McD said:

4. Prince never completely moved on from AOA. He released two subsequent records, but both re-used the AOA artwork. And, of course, were called Hit'n'Run. Was he going to keep banging these out until the music stopped? Without much of a care on how long it took, but mindful to put a full stop at the end of each album? Maybe a push, but a consideration.

As with many of his albums, as discussed earlier in ths thread.

Thanks McD, you articulated it perfectly. I was not aware of a previous discussion...

Again, IMHO it's not about solving a big puzzle, but yes, in retrospect I do feel we got quite a few clues (in lyrics, artwork, statements) that pointed towards what ended up happening. We just didn't have enough info to decipher them... And death always feels unlikely/impossible until it actually happens... The whole tailend of his life will most likely be shrouded in mystery forever, but hey, all Life is a mystery.

"It's June"...

[Edited 5/5/17 13:05pm]

TheEnglishGent said:

About the song June. I agree with hyperpessimist that there is nothing wrong with trying to interpret lyrics and metaphors and share this on the community.

Prince talked about his personal life through his music and lyrics. So it’s not that strange we try to understand his lyrics, have different opinions, disagree and sometimes speculatate about it.

The lyrics of ‘June’ are vague. It is clearly an introspective song about reminiscing, just like Reflection, The Breakdown and Way Back Home. Songs which are about his life. The lyrics of these songs I think are more direct.

This is just my interpretation and I respect and like to hear everyone’s else’s. I think the pasta burning is a metaphor. Why would he write about burned pasta and add that it makes no sense yet, but will soon? Does it make sense now? Does Prince wants this to make sense to us, besides the fact that in the song his mind is drifting away and he forgot about the pasta? This seems too simple to me in this specific song. These are questions that came to mind already the first time I listened to it.

In the song June the pasta on the fire was not paid attention to, so it got worse over time. The pasta got burned. Usage of pills for pain relief could lead to a ‘problem’ over time if it was not paid attention to carefully. I’m not implying Prince knew was going to die. We do not know this, so I do not speculate. However his health did go in the wrong direction based on what we know. It would not be totally unthinkable that he would write lyrics about this personal situation.

Combine this with the ‘oh yeah, It’s June’ lyrical reference to Sign O The Times‘. it’s June, I think means: a ‘situation’ which started in the past got worse over time and possibly cannot be solved because it's too late. In a 2015 rehearsal which MonoNeon shared it sounds like June was going to segue into Sign O The Times which you hear Prince mention in this rehearsal. I think this is another clue these 2 songs are somehow connected lyrically.

[Edited 5/5/17 14:38pm]

TheEnglishGent said:

McD said:

It was discussed here when Prince died... http://prince.org/msg/7/423773 Whilst I can see why people would despair of others reading things into song lyrics, I think there is enough evidence here to suggest something was going on.

1. The song TELLS you it's a mystery to be solved, unlike the rest. The idea that the mystery is solved next in the song, so Prince is essentially singing 'this is a line of a song, here's the next', seems redundant.

I agree to an extent. There's enough to suggest something might have been going on. Theres about a hundred other songs in his discography you could do the same with if they were his last song released though. You could do this with songs from 1982.

2. Prince was in a VERY BAD WAY when this came out, and, I'm going to assume, when recorded. He didn't suddenly nosedive as some thought in 2016. This was confirmed in Mayte's book

He may have been in a bad way he may not have been in a bad way. It's all conjecture based on half truths, allusions from people who don't know themselves and the org's poor analysis of badly taken photos.

3. AOA feels like a goodbye record. It's quite explicit in parts. Without mentioning the album, Tyka claims Prince told her he was 'done' when this came out and she thought he wasn't long for this world. This upset a few folk when she said it, and I understand why, but it fits with the narrative of a man in severe decline who isn't doing the optimum (or possibly even a minimum) to get out of it. This is also someone who claimed to drive through red lights without a care in the world what happened in his youth. He was essentially living like this again for his last two years. Hell, he'd even got the old haircut back!

