Prince has the reputation of being a lustful artist who made sizzling records on sex and women. To be honest, he didn't use much swear words in his music - when referring to sex, he used proper words from the dictionary, that wouldn't be censored. The song "Head", he sings "I've got to have you in my bed", rather than saying "hey, baby, wanna #$#$% in my bed then we'll do #$%#$%#"

The most sexually explicit lyrics I've heard was from "Scandalous" and "Gett Off", and even then he didn't resort to much swearing, using everyday words.

THere's a whole world waiting for you to be discovered ...

He swore enough that it was of note at the time, on the same album as 'Head' is 'Sister' which does use swearing and is about a subject probably more shocking than getting blown by a dickpig bride to be. but I agree a lot of his songs don't use swear words but are explicit in their language in other ways. Prince seemed pretty liberal with throwing out the swear words, but at that time I think he was enough of a showman to know that if you use the big guns all the time, they lose their impact (unlike say later songs like Sexy MF which is pure parody and/or self oneupmanship).

.

I think the point to take away is that he used shock tactics like this as a form of marketing as well as artistic expression. Prince knew how to make himself stand apart from his competition, and this was one of the crayons in his pencil case.

"I said cards, motherfucker.... this is LIFE" (c) 1986

droppingdishes said:

"I said cards, motherfucker.... this is LIFE" (c) 1986

He says "this ain't cards motherfucker, this is LIFE".

I've said this before about Prince not swearing much. He seemed to swear more in the mid 90s than in the 80s!

Se7en said:

droppingdishes said:

"I said cards, motherfucker.... this is LIFE" (c) 1986

He says "this ain't cards motherfucker, this is LIFE".

I've said this before about Prince not swearing much. He seemed to swear more in the mid 90s than in the 80s!

You are correct, edited.

We know that in the early '80s Prince was quite pre-occupied with the whole Moral Majority concept, even going as far as to "hide" titles like We Can Fuck. He seems to have been quite aware of where the line was, and cursing in this '80s work is sporadic BUT present, as evidenced above (even though Rebirth Of The Flesh technically officially never came out).

In the ealy to mid '90s, during the heyday of the NPG, I think he full-on embraced the cursing persona... LOL. This is also coincidentally my favorite P era, as evidenced by my username.

By the late '90s he had started to censor his own lyrics.... life comes at you fast.

[Edited 6/4/19 5:26am]

[Edited 6/4/19 5:26am]

[Edited 6/4/19 5:28am]

I actually don't think he did swear a lot in his music

We could do a run down by 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

I mean that by 2001 swear words were gone(as far as I'm remembering) 2001-2015 alone cuts the percentage back

I agree! Prince didn't swear that much at all. There was just the occasional 'muthafucka' and 'shit'.

Prince was rarely explicit because he used beautiful language to get across something sensual and sexy.

For example, 'When 2 R In Love' is about something very explicit but the lyrics are sensual, ''Their bodies shiver at the mere contemplation Of penetration (let alone the act)'', ''The thought of his tongue in the V of her love...''

Um, Sexy MF? Pussy Control? 18 and Over? Days of Wild? Let's Pretend We're Married? Erotic City? All stuffed full of f words. Do you not know these songs?

1970s

FOR YOU
1. For You

2. In Love

3. Soft And Wet

4. Crazy You

5. Just As Long As We're Together

6. Baby

7. My Love Is Forever

8. So Blue

9. I'm Yours

- no curse words

PRINCE
1.I Wanna Be Your Lover
2.Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?
3.Sexy Dancer
4.When We're Dancing Close And Slow
5.With You
6.Bambi
7.Still Waiting
8.I Feel For You
9.It's Gonna Be Lonely

- no curse words

skywalker said:

Um, Sexy MF? Pussy Control? 18 and Over? Days of Wild? Let's Pretend We're Married? Erotic City? All stuffed full of f words. Do you not know these songs?

Count the number of albums/songs from 1978-2015 and weigh the balance

skywalker said:

Um, Sexy MF? Pussy Control? 18 and Over? Days of Wild? Let's Pretend We're Married? Erotic City? All stuffed full of f words. Do you not know these songs?

You're listing only a handul of songs across over a decade.

Prince didn't swear that much using actual curse words. As noted above, he used other words to convey the raunchiness.

Example: in the album Dirty Mind, aren't there only 2 or 3 curse words? Are there any on Controversy? Of course on 1999, but are there any on Purple Rain? ATWIAD?

There's more swearing on the NPG "Exodus" album than on all other Prince albums combined.

As a kid I always thought Jack U Off was REALLY FUNNY!!!

