Was re-listening to Questlove Supreme with guests Ruth Arzate (P's assistant, Musicology days), Mathieu Biton and Duane Tudahl. Boss Bill asked Ruth if there was any truth to the rumor that Prince wrote worship songs for JW and Ruth wasnt sure.

Which has me curious actually. Does anybody know? Personally, I think it would make sense, especially in the early beginnings when he converted he was very JW.

There is a set of 10 songs (hymns) circulating with a single track that is alleged to have been a Prince composition - but unaware of any reliable verification.

langebleu said:

There is a set of 10 songs (hymns) circulating with a single track that is alleged to have been a Prince composition - but unaware of any reliable verification.

I have vague recollections of someone mentioning this to me, but I can't remember if it was public or in a private conversation. Something about Prince writing some music for the JWs but they turned it down.

He wrote a whole frickin' album for them. It's called The Rainbow Children.

[Edited 9/5/19 14:01pm]

Genesia said:

He wrote a whole frickin' album for them. It's called The Rainbow Children.

[Edited 9/5/19 14:01pm]

That wasn't for the Jehovah's Witnesses though. That was for Prince.

There is no way they would have used those songs in their services.

And it was a mix of Gnostic belief, Jehovah's Witness, Egyptology and Princeology.

Militant said:

langebleu said:

There is a set of 10 songs (hymns) circulating with a single track that is alleged to have been a Prince composition - but unaware of any reliable verification.

I have vague recollections of someone mentioning this to me, but I can't remember if it was public or in a private conversation. Something about Prince writing some music for the JWs but they turned it down.

I thought that 2nd follow up to RC was to be more directly expressing JW sacred songs.

langebleu said:

There is a set of 10 songs (hymns) circulating with a single track that is alleged to have been a Prince composition - but unaware of any reliable verification.

.

I have an mp3 of that somewhere, and I'm 100% convinced it's Prince. It has that Rainbow Children / Xpectation electric piano instrumentation and the guitar sound and bends, and the composition generally, are clearly 2001-02 Princely. For those that haven't heard it, it's just an instrumental mid-tempo gospel/bluesy/ballad with minimal fuss. Violin on it as well, probably Vanessa Mae. Nothing amazing. I have it titled as "Life Without End".

.

[Edited 9/5/19 16:16pm]

Militant said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Genesia said:

He wrote a whole frickin' album for them. It's called The Rainbow Children.

That wasn't for the Jehovah's Witnesses though. That was for Prince.

There is no way they would have used those songs in their services.

And it was a mix of Gnostic belief, Jehovah's Witness, Egyptology and Princeology.

While it wasn't a set of songs intended for a kingdom hall sing-along, they were certain because of his beliefs, as we know. I still see the album as a love letter to his new religion, which is weird because I've never heard any other song like "Praise God! I love being a Baptist, and you should, too!" or "I want Jesus to get the gist, I love being a Methodist."

He wrote songs for his religion from 2001 on out, really. The dogma was laced into songs well after The Rainbow Children. And when I say "for" I don't mean the hymn mentioned above or worship song idea, but he was undoubtedly trying to preach and turn the state into a pulpit. Flash forward to songs like "Get On The Boat," "Lion of Judah" and others; the dogma never left him, although it was in a lighter fair as time passed.

I think Prince grew disillusioned, a bit, with JW near the end of his life. He delved back more into politics and the constructs of time being man-made, and the idea (ironically) of living forever by way of cryonics or whatever. For me, if he had skipped the JW shit all together, but stayed political (read: "Avalanche," "Dear Mr. Man," "Cinnamon Girl"), I'd have been fine. We had his quasi-religiosity and politics before. It was JW that always fucked things up.

Morgaine said:
Yes. Supposedly the follow up to TRC. Prince gave it to the JWs to listen to & they told him he could not release it & be an active member. Which supposedly hurt him deeply. It's been said that after they rejected it, he began actively questioning some of their specific beliefs. And ultimately backing away from the dogma that he didn't agree with. JWs are not allowed to endorse or support ideas such as the third eye.

I remember it as an unmastered insturmental mix with guitar featured. In fact I initially doubted it was Prince because the tone of the guitar sounded soft, but I think it was the fact that it was a raw mixdown without the usual mastering and heavy compression he would put on most tracks.

toejam said:

Strive said:

You mean you all haven't heard of the unreleased album he did re-writing some of his old songs to reflect his new found faith? Personally, I particularly enjoyed his rework of Let's Work (Let's Bible Study).

I agree, that is what I'm saying. All the songs on TRC and some previous to this and after till his death, was 'for Prince' and his feelings, faith etc
.
The OP asked if Prince wrote songs [worship songs, for the Kingdom Hall] for the Jehovahs Witnesses services.