No it doesn't. He was working on and releasing new music. HitnRun Phase 1 was full of new sounds, he had just released Ruff Enuff and was eagerly tweeting about that project. AOA stood out from previous records in that he seemed to be addressing his age for the first time in forever, that's not the same as "GOODBYE WORLD, I'M DYING"

4. Prince never completely moved on from AOA. He released two subsequent records, but both re-used the AOA artwork. And, of course, were called Hit'n'Run. Was he going to keep banging these out until the music stopped? Without much of a care on how long it took, but mindful to put a full stop at the end of each album? Maybe a push, but a consideration.

I'd actually largely agree with this but don't forget that he basically had burnt all bridges with record companies at that point. AOA was his last album released with a push from a major record company. He'd moved onto plenty of new music but was releasing it himself and on Tidal.

5. June as a reference to Sign O The Times. Sure, it's his birth month as well, but it seems pretty clear to me what he was doing. This was all but confirmed when rehearsals leaked showing him playing both songs back to back. No one had made the connection then. This is the smoking gun. That's it.

You know, there definitely could be something there, it's said the exact same way and I have to say I didn't know about the segue, interesting. I still think this is still people seeing 1+1 and saying TWENTY though. You're assuming a lot about Prince's thought process by saying that was his exact meaning with that segue, maybe he just noticed the similarity himself and thought that'd be a cool way of going into a different song. He had piles of live medleys of songs that weren't connected lyrically but worked well musically beside each other.

There's more than enough evidence out there that he was still working away on new ideas with many plans for the future and had no intention of dying anytime soon.

But it's defintely worth thinking about. Maybe it all comes down to whether you see the world as a "hyper pessimist" or not

[Edited 5/5/17 17:52pm]

precioux said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

hyperpessimist said:

lion88 said:

well we are all going to die. We can all right draw paint dance something that is about endings and passings.

I doubt Prince knew that he was about to die soon.

purpletbird said:

lion88 said:

About the song June. I agree with hyperpessimist that there is nothing wrong with trying to interpret lyrics and metaphors and share this on the community.

Prince talked about his personal life through his music and lyrics. So it’s not that strange we try to understand his lyrics, have different opinions, disagree and sometimes speculatate about it.

The lyrics of ‘June’ are vague. It is clearly an introspective song about reminiscing, just like Reflection, The Breakdown and Way Back Home. Songs which are about his life. The lyrics of these songs I think are more direct.

This is just my interpretation and I respect and like to hear everyone’s else’s. I think the pasta burning is a metaphor. Why would he write about burned pasta and add that it makes no sense yet, but will soon? Does it make sense now? Does Prince wants this to make sense to us, besides the fact that in the song his mind is drifting away and he forgot about the pasta? This seems too simple to me in this specific song. These are questions that came to mind already the first time I listened to it.

In the song June the pasta on the fire was not paid attention to, so it got worse over time. The pasta got burned. Usage of pills for pain relief could lead to a ‘problem’ over time if it was not paid attention to carefully. I’m not implying Prince knew was going to die. We do not know this, so I do not speculate. However his health did go in the wrong direction based on what we know. It would not be totally unthinkable that he would write lyrics about this personal situation.

Combine this with the ‘oh yeah, It’s June’ lyrical reference to Sign O The Times‘. it’s June, I think means: a ‘situation’ which started in the past got worse over time and possibly cannot be solved because it's too late. In a 2015 rehearsal which MonoNeon shared it sounds like June was going to segue into Sign O The Times which you hear Prince mention in this rehearsal. I think this is another clue these 2 songs are somehow connected lyrically.

[Edited 5/5/17 14:38pm]

The first time I heard June, I thought of M2. The song speaks of pasta ( which they both ate) and the verse " still b somebody's wife" @ " and how would I know" because HE lived that life and knew the habits of her. And somebody famous / all I see is a full moon He doesn't celebrate birthdays so all he recognizes is the full Moon, just another day. Just a song of thoughts no death really. [Edited 5/5/17 18:03pm]

WOOOOOOWWWWWW. Seriously?

FlyOnTheWall said:

Let me add this food for thought. The mention of Richie Havens in "June," I think, is not insignificant. The Woodstock icon has so many great songs that it's hard to say just what Prince meant; HOWEVER, in looking at Mr. Havens' discography, I discovered the song, "Death At an Early Age." I can't find the full lyrics, but I transcribed a bit of it and, IMHO, it is profound. But first, the video.

