trying to rationize, romantize, someone's passing is just how some folks deal with loss. Folks will take comfort in whatever they take comfort in. It's best to just let them be.

[Edited 5/3/17 18:08pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

luv4u said:

You are reading too much into this

Mods, you can edit this however you want, but I'm typing it anyway.

You folks, and this goes only for the ones doing it, need to stop romanticizing his death. There's nothing romantic about dying in an elevator, alone. Stop reading into shit to try and make sense of it. It doesn't make sense at all, yet it makes perfect sense. You people act like he planned to lay his narrow ass down in that elevator and give up the ghost, and he left messages from over two years before as a trail of breadcrumbs. Who the fuck does that?! It's stupid, far-reaching, and frankly disrespectful. He knew he was going to die? Pumpkin, we all know that. That's not some princely revelation.

The death of a genius doesn't make sense, because he had so much more in him. His has logic in it because he was addicted to a very powerful medication, and had other stuff in his possession that was even stronger and under the guise of aspirin or something lesser.

As someone noted, you can make an album of songs about death. He was as fascinated with death as he was life and the afterworld, spirituality, etc. Go listen to his music. ALL of it. He was Prince front to back: spiritual, religious, sexual, funny, sexy, wanted to fuck, wanted to lick a vagina, wanted to submit, wanted to rule the world, braggart, humble, political, social, or just funky. AOA was nothing different in that regard. "June" had as much meaning as "Crystal Ball" or "All My Dreams" or "1999" or "I Would Die 4 U".

Maneuver in the truth, not conjecture, conspiracy theories, or other such bullshit. Just stop.

purpleshadow said:

laytonian said:

Well if we take what everyone says here as truth, literally every single song he wrote, every picture on Instagram, and every thing he said in between songs in shows the past few years are all him telling us he is going to die. Sometimes lyrics are just lyrics, and not everything has to be a prediction of one's own death.

ForceofNature said:

Well if we take what everyone says here as truth, literally every single song he wrote, every picture on Instagram, and every thing he said in between songs in shows the past few years are all him telling us he is going to die. Sometimes lyrics are just lyrics, and not everything has to be a prediction of one's own death.

Sure, it does. Remember when he tweeted that picture of wisps of smoke and called it his first selfie? That was foreshadowing the smoke from his cremation.

hyperpessimist said:

thedoorkeeper said:

Why would the month of June be a metaphor for his drug addiction?

On SoTT he sings "In September my cousin tried riefer for the very first time, now he's doing horse... it's June" - so maybe he was using "June" as a way of quoting the classic SoTT lyric about addiction. He was often cryptic, as we know, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch.

its June..he is addicted...like the cousin

TrivialPursuit said:

luv4u said:

You are reading too much into this

Mods, you can edit this however you want, but I'm typing it anyway.

You folks, and this goes only for the ones doing it, need to stop romanticizing his death. There's nothing romantic about dying in an elevator, alone. Stop reading into shit to try and make sense of it. It doesn't make sense at all, yet it makes perfect sense. You people act like he planned to lay his narrow ass down in that elevator and give up the ghost, and he left messages from over two years before as a trail of breadcrumbs. Who the fuck does that?! It's stupid, far-reaching, and frankly disrespectful. He knew he was going to die? Pumpkin, we all know that. That's not some princely revelation.

The death of a genius doesn't make sense, because he had so much more in him. His has logic in it because he was addicted to a very powerful medication, and had other stuff in his possession that was even stronger and under the guise of aspirin or something lesser.

As someone noted, you can make an album of songs about death. He was as fascinated with death as he was life and the afterworld, spirituality, etc. Go listen to his music. ALL of it. He was Prince front to back: spiritual, religious, sexual, funny, sexy, wanted to fuck, wanted to lick a vagina, wanted to submit, wanted to rule the world, braggart, humble, political, social, or just funky. AOA was nothing different in that regard. "June" had as much meaning as "Crystal Ball" or "All My Dreams" or "1999" or "I Would Die 4 U".

Maneuver in the truth, not conjecture, conspiracy theories, or other such bullshit. Just stop.

Well said

hyperpessimist said:

I think he had a feeling he might pass away . Something literally went on or is going to go in in JUNE. Maybe something happened the last June he was alive. Maybe he is pointing to the PR release coming out in June. All I know is when I listen to the song, I get a little angry .