Clearly there are no swear words, but I often wondered if Prince knew just how rude that phrase is in different countries - and there he is with his band all singing it together during the chorus as though they were singing about candy and ice cream!

Love it!

OldFriends4Sale said:

skywalker said:

Um, Sexy MF? Pussy Control? 18 and Over? Days of Wild? Let's Pretend We're Married? Erotic City? All stuffed full of f words. Do you not know these songs?

Count the number of albums/songs from 1978-2015 and weigh the balance

I suppose it depends the metrics you want to use. Compare Prince's swearing to another one of his contemporaries in pop music. He sure swears a lot more than Madonna, MJ, U2, Springsteen, George Michael, etc. Compare him to popular musicians that came before.

Also, keep in mind, that Prince is largely responsible for the the Parental Advisory label. So, I guess it depends what "swearing a lot" means.

skywalker said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Count the number of albums/songs from 1978-2015 and weigh the balance

I suppose it depends the metrics you want to use. Compare Prince's swearing to another one of his contemporaries in pop music. He sure swears a lot more than Madonna, MJ, U2, Springsteen, George Michael, etc. Compare him to popular musicians that came before.

Also, keep in mind, that Prince is largely responsible for the the Parental Advisory label. So, I guess it depends what "swearing a lot" means.

Wasn't that kicked off by Darling Nikki's 'masturbating with a magazine' line, so ironically was not swearing that started it

.

His swearing was quite prolific between 92-96. When was the last time he swore on record, The Truth maybe.

.

There was of course a few examples in the 80's but not much on the grand scale of things

skywalker said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Count the number of albums/songs from 1978-2015 and weigh the balance

I suppose it depends the metrics you want to use. Compare Prince's swearing to another one of his contemporaries in pop music. He sure swears a lot more than Madonna, MJ, U2, Springsteen, George Michael, etc. Compare him to popular musicians that came before.

Also, keep in mind, that Prince is largely responsible for the the Parental Advisory label. So, I guess it depends what "swearing a lot" means.

lol by Prince by metrics lol

Yeah, think Parade has a Parental Advisory label is Parade is really tame.

Purple Rain doesn't have any curse words in it

The Parental Adv label is more about sexuality. Masturbate is the proper term that Tipper was offended at

Is Pussy or Bitch really 'curse' words?

TheBigBang said:

There's more swearing on the NPG "Exodus" album than on all other Prince albums combined.

LOL true, and GoldNi&&a which would techically by Tony M

1980s A

Dirty Mind

1. Dirty Mind

2. When U Were Mine

3. Do It All Night
4. Got A Broken Heart Again

5. Uptown
6. Head

7. Sister -Oh, motherfuckers just a motherfucker, can't you understand?"

8. Party Up -We don't give a damn, we just want to jam
Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore
You're gonna have to fight your own damn war

Controversy

1. Controversy

2. Sexuality

3. Do Me Baby
4. Private Joy

5. Ronnie Talk 2 Russia

6. Let's Work

7. Annie Christian
8. Jack U Off

- no curse words

1999

1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Delirious
4. Let's Pretend We're Married -I wanna fuck U so bad it hurts, it hurts, it hurts
Ooh, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna fuck U
Yeah, I wanna, I wanna, ooh, I wanna fuck U
Look here martian, I'm not sayin' this just 2 be nasty
I sincerely wanna fuck the taste outta your mouth

But I'm gonna have fun every motherfuckin' night

5. D.M.S.R.

6. Automatic
7. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) -Bitch - U think you're special?
8. Free

9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U In New York
11. International Lover

Purple Rain

1. Let's Go Crazy

2. Take Me With U

3. The Beautiful Ones

4. Computer Blue

5. Darling Nikki

6. When Doves Cry

7. I Would Die 4 U

8. Baby I'm A Star

9. Purple Rain

- no curse words

(someone is going to try to bring up the backwards part of Baby I'm a Star, that cannot count)

Around the World in a Day

1. Around the World in a Day

2. Paisley Park

3. Condition of the Heart

4. Tambourine

5. America

6. Pop Life

7. The Ladder

8. Temptation

- no curse words

Parade

1. Christopher Tracy's Parade

2. New Position

3. I Wonder U

4. Under the Cherry Moon

5. Girls & Boys

6. Life Can Be So Nice

7. Venus de Milo

8. Mountains

9. Do U Lie?

10. Kiss

11. AnotherLoverHolenYoHead

12. Sometimes It Snows In April

- no curse words

Sign O the Times

1. Sign of the Times

2. Play In the Sunshine

3. Housequake -shut up already, damn!
Bullshit!

4. Ballad of Dorothy Parker
5. It

6. Starfish & Coffee

7. Slow Love

8. Hot Thing

9. Forever In My Life

10. U Got the Look

11. If I Was Your Girlfriend

12. Stange Relationship

13. I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man

14. The Cross

15. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night - Can't nobody fuck with us

