OK Doggies, let's dissect the Goddess.

The released version, the live performances.

I'm gonna make it my first Medium article, and all Orgers contributions are most welcome.
You can just drop out a live performance, or a few seconds outta wecka, if you got no time to lose.
You'll be in the credits anywayz.

As you please.

I gotta truckload o' things 2 praise,
but I'll let U serve 1st.

[Edited 11/22/17 12:17pm]

I love this song, and I like that he almost never played the same version twice. I´m not a guitarist but even during the same tours this song´s rendition always sounded slightly different (different guitar solos, especially during the 1994/95 shows). The version he played at the Palladium in NYC in 1994 or the version at Paisley Park for the Beautiful Experience TV special are some of my favorites.

But, as much as I like the song and its music, I think he should´ve changed the lyrics after he reclaimed the song from Tevin Campbell. The "I´d rather do you after school like some homework" just sounds wrong when it´s sung by a grown man instead of a teenager like Tevin was back in the early 90s.

PS: It´s a song that really, really requires a superb drummer...and for me, it only worked when it was either Michael Bland or John Blackwell on the drums.

[Edited 11/22/17 12:32pm]

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

paisleypark4 said:

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

I practically never listen to the album version. Maybe I should go back to it and give it another listen but it just pales in comparison to all the great live versions.

KoolEaze said:

I love this song, and I like that he almost never played the same version twice. I´m not a guitarist but even during the same tours this song´s rendition always sounded slightly different (different guitar solos, especially during the 1994/95 shows). The version he played at the Palladium in NYC in 1994 or the version at Paisley Park for the Beautiful Experience TV special are some of my favorites.

But, as much as I like the song and its music, I think he should´ve changed the lyrics after he reclaimed the song from Tevin Campbell. The "I´d rather do you after school like some homework" just sounds wrong when it´s sung by a grown man instead of a teenager like Tevin was back in the early 90s.

It sounds wrong to your ears.
Do I sense a slight pedophile alert?
I don't think he means it that way.

Don't you think it's a nod to the pure dirty stuff of adolescence?
With their nineties wealth and apogee, MJ went just like the child he never had the time to be, and Prince went just like the adolescent he never had the time to be.
But that's a theory.

bonatoc said:

KoolEaze said:

I love this song, and I like that he almost never played the same version twice. I´m not a guitarist but even during the same tours this song´s rendition always sounded slightly different (different guitar solos, especially during the 1994/95 shows). The version he played at the Palladium in NYC in 1994 or the version at Paisley Park for the Beautiful Experience TV special are some of my favorites.

But, as much as I like the song and its music, I think he should´ve changed the lyrics after he reclaimed the song from Tevin Campbell. The "I´d rather do you after school like some homework" just sounds wrong when it´s sung by a grown man instead of a teenager like Tevin was back in the early 90s.

It sounds wrong to your ears.
Do I sense a slight pedophile alert?
I don't think he means it that way.

Don't you think it's a nod to the pure dirty stuff of adolescence?
With their nineties wealth and apogee, MJ went just like the child he never had the time to be, and Prince went just like the adolescent he never had the time to be.
But that's a theory.

No, I don´t.

As I wrote a few posts above, the song was written for Tevin with Tevin in mind as the singer, hence the viewpoint of a teenager (or young adult).

Just like he´d sometimes write songs to be sung by women (and from a female perspective, with according lyrics) this one was basically from Tevin´s perspective in mind.

It´s just that at some point he realized the song is too good to just be a song on a Tevin Campbell album so he reclaimed it and made it his own.

There´s even a recording where he cracks jokes about reclaiming it from Tevin , saying "Fuck yooou !" (literally) to Tevin.

Remember he was already older than 35 when he started singing his own version during concerts.

It´s one thing to be singing about 16 year old Mayté when you´re 33 but a whole different level of creepy when a man older than 35 sings about doing someone after school like some homework. Because at least ONE of the two parties involved is still going to school....and it is for sure not the singer but the person the song is about.

So, in a nutshell, no, I don´t think it is a nod to adolescence.

But hey, I like the song and its lyrics. It´s just that one line that rubs me the wrong way. He could have changed it , just like he changed other lyrics that did not make sense when sung by a man.

KoolEaze said:

paisleypark4 said:

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

Yeah, that tiny chromatic descent that morphs into "screamingandscreamingandscreaming".
You can hear the typical non-time-streched effect of a sampled sound just played on a keyboard.

