Thank you for your thoughts on the lyrics. Please keep it up. What you say could be true. I actually do think Prince was trying to say things to his listeners through his lyrics. I have pondered about that song and I appreciate your input. Don't listen to the negative thoughts on here.

purplethunder3121 said:

anangellooksdown said:

casi1 said:

Genesia said:

TheEnglishGent said:

The end of Temptation would have been a good one for the conspiracists too.

OMG - yes. "I have to go now. I don't know when I'll return. Good-bye." (<- I didn't even have to look those lyrics up.)

Also...Had U, Goodbye, Welcome 2 the Dawn, Gold, Back 2 the Lotus, No More Candy 4 U, Wasted Kisses, Sometimes It Snows in April, Resolution, It's Gonna Be Lonely, Revelation, Dolphin (The Undertaker) - all Debbie Downer or death-related closers on albums.

Heck, even Batman ends with that final "Stop." cutting across all the fun of the Joker's laughing. He couldn't let the Black Album be last because it didn't have that spiritual or somber ending--actually, I'm wrong. I was just thinking of the "tune in next week, same time, same boogie"--I forgot about the fade out comments about keeping "the finger on the trigger." So yeah, lots of the albums ended so that they could be "the last word."

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."

interesting connection, thanks.

when i first heard the song june, it was too sad for my taste. My only initial impression was that past-a may refer to the past, lol.

i wondered about the sott lyric connection as well. a lot of the lines from sott actually. i think if any1 knows when they will be taken from this planet, prince is the sort of person who would know his day. "all i saw was another full moon" could be that he knew he would go near a full moon, and was thinking about that instead of birthdays. i guess one way to celebrate your life is to daily think this is your last day, instead of yearly celebrating a birthday.

the final twitter avatar first appearing on a concert advertisement in june 2015 -- at that point he had finished recording hnr phase 2 -- "thats it". his life was still 'simmering', al dente, only later would it be 'done'.

pop life: "The river of addiction flows
U think it's hot, but there won't be no water When the fire blows Dig it" no water left when pasta burns on the stove.

maybe theres a connection to the song "round and round" as well

keywords like martyr, starve, why did you come to this life, it surely sounds like 1 of his more serious existential songs. prince is a deep prophetic artist, with many songs glimpsing his own future.

Tresha68 said:

He was terminally ill. Not sure why it's a secret? Of course,this is my opinion and quite clear.

Maybe its such a secret because it isn't true? I mean we have little evidence to go on that would support a terminal illness. Unless you consider that terminal illness to be drug addiction

Well, the one line that gets me in the end is "makes no sense yet, but it will soon" - I feel the word "soon" is somehow presaging his passing, and how we'd then learn a lot more about what was going on with him.

...

The "June" reference, I agree is ambivalent (I was just -guessing- on my original post, which is all we can do. Of course none of us can ever know for sure, but it's OK to guess and hypothesize). But the "makes no sense yet, but it will soon" --- that "soon" is so ominous.

...

Another interesting aspect of the lyrics is when he says he feels he was born too late - which seems to mean he felt older than he actually was, felt he shold have been part of a generation of musicians that are now gone or in an old age. Followed by the "I'm just here waiting, waiting, waiting" lyric... waiting for his own passing, it feels...

... and then that loud door slam at the end.

[Edited 5/5/17 1:10am]

[Edited 5/5/17 1:20am]

hyperpessimist said:

Well, the one line that gets me in the end is "makes no sense yet, but it will soon" - I

[Edited 5/5/17 1:10am]

At the start he's singing about pasta, and yeah, what's the sense in that. Then he starts pondering and gets lost in his thoughts. Meanwhile the pasta pan is boiling dry and then the pasta starts to burn and stink out the old Paisley Park. Ah now, the pasta makes sense.

The real mystery of June is far more sinistar. Where the fuck was his chef while all this was going on?

Tresha68 said:

He was terminally ill. Not sure why it's a secret?

How do you know this for sure?

TheEnglishGent said:

sfinky1 said:

This is all ridiculous and more about you the listener projecting your beliefs about PRN onto his songs..

With all due respect, I completely disagree (and it's OK for us to disagree). IMHO Poetry is layered, it is meant to be deciphered, interpreted in various ways. And all these ways are valid, they are interpretations. In poetry the word "pasta" can mean literally pasta AND be a metaphor for desolation: at the same time. We don't have to decide.

I don't think I'm projecting my beliefs, I have no beliefs in regards to Prince - I simply started this topic to place a hypothesis... what if these lyrics held clues to his own sense of impending doom?