16. Adore

Black Album

1. Le Grind

2. Cindy C -Will u fuck with me

3. Dead On It -I got a silly rapper talking silly shit instead

4. When 2 R In Love

5. Bob George -You seeing that rich motherfucker again

Because I'll slap your ass into the middle of next week

I pay the rent in this raggedy motherfucker
You sure eat enough of them motherfuckers
Bob, ain't that a bitch?
Same motherfucking shit

6. SuperfunkiCaliFragiSexy -The first person that touches you, you want to fuck

7. 2NigUnited4WestCompton

8. Rock Hard In A Funky Place

Lovesexy

Eye No

Alphabet St

Glam Slam
Anna Stesia
Dance On
Lovesexy

When 2 R In Love

I Wish U Heaven

Positivity

- no curse words

Batman

1. The Future

2. Electric Chair

3. Arms Of Orion

4. Partyman

5. Vicki Waiting

6. Trust

7. Lemon Crush

8. Scandalous

9. Batdance

- no curse words

OldFriends4Sale said:

1980s A

Dirty Mind

1. Dirty Mind

2. When U Were Mine

3. Do It All Night
4. Got A Broken Heart Again

5. Uptown
6. Head

7. Sister -Oh, motherfuckers just a motherfucker, can't you understand?"

8. Party Up -We don't give a damn, we just want to jam
Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore
You're gonna have to fight your own damn war

Controversy

1. Controversy

2. Sexuality

3. Do Me Baby
4. Private Joy

5. Ronnie Talk 2 Russia

6. Let's Work

7. Annie Christian
8. Jack U Off

- no curse words

1999

1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Delirious
4. Let's Pretend We're Married -I wanna fuck U so bad it hurts, it hurts, it hurts
Ooh, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna fuck U
Yeah, I wanna, I wanna, ooh, I wanna fuck U
Look here martian, I'm not sayin' this just 2 be nasty
I sincerely wanna fuck the taste outta your mouth

But I'm gonna have fun every motherfuckin' night

5. D.M.S.R.

6. Automatic
7. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) -Bitch - U think you're special?
8. Free

9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U In New York
11. International Lover

Purple Rain

1. Let's Go Crazy

2. Take Me With U

3. The Beautiful Ones

4. Computer Blue

5. Darling Nikki

6. When Doves Cry

7. I Would Die 4 U

8. Baby I'm A Star

9. Purple Rain

- no curse words

(someone is going to try to bring up the backwards part of Baby I'm a Star, that cannot count)

Around the World in a Day

1. Around the World in a Day

2. Paisley Park

3. Condition of the Heart

4. Tambourine

5. America

6. Pop Life

7. The Ladder

8. Temptation

- no curse words

Parade

1. Christopher Tracy's Parade

2. New Position

3. I Wonder U

4. Under the Cherry Moon

5. Girls & Boys

6. Life Can Be So Nice

7. Venus de Milo

8. Mountains

9. Do U Lie?

10. Kiss

11. AnotherLoverHolenYoHead

12. Sometimes It Snows In April

- no curse words

Sign O the Times

1. Sign of the Times

2. Play In the Sunshine

3. Housequake -shut up already, damn!
Bullshit!

4. Ballad of Dorothy Parker
5. It

6. Starfish & Coffee

7. Slow Love

8. Hot Thing

9. Forever In My Life

10. U Got the Look

11. If I Was Your Girlfriend

12. Stange Relationship

13. I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man

14. The Cross

15. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night - Can't nobody fuck with us

16. Adore

Black Album

1. Le Grind

2. Cindy C -Will u fuck with me

3. Dead On It -I got a silly rapper talking silly shit instead

4. When 2 R In Love

5. Bob George -You seeing that rich motherfucker again

Because I'll slap your ass into the middle of next week

I pay the rent in this raggedy motherfucker
You sure eat enough of them motherfuckers
Bob, ain't that a bitch?
Same motherfucking shit

6. SuperfunkiCaliFragiSexy -The first person that touches you, you want to fuck

7. 2NigUnited4WestCompton

8. Rock Hard In A Funky Place

Lovesexy

Eye No

Alphabet St

Glam Slam
Anna Stesia
Dance On
Lovesexy

When 2 R In Love

I Wish U Heaven

Positivity

- no curse words

Batman

1. The Future

2. Electric Chair

3. Arms Of Orion

4. Partyman

5. Vicki Waiting

6. Trust

7. Lemon Crush

8. Scandalous

9. Batdance

- no curse words

So, that's swearing on nearly half of his albums in the 80's. Not to mention B-Sides (which were often full of delicious curse words). Also, what are we calling swear words? Is, "Oh son of a bitch!" from "Batdance" not swearing? Furthermore, what about his live performances? IE "Enough of this tame shit, who wants some head?" No?