It's like he's back to eigth tracks experiments again, only this time with a monster mixing console.
it's pure Genius, the guy's there, hey, let's add a bit of salt. I bet he did just the time to punch in, and next. At his best, he always knew when and where to add a stroke.

The song is basically just two chords! He was so brilliant at minimalism.

Prince's usual genius is details and flourishes spread on a solid song structure, and that is why pretty good audio conditions are so vital to really appreciate his work. And sometimes flourishes take over and influence, for a few seconds, the structure.

Emancipation, on a high end system, you discover lots of things.
You don't hear "plastic" at all.
Same goes for TGE.
It may be the Loudness Wars, but it sure is the commander in chief of all similarly compressed "wanna sound over the top" albums of the period. Except there's a mountain built now, and it's mighty high. So were the nineties. Nowadays, you read Pitchfork raving albums compressed to 50:1. It's sad.

The Dawn has a ferocious, analog-pushed-to-the-limits, grandiose unapologetic sound about it, because it somehow manages to stay dynamic: C&D, Exodus, TGE, it's not for every day, but man, with the bass knob just right, your 16k adjusted, it's heavy as Lemmy (have a listen at "The Undertaker" bootleg in 360k), or Fauré's Dies Irae tempo change.

NorthC said:

KoolEaze said:

PS: It´s a song that really, really requires a superb drummer...and for me, it only worked when it was either Michael Bland or John Blackwell on the drums.

[Edited 11/22/17 12:32pm]

The drums are the only thing that make this song worthwile. Without them, this would be another one of P's 13-in-a-dozen slowjamzzzzzzz...

What are you talking about.
This song has been a continuous stage for some of his best live guitar soloes.
Blasphemy!

NorthC said:

KoolEaze said:

PS: It´s a song that really, really requires a superb drummer...and for me, it only worked when it was either Michael Bland or John Blackwell on the drums.

[Edited 11/22/17 12:32pm]

The drums are the only thing that make this song worthwile. Without them, this would be another one of P's 13-in-a-dozen slowjamzzzzzzz...

Nahhhh......there´s so much going on in this song. The guitar solo, the bass, the drums, the way he sings the lyrics.

13 in a dozen slowjams,as you call it, is what I call songs like Extraordinary, Satisfied , On the Couch and so on.

Shhh...is amazing. Still is, always will be.

One of my favorite songs.

KoolEaze said:

bonatoc said:

It sounds wrong to your ears.
Do I sense a slight pedophile alert?
I don't think he means it that way.

Don't you think it's a nod to the pure dirty stuff of adolescence?
With their nineties wealth and apogee, MJ went just like the child he never had the time to be, and Prince went just like the adolescent he never had the time to be.
But that's a theory.

No, I don´t.

As I wrote a few posts above, the song was written for Tevin with Tevin in mind as the singer, hence the viewpoint of a teenager (or young adult).

Just like he´d sometimes write songs to be sung by women (and from a female perspective, with according lyrics) this one was basically from Tevin´s perspective in mind.

It´s just that at some point he realized the song is too good to just be a song on a Tevin Campbell album so he reclaimed it and made it his own.

There´s even a recording where he cracks jokes about reclaiming it from Tevin , saying "Fuck yooou !" (literally) to Tevin.

Remember he was already older than 35 when he started singing his own version during concerts.

It´s one thing to be singing about 16 year old Mayté when you´re 33 but a whole different level of creepy when a man older than 35 sings about doing someone after school like some homework. Because at least ONE of the two parties involved is still going to school....and it is for sure not the singer but the person the song is about.

So, in a nutshell, no, I don´t think it is a nod to adolescence.

But hey, I like the song and its lyrics. It´s just that one line that rubs me the wrong way. He could have changed it , just like he changed other lyrics that did not make sense when sung by a man.

But, people of all ages attend school, especially at the college level where you have graduate students all the way up to the doctoral level.

paisleypark4 said:

I was at the Beautiful Experience show, the first time he did this song. It's still my favorite version. Interestingly enough, Tevin Campbell was at the show.

KoolEaze said:

paisleypark4 said:

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

I practically never listen to the album version. Maybe I should go back to it and give it another listen but it just pales in comparison to all the great live versions.

Exactly. But I mean, the album version is a live take.

Furthermore, it's a song composed to be played live.
With the adrenaline and the unpredictability of the performances, "Shhh" occupies a very particular spot in Prince's repertoire.