I myself am not sure, and never will be. None of us will know, and the beauty of good poetry is it transcends a steady interpretation. It still doesn't prevent us from wondering. Why this conversation on possible meanings and metaphors is more "ridiculous" than any other topic I fail to understand. I remember reading an article about the disapearance of metaphor in pop lyrics in recent years - lots of songs are now very literal. I like the fact that Prince kept on maintaining his lyrics to the level of poetry, full of ambivalence, open to possibilities. Again, no disrespect meant, but I feel I'm losing something if I sit down, play "June" and think "oh, he cooked pasta and let it burn and that's that." Now, I have no problem at all if some people enjoy engaing with the lyrics more literally, that's their way of connecting with Prince's legacy and that's fine. But I like to think that I can come here and engage with others who enjoy multiple interpretation and speculation. It's a big world...

[Edited 5/5/17 6:55am]

[Edited 5/5/17 7:05am]

[Edited 5/5/17 7:06am]

(and sorry for the multiple edits, I keep thinking of ways of communicating more clearly )

Richie Havens famously sang Motherless Child at Woodstock....watch it on you tube ...it is amazing

Reply #96 posted 05/04/17 7:29pm

FullLipsDotNose said:

FlyOnTheWall said:

Let me add this food for thought. The mention of Richie Havens in "June," I think, is not insignificant.

[...]

"Death at an Early Age"
Verse 1

I was born on a June day
to great expectations

.......

Thank you FOTW, this makes so much sense. Layers upon layers of possible meanings, he was a master of allusion indeed.

rebelenterprise said:

FullLipsDotNose said:

Not this shit again please. Seems like he was dying for a couple of years. Bye.

But AOA & Phase 1 does have lyrics that could make people think deeper

Yeah..Like A Mac

rdhull said:

80tomato said:

Richie Havens famously sang Motherless Child at Woodstock....watch it on you tube ...it is amazing

Reply #96 posted 05/04/17 7:29pm

PURplEMaPLeSyr
up

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've seen it. You're right. Havens' is a classic interpretation of "Motherless Child." Speaking of that gospel standard, after Prince's passing, I was pleasantly surprised to find his rendition, with Larry Graham on bass. To say that it is masterful is an understatement. I mean, it is no less than stunning. You might still be able to find it on YouTube. At one point, near the end, he even says, "Just like Richie."

[Edited 5/5/17 10:35am]

was June the last released song to be recorded? (that or Hardrocklover)?

(meaning basic recording not necessarily final mix or overdubs)

Tresha68 said:

He was terminally ill. Not sure why it's a secret? Of course,this is my opinion and quite clear.

Nope, wrong.

luv4u said:

Tresha68 said:

He was terminally ill. Not sure why it's a secret? Of course,this is my opinion and quite clear.

Nope, wrong.

now how do you KNOW that??? Please spill the beans...you know this speculative stuff is driving us

precioux said:

luv4u said:

Nope, wrong.

now how do you KNOW that??? Please spill the beans...you know this speculative stuff is driving us

because there was ZERO indication of such. Most of them would show on a coroner's report. Nothing of the sort was mentioned in his.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

precioux said:

now how do you KNOW that??? Please spill the beans...you know this speculative stuff is driving us

because there was ZERO indication of such. Most of them would show on a coroner's report. Nothing of the sort was mentioned in his.

you must be blind...besides, the report has been discussed ad nauseum in regards to the n/a in certain fields/blanks. Regardless I asked luv4u, if the answer is the same, so be it

precioux said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

because there was ZERO indication of such. Most of them would show on a coroner's report. Nothing of the sort was mentioned in his.

you must be blind...besides, the report has been discussed ad nauseum in regards to the n/a in certain fields/blanks. Regardless I asked luv4u, if the answer is the same, so be it

you can not diagnose a terminal illness by looking at a person. Well not too many of them and he showed NO sign of any. He was thin, but he has been thin before... he seemed well on the 14th.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

precioux said:

you must be blind...besides, the report has been discussed ad nauseum in regards to the n/a in certain fields/blanks. Regardless I asked luv4u, if the answer is the same, so be it

you can not diagnose a terminal illness by looking at a person. Well not too many of them and he showed NO sign of any. He was thin, but he has been thin before... he seemed well on the 14th.

No, you can not-hence the "long form" of the autopsy,which we will probably never see the light of day on.

His skin was Jaundiced for Pete's sake! (specifically the pic from the BB game)

So in guessing, his liver was failing due to either:

1.) Terminal illness
2.) Liver shut down from use of opiods

that is my personal take...with luv4u stating definitively that P did NOT have a terminal illness, I'd like to know if that is a fact that is being put out there, or conjecture on luvu's part,irregardless of what the COD stated.

[Edited 5/5/17 12:59pm]

precioux said:

that is my personal take...with luv4u stating definitively that P did NOT have a terminal illness, I'd like to know if that is a fact that is being put out there, or conjecture on luvu's part,irregardless of what the COD state.

Obvious conjecture is obvious. On the part of Luv4u and on the part of anyone else speculating.