[youtube:X]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsBj852AtK0/link[/youtube:X]

"Death at an Early Age"

Verse 1

I was born on a June day

to great expectations
.....

They wanted a boy but they
They got aberration.

Why they did love me, I never
I never could tell

Chorus

And I don't care what you think you see

From one strong fear, no one is free

The only thing this could ever be (?)

Death at an early age

Verse 2 (or 3)

You know I've tried in my own way

To understand freedom

Been making mistakes

Making mistakes is my usual way

I used to have ???

But now I don't need 'em

They keep changing the rules

Changing the rules

Changing the rules every day

[Edited 5/4/17 17:45pm]

I don't know if its because Im faded, but yall got me all now

The Richie Havens thing is interesting but it's a bit confused if you try and apply it to Prince. The character in the song is the aberration born on a june day who dies young. Prince was no aberration and his son wasn't born in June.

Not to mention that it is from an unbelievably obscure 80's album (so obscure the lyrics aren't even on the internet).

but listen, i'll stop, i can't compete with those who want to read into every movement he made on stage, that's just not how I function.

McD said:

It was discussed here when Prince died... http://prince.org/msg/7/423773 Whilst I can see why people would despair of others reading things into song lyrics, I think there is enough evidence here to suggest something was going on. 1. The song TELLS you it's a mystery to be solved, unlike the rest. The idea that the mystery is solved next in the song, so Prince is essentially singing 'this is a line of a song, here's the next', seems redundant. 2. Prince was in a VERY BAD WAY when this came out, and, I'm going to assume, when recorded. He didn't suddenly nosedive as some thought in 2016. This was confirmed in Mayte's book. 3. AOA feels like a goodbye record. It's quite explicit in parts. Without mentioning the album, Tyka claims Prince told her he was 'done' when this came out and she thought he wasn't long for this world. This upset a few folk when she said it, and I understand why, but it fits with the narrative of a man in severe decline who isn't doing the optimum (or possibly even a minimum) to get out of it. This is also someone who claimed to drive through red lights without a care in the world what happened in his youth. He was essentially living like this again for his last two years. Hell, he'd even got the old haircut back! 4. Prince never completely moved on from AOA. He released two subsequent records, but both re-used the AOA artwork. And, of course, were called Hit'n'Run. Was he going to keep banging these out until the music stopped? Without much of a care on how long it took, but mindful to put a full stop at the end of each album? Maybe a push, but a consideration. 5. June as a reference to Sign O The Times. Sure, it's his birth month as well, but it seems pretty clear to me what he was doing. This was all but confirmed when rehearsals leaked showing him playing both songs back to back. No one had made the connection then. This is the smoking gun. That's it.

Also, I think The Breakdown is about P's illness as being "the

breakdown."

jaawwnn said:

The Richie Havens thing is interesting but it's a bit confused if you try and apply it to Prince. The character in the song is the aberration born on a june day who dies young. Prince was no aberration and his son wasn't born in June.

Not to mention that it is from an unbelievably obscure 80's album (so obscure the lyrics aren't even on the internet).

but listen, i'll stop, i can't compete with those who want to read into every movement he made on stage, that's just not how I function.

Here is the portion of "June" that mentions Richie Havens.

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
But I'm just here, waitin', and waitin', and waitin'
Somebody famous had a birthday today
All I saw was another full moon


A few points:

1. Yours is the first mention I've read of Prince's son in this thread, so I don't understand your point. And, Prince was born in June, we all know that.
2. I only looked for Richie Haven titles because of P's reference to the sound of his voice spinning round and round on the vinyl, I imagine like an endless loop, replacing the familiarity of lovers' bodies doing what lovers do, especially our Princey . Albeit an obscure Havens song, the title "Death at an Early Age" jumped out at me. The lyrics left me dumbfounded, beginning with the opening lines: "I was born on a June day." Perhaps the "somebody famous" who "had a birthday today" in "June" was Prince himself.
3. An aberration is a departure from the norm or something that is rare, kinda like Prince's musical genius. Indeed, he is often described as a "singular" talent, unlike any before him.
4. I'm not sure what, if anything, this means with regard to "June" or the OP's suggestion that Prince was telegraphing his impending death. The lyrics to (and the title itself) "Death at an Early Age" could be a total coincidence. Again, there's no way of knowing what the Richie Havens reference means, but, I must admit, that song sure threw me for a loop. I just thought I'd share my findings.