Some version recorded at Paisley are crazy, and so are many of the Musicology shows.
And it's never gratuitous, and always different.

"Gold" is not the "Purple Rain" of the nineties.
"Shhh" is.

KoolEaze said:

bonatoc said:

It sounds wrong to your ears.
Do I sense a slight pedophile alert?
I don't think he means it that way.

Don't you think it's a nod to the pure dirty stuff of adolescence?
With their nineties wealth and apogee, MJ went just like the child he never had the time to be, and Prince went just like the adolescent he never had the time to be.
But that's a theory.

No, I don´t.

As I wrote a few posts above, the song was written for Tevin with Tevin in mind as the singer, hence the viewpoint of a teenager (or young adult).

Just like he´d sometimes write songs to be sung by women (and from a female perspective, with according lyrics) this one was basically from Tevin´s perspective in mind.

It´s just that at some point he realized the song is too good to just be a song on a Tevin Campbell album so he reclaimed it and made it his own.

There´s even a recording where he cracks jokes about reclaiming it from Tevin , saying "Fuck yooou !" (literally) to Tevin.

Remember he was already older than 35 when he started singing his own version during concerts.

It´s one thing to be singing about 16 year old Mayté when you´re 33 but a whole different level of creepy when a man older than 35 sings about doing someone after school like some homework. Because at least ONE of the two parties involved is still going to school....and it is for sure not the singer but the person the song is about.

So, in a nutshell, no, I don´t think it is a nod to adolescence.

But hey, I like the song and its lyrics. It´s just that one line that rubs me the wrong way. He could have changed it , just like he changed other lyrics that did not make sense when sung by a man.

That's one way to see it.
Both parties could go to school and meet each other after.

And the fact that he wrote it for Tevin is precisely what I'm talking about. Prince wrote it trying to remember what his first crush was like. I don't think he's in Tevin's skin (godforbid), like you seem to imply. Prince can't do that.

It's written from a perspective.
Even if you take it litterally, what is shocking about it? What is age more than a number?
When it comes to love, obviously.
Not in a disgusting Weinstein-like fashion or whatever.

I feel kinda sorry for you if it's what you get from it, "after school like some homework" to me functions as a sexual metaphor about adults who are working.
It means "I'm gonna do you after a hard day of work". If you think about the average day of Prince's life (work, work, get some business done, then some work), I don't picture an adolescent at all, but like a said, a nod to adolescence from an adult's souvenir of it.

Which is pretty cool, because again, for some people who had the luxury of time to discover stuff, high school is synonym with the the first thrills, but I guess it depends on your personal experience. At the other end of the spectrum, some adolescence are nightmares.

iZsaZsa said:

paisleypark4 said:

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

Is it slap back echo turned all the way up or something? I love it.

I'm pretty sure it's "just" a sample played on a keyboard, four notes in chromatic descent around 4'00.

It's brilliantly mixed with the original background vocal takes that were sampled. It's sung first, then sampled, just for this small digital incursion.

If you just sample one single note or sound, and try to play it across the whole keyboard, you get this typical slowed down (or sped up) tape effect.

FlyOnTheWall said:

KoolEaze said:

No, I don´t.

As I wrote a few posts above, the song was written for Tevin with Tevin in mind as the singer, hence the viewpoint of a teenager (or young adult).

Just like he´d sometimes write songs to be sung by women (and from a female perspective, with according lyrics) this one was basically from Tevin´s perspective in mind.

It´s just that at some point he realized the song is too good to just be a song on a Tevin Campbell album so he reclaimed it and made it his own.

There´s even a recording where he cracks jokes about reclaiming it from Tevin , saying "Fuck yooou !" (literally) to Tevin.

Remember he was already older than 35 when he started singing his own version during concerts.

It´s one thing to be singing about 16 year old Mayté when you´re 33 but a whole different level of creepy when a man older than 35 sings about doing someone after school like some homework. Because at least ONE of the two parties involved is still going to school....and it is for sure not the singer but the person the song is about.

So, in a nutshell, no, I don´t think it is a nod to adolescence.

But hey, I like the song and its lyrics. It´s just that one line that rubs me the wrong way. He could have changed it , just like he changed other lyrics that did not make sense when sung by a man.

But, people of all ages attend school, especially at the college level where you have graduate students all the way up to the doctoral level.