-

All I am saying is that I DO NOT think it's safe to say that Prince didn't swear a lot when he is cursing on half of these albums....especially compared to other pop artists of the era...

[Edited 6/4/19 11:47am]

skywalker said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

1980s A

Dirty Mind

1. Dirty Mind

2. When U Were Mine

3. Do It All Night
4. Got A Broken Heart Again

5. Uptown
6. Head

7. Sister -Oh, motherfuckers just a motherfucker, can't you understand?"

8. Party Up -We don't give a damn, we just want to jam
Fightin' war is such a fuckin' bore
You're gonna have to fight your own damn war

Controversy

1. Controversy

2. Sexuality

3. Do Me Baby
4. Private Joy

5. Ronnie Talk 2 Russia

6. Let's Work

7. Annie Christian
8. Jack U Off

- no curse words

1999

1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Delirious
4. Let's Pretend We're Married -I wanna fuck U so bad it hurts, it hurts, it hurts
Ooh, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna fuck U
Yeah, I wanna, I wanna, ooh, I wanna fuck U
Look here martian, I'm not sayin' this just 2 be nasty
I sincerely wanna fuck the taste outta your mouth

But I'm gonna have fun every motherfuckin' night

5. D.M.S.R.

6. Automatic
7. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) -Bitch - U think you're special?
8. Free

9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U In New York
11. International Lover

Purple Rain

1. Let's Go Crazy

2. Take Me With U

3. The Beautiful Ones

4. Computer Blue

5. Darling Nikki

6. When Doves Cry

7. I Would Die 4 U

8. Baby I'm A Star

9. Purple Rain

- no curse words

(someone is going to try to bring up the backwards part of Baby I'm a Star, that cannot count)

Around the World in a Day

1. Around the World in a Day

2. Paisley Park

3. Condition of the Heart

4. Tambourine

5. America

6. Pop Life

7. The Ladder

8. Temptation

- no curse words

Parade

1. Christopher Tracy's Parade

2. New Position

3. I Wonder U

4. Under the Cherry Moon

5. Girls & Boys

6. Life Can Be So Nice

7. Venus de Milo

8. Mountains

9. Do U Lie?

10. Kiss

11. AnotherLoverHolenYoHead

12. Sometimes It Snows In April

- no curse words

Sign O the Times

1. Sign of the Times

2. Play In the Sunshine

3. Housequake -shut up already, damn!
Bullshit!

4. Ballad of Dorothy Parker
5. It

6. Starfish & Coffee

7. Slow Love

8. Hot Thing

9. Forever In My Life

10. U Got the Look

11. If I Was Your Girlfriend

12. Stange Relationship

13. I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man

14. The Cross

15. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night - Can't nobody fuck with us

16. Adore

Black Album

1. Le Grind

2. Cindy C -Will u fuck with me

3. Dead On It -I got a silly rapper talking silly shit instead

4. When 2 R In Love

5. Bob George -You seeing that rich motherfucker again

Because I'll slap your ass into the middle of next week

I pay the rent in this raggedy motherfucker
You sure eat enough of them motherfuckers
Bob, ain't that a bitch?
Same motherfucking shit

6. SuperfunkiCaliFragiSexy -The first person that touches you, you want to fuck

7. 2NigUnited4WestCompton

8. Rock Hard In A Funky Place

Lovesexy

Eye No

Alphabet St

Glam Slam
Anna Stesia
Dance On
Lovesexy

When 2 R In Love

I Wish U Heaven

Positivity

- no curse words

Batman

1. The Future

2. Electric Chair

3. Arms Of Orion

4. Partyman

5. Vicki Waiting

6. Trust

7. Lemon Crush

8. Scandalous

9. Batdance

- no curse words

So, that's swearing on nearly half of his albums in the 80's. Not to mention B-Sides (which were often full of delicious curse words). Also, what are we calling swear words? Is, "Oh son of a bitch!" from "Batdance" not swearing? Furthermore, what about his live performances? IE "Enough of this tame shit, who wants some head?" No?

-

All I am saying is that I DO NOT think it's safe to say that Prince didn't swear a lot when he is cursing on half of these albums....especially compared to other pop artists of the era...