TrivialPursuit said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

That wasn't for the Jehovah's Witnesses though. That was for Prince.

There is no way they would have used those songs in their services.

And it was a mix of Gnostic belief, Jehovah's Witness, Egyptology and Princeology.

While it wasn't a set of songs intended for a kingdom hall sing-along, they were certain because of his beliefs, as we know. I still see the album as a love letter to his new religion, which is weird because I've never heard any other song like "Praise God! I love being a Baptist, and you should, too!" or "I want Jesus to get the gist, I love being a Methodist."

He wrote songs for his religion from 2001 on out, really. The dogma was laced into songs well after The Rainbow Children. And when I say "for" I don't mean the hymn mentioned above or worship song idea, but he was undoubtedly trying to preach and turn the state into a pulpit. Flash forward to songs like "Get On The Boat," "Lion of Judah" and others; the dogma never left him, although it was in a lighter fair as time passed.

I think Prince grew disillusioned, a bit, with JW near the end of his life. He delved back more into politics and the constructs of time being man-made, and the idea (ironically) of living forever by way of cryonics or whatever. For me, if he had skipped the JW shit all together, but stayed political (read: "Avalanche," "Dear Mr. Man," "Cinnamon Girl"), I'd have been fine. We had his quasi-religiosity and politics before. It was JW that always fucked things up.

jjam said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Genesia said:

He wrote a whole frickin' album for them. It's called The Rainbow Children.

[Edited 9/5/19 14:01pm]

That wasn't for the Jehovah's Witnesses though. That was for Prince.

There is no way they would have used those songs in their services.

And it was a mix of Gnostic belief, Jehovah's Witness, Egyptology and Princeology.

Exactly. Clearly you know I wasnt referencing TRC

AZStreet said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

That wasn't for the Jehovah's Witnesses though. That was for Prince.

There is no way they would have used those songs in their services.

And it was a mix of Gnostic belief, Jehovah's Witness, Egyptology and Princeology.

Exactly. Clearly you know I wasnt referencing TRC

Definately.

.
I love TRC and 'STUDIED' that album lol and it sure would not be 'approved' by the JW elders and prophets

42Kristen said:

What does this mean? How does it lend to the conversation about Jehovah's Witnesses influence on Prince's music?

TrivialPursuit said:

Monarch said:

If he walked away from the Watchtower organization, then wow.... Just take that into consideration that his marriage with Mayte fell apart because she couldn't go along with it. & Then he ultimately stops believing it. Im sorry Mayte, no words.

That's entirely untrue.

TrivialPursuit said:

Monarch said:

If he walked away from the Watchtower organization, then wow.... Just take that into consideration that his marriage with Mayte fell apart because she couldn't go along with it. & Then he ultimately stops believing it. Im sorry Mayte, no words.

That's entirely untrue.

idk man

and even though I'm no 'fan' of that time or relationship, Larry Graham came onto the scene around 98 started proselytizing 0+(>, Mayte from my understanding wasn't down with converting.
.
I think what Monarch said is expressed in TRC story arch which is definately about Mayte(his Woman ie the One) the Artist(the Wise One) and Mani(the Muse)

(along with some others like the 5 banished from the garden)

.

As prophesied, the Wise One and his woman were tempted by the Resistor. He,
knowing full well the Wise One's love 4 God, assimilated the woman first and
only. Quite naturally, chaos ensued and she and 5 others were banished from
the rainbow.4ever.

The Wise One who understood the law that was handed down from God long ago,
held fast in his belief that the Lord would bring him another one who loved him so.

.

I personally believe when she could not give Prince a child, his feelings towards her cooled. Then he went into all the 'we are going back to the garden, we don't believe in contracts etc'
.

The destruction of the Digital Garden

With no more fruit to bear from its trees
The Haze was finally broken

.

"At first you might think that your mate is the God," the Artist reflects, "but you'd better hope that God is speaking through your mate."

"We pretend it didn't even happen," he says of the marriage.

"Like a lot of things in life I don't like, I pretend it isn't there and it goes away. We decided to go back to the Garden."

• These days Mayte and 0{+> refer 2 each other as "mate" or "counterpart," not as husband and wife. The negative energy produced by CONtracts of ANY kind was discussed at length but not included in the final piece that appeared. The term "wife" is a title, much like 'latina' or 'black'. B4 0{+> and Mayte were husband and wife, they were man and woman.
  
  

All in all, we were very pleased with the healthy attitude of the piece and look 4ward 2 furthering a positive relationship with the Star Tribune.

Love4oneanother,
NPG Records

C0RAZ0N said:

There is a song called, Now We Are One, that I suspect he wrote. But guess we'll never know until he is resurrected
[Edited 9/11/19 17:23pm]