Prince often sung about young girls or virgins, so I don't think we're talking college here.

I am not going to assume that is the case here simply because he wrote the song for a teenage boy to sing first. I believe prince wrote about virgins and young girls mostly when he dated Mayte and Anna. But how many high school age (17-18 year olds) did he actually date? Weren't most of them at least 19? And is 19 not college age? I was in college in 94 when the Gold Experience came out and Mayte is 1.5 years older than I am.

He may have adapted the song to prefer to Mayte in 1994 but even then she was older than a high school student.

He sang the song more frequently later in life when his girlfriends and wife were definitely at least college aged. So, I choose to think that P adapted the meaning of the song to apply to whomever he was into at the time and most of those women were at least in their 20's. Also, I also never thought of it as being about some old dude sneaking around with an underaged girl committing statutory rape. I took it as entirely a metaphor.

TheEnglishGent said:

FlyOnTheWall said:

But, people of all ages attend school, especially at the college level where you have graduate students all the way up to the doctoral level.

Prince often sung about young girls or virgins, so I don't think we're talking college here.

purplerabbithole said:

I am not going to assume that is the case here simply because he wrote the song for a teenage boy to sing first. I believe prince wrote about virgins and young girls mostly when he dated Mayte and Anna. But how many high school age (17-18 year olds) did he actually date? Weren't most of them at least 19? And is 19 not college age? I was in college in 94 when the Gold Experience came out and Mayte is 1.5 years older than I am.

He may have adapted the song to prefer to Mayte in 1994 but even then she was older than a high school student.

He sang the song more frequently later in life when his girlfriends and wife were definitely at least college aged. So, I choose to think that P adapted the meaning of the song to apply to whomever he was into at the time and most of those women were at least in their 20's. Also, I also never thought of it as being about some old dude sneaking around with an underaged girl committing statutory rape. I took it as entirely a metaphor.

TheEnglishGent said:

Prince often sung about young girls or virgins, so I don't think we're talking college here.

Don't we know Prince by then? He didn't mean no harm, was very serious about love and respect, and no woman came out with accusations of molesty during his lifetime. And his death would have hypotetical abused persons talk by now.
I'm glad some people understand. Again, adolescence may be a very sensitive subject to some, and I can only empathize and suggest to have talks with dear ones about it (or the diametral opposite of them if needed).

Food for thought: Prince never left school. He clearly suffered from a "I'm gonna be the first of my class" syndrome. But since he's been raised essentially by women in both private and professional spheres, we got a singing angel instead of a so-called global company psychopath of a CEO.
Put "Donald talk to Korea", lyrics still workz, fock.

Funny how and where heads or tails fall. And how some never grow. Or harm.

Sorry, how was I to know "Shhh" would spark suspicions of sleaziness. Must be the news.
Please let's try to stick to 4th min7 / 1st min7. Or the drumsticks.

[Edited 11/22/17 16:39pm]

KoolEaze said:

The Canal Plus performance of 2011, that's some serious stuff.
It's not a ballad, it's flowing warm, passionate fire.
He's lettinitgo.

You gotta love those faces he makes. I love when he turns the mike towards the crowd, and he doesnt miss a note of his improvisation on the axe. It happens very fast.
Speaking of fire, Johnny is incadescent. He makes fireworks.
And so is the final.

This take is exceptional, and shows a maturity, a sharing quality to it.
The album version expresses a very insular and personal passion, but live, he has to share it as a human experience, ther's no other way. And it is universal, I mean Good Love, at least I hope amongst Prince fans.

Shhh is homework. I mean you can tell SKipper's working hard at his woman scream.
Great sex makes for beautiful and happy babies, it's a Grandma's known fact.
The studio version was just a warm-up.
Shhh is an erection that never went to waste, pardon my french.

God really pisses me off over Amiir.
I can't fathom what the punishment, if there ever was one, was all about.
Or maybe I'd rather have a delusional reason than pure absurdity.
I thought at the time Prince and Mayte would stayed together for some years and have a family.
I mean, giving his childhood, I was happy for him.

It's so fucking sucked.


For Prince to continue giving us joy, errr. That's the Superhero, right there.


But I digress, sorry if I miss him.
Anyway, I think it's the song that has the most diverse interpretations. You have the vocal drenched crooner, the nofx low in the mix soul syncopes, you have the gentle, operatic guitar, and you have the ultimate shredder of hearts, I know at least five incredible live renditions of Shhh, "and they're all diff'rent too".

