Hello Purple Fam:

I am curious, has any1 ever been freightened and/or moved to action because of his song The Word??

[Verse 1]
What is this new xhaltation
That I just can't explain?
What are these new inspirations
That I can't get out my brain?
How am I going to sleep with this feeling
Rushing all through my veins?
Get up, come on let's do something
Don't you want to go get saved?
The night is calling you to act
Act upon every urge
You can't get no satisfaction
If you ain't got theo courage
I don't know what yiu're afraid of
I don't know what you've heard
Get up, come on let's do something
Don't you want to know the word?

[Chorus]
Who's going to save us when them spiders get next to you?
Spinning their sticky webs around what you do
We gotta safeguard against forked tongue and the treachery of the wicked one
Get up, come on let's do something

[Verse 2]
Don't matter how far you have to
The truth has got to be told
Don't matter how shiny your lips
They'll never be streets of gold
They might try to get us crazy
Cuz they don't know what I've heard
We got this new exhalation
I'm talking about the word

TIA

^^^^ Please provide link with credit to source of lyrics. Thanks

Hi Dorothy , yes the lyrics of The Word and the melody are a bit haunting and when I first heard the song, I remember thinking that there was a message of religion and urgency there. I've always loved this song, thanks 4 posting!

It's always been one of my favorites from 3121 and I did take note of the lyrics on first listen. I find them to be a bit dark but there's a message of hope as well.

not scared, it's a church song, suppossed to be some kind of threat of damnation, hell, i've heard that all my life, i'm an old church boy. so, i loved it and think "i don't give a fuck who said he can't make a good song no more, he's still the best".

Dorothy3121 said:

Hello Purple Fam:

I am curious, has any1 ever been freightened and/or moved to action because of his song The Word??

[Verse 1]
What is this new xhaltation
That I just can't explain?
What are these new inspirations
That I can't get out my brain?
How am I going to sleep with this feeling
Rushing all through my veins?
Get up, come on let's do something
Don't you want to go get saved?
The night is calling you to act
Act upon every urge
You can't get no satisfaction
If you ain't got theo courage
I don't know what yiu're afraid of
I don't know what you've heard
Get up, come on let's do something
Don't you want to know the word?

[Chorus]
Who's going to save us when them spiders get next to you?
Spinning their sticky webs around what you do
We gotta safeguard against forked tongue and the treachery of the wicked one
Get up, come on let's do something

[Verse 2]
Don't matter how far you have to
The truth has got to be told
Don't matter how shiny your lips
They'll never be streets of gold
They might try to get us crazy
Cuz they don't know what I've heard
We got this new exhalation
I'm talking about the word

TIA

I'm an atheist but I love this song. Prince often had a way of making religous and spritual massages palatable.

Musically--outstanding. Preachy not never offensive. I avoided the song when i first listened to 3121 because I had read that it was religious. But then I listened to it, and I gotta say if churches played songs like that, I might reconsider my feelings about organized religion. I guess music has that power. His religion doesn't believe in damnation, but it does believe in the devil coming in and messing up stuff so that folks don't get the utopian everlasting life promised in JW doctrine to those who resist his temptation. . I choose to think of the 'devil' in this song in more symbolic ways -- as moral confusion..like a less sophisticated version of the devil in "sympathy for the devil' ,that great Stones song. The Stones would say look through history at the demonic things we do and learn to do better. Prince would say look to religion for moral guidance but they are both about doing the right thing in the face of moral confusion.

[Edited 7/14/18 18:50pm]

[Edited 7/14/18 19:00pm]

I like 3121. Planet Earth is kind of weak with some highlights here and there. I know 3121 is not particularly popular on this site but it seems like a lot of other people online like it. (I typed it into twitter once).

Krystalkisses said:

I just listened to this song again out of the blue. I usually don't listen to 3121 or Planet Earth at all.

SkipperLove said:

SkipperLove said:

3121 is rather solid. Consistent if unspectacular.

I think mileage on it mostly comes down to taste but the title track, Black Sweat, Love, The Word, BL&B and Get on the Boat are are rather strong if not excellent. I like Incense and Candles also. A LOT of people adore The Dance for some reason.

I don't bust it out much but I remember being OK with it when it came out.

The Word is a real stand out track to me.