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Video: PRINCE'S Top 10 Political Songs Check out Prince's Top 10 Political Songs produced by Prince's Friend. "Published on Apr 7, 2018. Politics was a huge part of Prince’s identity, whether it was the fact that he didn’t actively vote himself because he believed the US has a flawed system to his protest songs that reach back all the way to the beginning of his career. Prince always had an opinion about the state of the world, and while some of his songs were about creating a better world, others called out bigotry, racism, and tried to offer solutions to these issues." Here it is: https://m.youtube.com/wat...2Y9U3ouvOU | |
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Cool! Thanks for posting! ....... The list is: 10. United States of Division 9. When Will We B Paid? (cover of the Staples' Singers) 8. Right the Wrong 7. Race 6. Cinnamon Girl 5. Partyup 4. Fixurlifeup 3. Act of God 2. Colonized Mind 1. Baltimore .......
Live 4 Love ~ Love is God, God is love, Girls and boys love God above | |
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My favourite of these ten songs is Colonized Mind; I listen to it regularly. I actually learned a bit more about the meaning of CM by watching this video.
Live 4 Love ~ Love is God, God is love, Girls and boys love God above | |
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Curious list. * No place on this list for Sign O The Times, Annie Christian, Uptown, Family Name, Ronnie Talk To Russia, Free, America, Dance On? OK. I guess I would make a different top 10! | |
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Oh, and Black Muse, too. | |
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And obviously his politics were all over the board..some songs sounding hawkish, some sounding pacifistic, some sounding reactionary, some sounding liberal/progressive, some promoting black pride, some promoting no particular racial affliation (Controversy), some sounding libertarian, some sounding law-abiding. . Some songs having more than one of those characteristics --Act of God, for example, with its condemnation of both the treatment of the poor and the supposed heavy taxation of a rich man like himself ] Also we should include in the extended list already started , Planet Earth with its religious attack on people's abuse of the environment, war and prejudice (unique JW take on the subjects.. Oddly, he is saying we should take care of the planet and each other since we are going to be here forever but I wonder why he doesn't just think God will save the planet for us...) Also Dreamer could be added.
[Edited 4/10/18 3:55am] [Edited 4/10/18 3:56am] | |
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I'd forgotten Dreamer...Controversy, yes. | |
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Dear Mister Man needs to be included. No More Haters on the Internet. |
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I just remembered the seldom heard Avalanche. Check it out on YouTube. No More Haters on the Internet. |
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My choices as of today, in rough chronological order: Good night, sweet Prince | 7 June 1958 - 21 April 2016
Props will be withheld until the showing and proving has commenced. -- Aaron McGruder | |
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Good shout, yes. | |
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Absolutely | |
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Avalanche is a doozy. I do not totally agree that Lincoln was quite as bad as he makes him out to be. Forced INto Glory is an exagerrated book with some factual inaccuracies (and leaves out some important changes in Lincoln) . But the song still registers with me because of the emotional power of it. I imagined how it felt for Prince to first read some of Lincoln's racial supremacy comments during hte Lincoln-Douglass debates. It must have been crushing to think that a president z(held in such high regardamongst blacks and whites) thought or stated (at least at one point) that maybe blacks were inferior to whites in terms of intellect and characer. Crushing blow.
[Edited 4/10/18 16:35pm] | |
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Thanks Latin!
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Annie Christian would be top of my list. [Edited 4/10/18 20:12pm] Making love and music are the only things worth fighting for. |
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MDM2N and SOTT should be on this list. Live 4 Love ~ Love is God, God is love, Girls and boys love God above | |
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Latin, thanks for posting. This list and the comments show that Prince was much more of a socio-political writer than he's given credit, regardless of whether one agrees with his varying stances or not. Ultimately, he was an artist who was so much more than the sexual icon for which he's often remembered. And, yet, even in his sexuality, he was quite insightful and socio-political. |
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What makes Annie Christian or Sign O the Times 'political' songs?
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purplerabbithole said: Avalanche is a doozy. I do not totally agree that Lincoln was quite as bad as he makes him out to be. Forced INto Glory is an exagerrated book with some factual inaccuracies (and leaves out some important changes in Lincoln) . But the song still registers with me because of the emotional power of it. I imagined how it felt for Prince to first read some of Lincoln's racial supremacy comments during hte Lincoln-Douglass debates. It must have been crushing to think that a president z(held in such high regardamongst blacks and whites) thought or stated (at least at one point) that maybe blacks were inferior to whites in terms of intellect and characer. Crushing blow.
[Edited 4/10/18 16:35pm] Avalanche is absolutely brilliant. The beautifully written metaphor of the shared societal responsibility of racism...”who’s gonna carry the weight?” I don’t read the Lincoln part as 100% literal. It is meant to shock and question our historical perspectives. It is a perfect introduction to his personal history of musical/cultural exploitation that is told through his discussion of John Hammond/Harlem Renaissance/Sir Duke. Can’t believe Avalanche didn’t make the list! | |
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...If the Kid Can't Make U Come (Morris makes the woman site the Pledge of Allegiance) | |
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They're both "State of the Nation" social commentary. | |
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1. Crystal Ball 2. Hello 3. Controversy 4. Ronnie Talk 2 Russia 5. Sign O The Times 6. The Future 7. Lady Cab Driver 8. The Same December 9. Dear Mr. Man 10. Free "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. And wiser people so full of doubts" (Bertrand Russell 1872-1972) |
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Good shout, that. Absolutely. | |
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At the time, the track "Crystal ball" was seen by his staff and band members as his most (and best) political effort. "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. And wiser people so full of doubts" (Bertrand Russell 1872-1972) |
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I always see 'social commentary' as very different than 'political'
Like Controversy the song is about Prince personally, not politically, it isn't even religious
He called America a patriotic song | |
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I can't listen to Avlanche, he tries to teach a history lession, but gets the history all wrong. The Spielberg movie is a better representation of what happened. [Edited 4/12/18 8:04am] |
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MDM2N was the first thing I looked for to see where they listed it. Really surprising they forgot it completely. |
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Seriously, most of these songs are not "political".
I bleieve Prince was not political, but would call out social injustice.
He's also way more conservative than orgers will admit. | |
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