I'll be more specific as soon as I patch my hard drives back on.

[Edited 11/22/17 20:02pm]

bonatoc said:

paisleypark4 said:

I did not pay this song ANY attention until I saw him per4m it during the Musicology Tour....You dont know how quick I went back and played that song after hearing it live in person and seeing John Blackwell tear those drums up, Prince shredding his guitar solo. Now that song is a centerpiece on the Gold Experience and is a must listen. The passion put into the production alone.

My favorite part however is somewhat hidden.

Its when Prince says "teach you baby, teach you baby,..." and the background vocalists voices are sped down three notches, then back to normal right before the chorus swings in. Amazing. How did he think of that randomly? It doesn't appear any other time in the song.

Yeah, that tiny chromatic descent that morphs into "screamingandscreamingandscreaming".
You can hear the typical non-time-streched effect of a sampled sound just played on a keyboard.

It's like he's back to eigth tracks experiments again, only this time with a monster mixing console.
it's pure Genius, the guy's there, hey, let's add a bit of salt. I bet he did just the time to punch in, and next. At his best, he always knew when and where to add a stroke.

The song is basically just two chords! He was so brilliant at minimalism.

Prince's usual genius is details and flourishes spread on a solid song structure, and that is why pretty good audio conditions are so vital to really appreciate his work. And sometimes flourishes take over and influence, for a few seconds, the structure.

Emancipation, on a high end system, you discover lots of things.
You don't hear "plastic" at all.
Same goes for TGE.
It may be the Loudness Wars, but it sure is the commander in chief of all similarly compressed "wanna sound over the top" albums of the period. Except there's a mountain built now, and it's mighty high. So were the nineties. Nowadays, you read Pitchfork raving albums compressed to 50:1. It's sad.

The Dawn has a ferocious, analog-pushed-to-the-limits, grandiose unapologetic sound about it, because it somehow manages to stay dynamic: C&D, Exodus, TGE, it's not for every day, but man, with the bass knob just right, your 16k adjusted, it's heavy as Lemmy (have a listen at "The Undertaker" bootleg in 360k), or Fauré's Dies Irae tempo change.

Couldnt agree with you more on all of this

If we're talking studio versions, I still prefer Tevin's vocal of Shhh, rather than Prince's. It's blasphemy, I know...

Prince, live in 2011, in a France performance on Youtube is good on guitar but Tevin really went there with his studio performance.

Tevin's Prince produced version is heavier on the bass guitar, which I prefer, too.

I guess I need to search out Prince's concert performances, which may sway me.

williamb610 said:

If we're talking studio versions, I still prefer Tevin's vocal of Shhh, rather than Prince's. It's blasphemy, I know...

Prince, live in 2011, in a France performance on Youtube is good on guitar but Tevin really went there with his studio performance.

Tevin's Prince produced version is heavier on the bass guitar, which I prefer, too.

I guess I need to search out Prince's concert performances, which may sway me.

That's the brilliance of it.
I mean it works laid back as well.
Not my cup of tea, but it works, and the climax doesn't even need the guitar.
The melody is so good, it supports crooning or pleading.

Man, just two chords, and not exotic ones. I don't get it. Must be the BPM or sometin'.

I remember this song Shhh, 1st seen on tv! Oh how amazing this was:

Shown on danish tv, DR1 in 1994 - the tv-special "The Beautiful Experience". I was like...:


Excellent tv with lots of the Come/ Gold Experience material.

I was amazed by Shhh! Amazed by The Days Of Wild, Interactive, Come, Race, Now, Papa etc etc..

Still is amazed, the Gold Experience-era is incredible, wonderful album, great videos / performances...

Nothing is said negative from me lol, I ca'nt understand those (fans) who have critical things to say, about these classics, how can you..? So-called smart asses, arent u?

Shhh is a masterpiece song, and, TGE, the whole album is wonderful


Another hight in his career. It's really "the SOTT-album of the 90s" IMHO,


Love love love, is all u need.

bonatoc said:

When I first heard "Shhh!" on the Coachella '08 boot, I wasn't crazy about it; I thought it dragged on too long.

Over time, I've done a complete 180 and really appreciate that Prince gave it such a regular presence in his shows from 2004 onwards. I also really love the studio version, Prince gives such a smooth and wide ranging vocal. The drums are also fantastic.

My favorite version is probably Chicago 2 in 2012.