[Edited 6/4/19 11:47am]

LOL

not even lol

Also looking at 1999 and SOTT (double albums -2 songs used a curse word lol)
None of this was really vulgar either

When you look at the few words used within 1 song, it is like 1/100

not to mention nothing on For You or Prince either

6 out of 10 1980s albums had no curse word

the 4 albums that did 43 songs altogether 10 songs with 1 or more

that really isn't a lot

I suspect the number will pick up more in the early -mid 90s, but we will see a drop off, and from 2001-2015 we won't hear any So that really cannot be considered a lot when we add it all up.

.

I'll add up the bsides too next

.

I believe the OP is talking about albums. I don't think it's possible to calculate anything said/not said live.

Also I don't think comparing to other contemporary artists is what the OP intends. That would be hard to, because then someone would have to go through there albums/songs and do a count lol not me

.

.

I asked that too, what is considered a 'curse word' Even though I counted Bitch above, I don't really see it as one.

Is 'damn' really a curse word too? Back in the day, if you were a kid, you could subsitute it with Darn or Dang. I don't think there were substitutes for Shit, Ass could be substituted with Behind, Butt, Booty etc lol "Ooooooh you cursed, I'm going to tell momma"

PRESSED!

It's relative.

In the 80's, this WAS a lot of cursing. But compared to today's no-talent rappers?

Prince would be considered a choir boy.

Controversy B side:
Gotta Stop Messing About (none)

.

1999 B sides:

Horny Toad (none)

How Come U Don't CallMe Anymore (none)

Irresistable Bitch (only Bitch in the song title)

.

Purple Rain B sides:

Another Lonely Christmas (none)

17 Days (none)

Erotic City -We can fuck until the dawn

God (none)

.

4 the Tears In Your Eyes (none)

.

Around the World in a Day B sides:

She's Always In My Hair (none)

Girl (only on the extended version he whispers 'your ass is so tight'

Hello (none)

.

Parade B sides:

Love or Money (none)

Alexa de Paris (none)

.

Sign o the Times B sides:

La La La He He Hee (none)

Shockadelica ( I think on the extended version he says bitch 1 time)

.

Lovesexy B sides:

Escape (none)

Scarlett Pussy (none)

.

Batman B sides

200 Balloons (none)

Feel U Up (none)
I Love U in Me (none)

RodeoSchro said:

It's relative.

In the 80's, this WAS a lot of cursing. But compared to today's no-talent rappers?

Prince would be considered a choir boy.

I mean, he really started swearing in the 90s when he was trying to imitate "no-talent rappers".

Irresistable Bitch (Bitch in the song title and chorus)

/fixed it

Not that I give a shit, but some people here have a loose definition of a curse word. "Pussy" isn't vulgar? I suppose depending on your profession, maybe it isn't, but for most of society, the word pussy is most definitely profane unless you are specifically talking about cats. And even then, people roll their eyes . Same w/ the word bitch. Go ahead, walk up to your favorite priest and call him a bitch. See if it ain't profane.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Parade

1. Christopher Tracy's Parade

2. New Position

3. I Wonder U

4. Under the Cherry Moon

5. Girls & Boys

6. Life Can Be So Nice

7. Venus de Milo

8. Mountains

9. Do U Lie?

10. Kiss

11. AnotherLoverHolenYoHead

12. Sometimes It Snows In April

- no curse words

Black Album

1. Le Grind

2. Cindy C -Will u fuck with me (also says shit a lot in it)

3. Dead On It -I got a silly rapper talking silly shit instead (other instances of shit)

4. When 2 R In Love

5. Bob George -You seeing that rich motherfucker again

Because I'll slap your ass into the middle of next week

I pay the rent in this raggedy motherfucker
You sure eat enough of them motherfuckers
Bob, ain't that a bitch?
Same motherfucking shit

6. SuperfunkiCaliFragiSexy -The first person that touches you, you want to fuck, (also "damn")

7. 2NigUnited4WestCompton

8. Rock Hard In A Funky Place

Slight incorrect.

He spells "P-U-S-S-Y" in "New Postition".

Cat or someone says "fuck me pumps" at the beginning of "2 Nigs". Also the word "shit" is in that dialog.

At the end of "Rock Hard" he says, "What the fuck kind of ending was that?"

Se7en said:

Mikado said:

RodeoSchro said:

It's relative.

In the 80's, this WAS a lot of cursing. But compared to today's no-talent rappers?

Prince would be considered a choir boy.

I mean, he really started swearing in the 90s when he was trying to imitate "no-talent rappers".

Thankfully he realized his mistake!