[Edited 5/5/17 22:45pm]

Maybe it's a song about Princey, but from another perspective. After all, that "somebody famous" is referred to in 3rd person, the narrator doesn't say it's him. Prince was also born way sooner before Woodstock took place. Isn't it about Andy?

Uhm, thinking about it, is Andy queer? Cause the narrator in question is in love with someone's wife.

jaawwnn said:

OK cool, to answer, 1. I thought you were quoting the "they wanted a boy" bit as possibly linked to Prince & Mayte's son, if you were not then I'm wrong, apologies. 2. Oh I totally believe the "somebody famous" line from June is referring to Prince, without a doubt 3. Eh yeah I dunno, aberration is a negative word. I've never seen it used without negative connotations, I think its fairly safe to say P saw his talent as a gift from God. Maybe it led to some lonely moments but I can't see him relating the word aberration to it. 4. Hey I should have said it was a good find, nice one and appreciated. I'm just saying that I think it's massive stretch to say he was making a cryptic reference to that song. If it had been a song from his Woodstock era albums then yeah maybe but this one... I can't see it.

Hi, jaawwnn. Yes, "aberration" is mostly used with negative connotations, but not always. And, you could be right that it's a stretch to think Prince was referring to "Death at an Early Age." Who knows. BTW, thanks, I was pretty pleased with myself when I stumbled upon the little-known ditty. Indeed, it just blew me away that the first line was, "I was born on a June day." Most would admit, that's one hell of a coincidence.

FullLipsDotNose said:

Maybe it's a song about Princey, but from another perspective. After all, that "somebody famous" is referred to in 3rd person, the narrator doesn't say it's him. Prince was also born way sooner before Woodstock took place. Isn't it about Andy?

I do think June is about his relationship with Andy, but that's just my humble opinion. P had pushed her away...and pulling her back in was not proving to be easy. She was busy touring, modeling and pretty much "off somewhere, being free"...and being "everybody's dream." But, I also think Andy wanted to be "somebody's wife." (There's that third person "somebody" again.) Namely, I think she wanted to be his wife. And, to be sure, I think Prince wanted that, as well.

[Edited 5/6/17 6:17am]

FullLipsDotNose said:

Uhm, thinking about it, is Andy queer? Cause the narrator in question is in love with someone's wife.

As far as I know, Andy is not "queer"? But, who knows, I guess it's possible that she's bisexual. Again, who knows. With regard to the "somebody's wife" line in "June," I think it's the same "somebody famous" who had a birthday that June day: Prince!! I think P was like, how you gon' be my wife and I don't even know what you had for lunch today? Once again, this is just my interpretation of the song.

BTW: I think "June" is one of Prince's most complex and multilayered songs. It is jam packed with clues and metaphors...and messages that probably resonate with the person for whom they are intended.

[Edited 5/6/17 7:17am]

FullLipsDotNose said:

Prince was also born way sooner before Woodstock took place.

I see "born on a Woodstock stage" as a reference to the birth of his musical career, not his biological birth - I can't see how being "born on a stage" could be taken literally...

In this sense, his career was "born" roughly a decade after Woodstock

[Edited 5/6/17 7:07am]

hyperpessimist said:

Thanks McD, you articulated it perfectly. I was not aware of a previous discussion...

Again, IMHO it's not about solving a big puzzle, but yes, in retrospect I do feel we got quite a few clues (in lyrics, artwork, statements) that pointed towards what ended up happening. We just didn't have enough info to decipher them... And death always feels unlikely/impossible until it actually happens... The whole tailend of his life will most likely be shrouded in mystery forever, but hey, all Life is a mystery.

"It's June"...

[Edited 5/5/17 13:05pm]

A mystery, indeed. Prince was an enigma until the very end.

It's a good thing those of you who Prince actually TOLD what the song was about are here to shit all over the opinions of those who just thought about it for themselves, otherwise we would be coming up with all kinds of harmless theories.

That's sarcasm, by the way.

Dogsinthetrees said: