I hope we can all be civil. This forum should be a place where lyrics and meanings behind Prince songs should be discussed.

Been listening to my new beautiful TRC vinyl (which sounds great even through a bluetooth LP Player!).

I've had decidedly negative feelings about this album. I was at the Celebration in 2001 and recall my profound disappointment at the lyrical content and the casual misogeny, anti-semintism, ridged religious dogma that this album contained. (There are of course many beautiful moment here).

Listening to "Family Name" on the eve of Juneteenth (and the raised profile of the Tulsa masscre from Watchman and our POTUS) I have to revist this track.

Intro ("this" or "that"):

This bit comes across pretty angry. Which is not only fine but righteous. We all should be angry. The main question I asked myself when I first heard this lyrics was "is there room for whites in the Rainbow?" Knowing Prince since I was 13, I could only answer "Of course.........right?"

Lets go to the text brothers:

"Black and white is fallacy". ok. (Race is a social construct gotcha. I know this being a "white" latino.)

Black and white = this or that. (ummm ok....)

"This" is "truth" and "that" is whats "resistant" to it. (mmm ok so "this/black" is the good guys and "that/what" are the bad guys. Wait what? Hold up)

minorities/POC (including indigeonous) is more than "black". And if you get to "from the tribe of" is "higher" and the most high is "The Rainbow Children". (hmmm you lost me "from the tribe of" but I think I get the "Rainbow" thing. All together kind of "In the space I mark human" ok...maybe "tribe of" was a reference to Jews? or maybe just different nationalities, like Italian etc.?)

If we see the big picture then the minority becomes a majority. (yes is the current state of most cities but if the Rainbow includes everyone who is the "minority" who is left out?)

The minority becoming a majority causes a backlash (Yep. we saw this clearly when some folks lost their minds when Obama won. So much so they have been punishing us for 3+ years, yes sir)

These people "must be banished" and "it cannot be assimilated". (dang. I've felt this way alot lateley. Deplorables seem irredeemable. It feels hopeless. I understand but "what would Jesus do?" does he believe "it cannot be assimilated"?)

You are either this or "that which is not this". ( your are either for or against us. Hard. I feel it but still....you know "Jesus", love thy enemy etc )

So I'm concluding that the Rainbow Children includes everyone including "whites" (because there aint no such thing) and the excluded (banished) are those who are "resistant".

End Intro and the most evil sounding guitar like starts things off. You know this aint gonna be pretty.

"You (the devil) been hiding here since 1914" (anyone get this reference?)

The firm of Rosenbloom,Pearlman & Goldstruck:

One of the most controversial (if not THE most) part of this song. Especially after the "holocaust aside" remark, it difficult to not see this a anti-semetic. One attendee was driven to tears over this. (I didnt see it personally and legend is Prince took her aside to talk to her).

I was in the biz back then and instantly thought "Goldstruck" was a reference (misspelling) to Charles Goldstuck, Arista/BMG exec and Clive Davis's right hand man for many years.

Then it hit me as some sort of "money/Jews" thing (pearls and gold).

Was this intentional? Lots of jewish people in Prince's life and the entertainment biz, this had to be on purpose espectially after "holocause aside". But was there something else going on?

Was this actually a muddled attempt at showing solidarity with Jews but saying "at least you kept your family name"? (which is funny becase all these are occupational names like "Baker" or "Smith")

No idea. Was this a dogwhistle or just bad writing. Most interested in hearing what the current thoughts on this are.

The rest of the song is wonderful and clear to me. He gives props to John Blackwell and Mohammed Ali. He attacks fake Christian televangelist and puts up a righteous "one gloved fist". I love the juxtaposition of the Jefferson quote ("..we're gonna pay for this" is that real btw?) and with "Black men/White Men, Jews Gentiles, Protestands and Catholics will be able to join hands"

See it all can end well and we're back to the Prince that I thought I knew.

Was this song just therapy? I can get behind that. Especially after the last 3 years. I'm so done with the "resisters" and would love to "banish" them but in the end, deep down, I do want my Sesame Street, Electric Company "Rainbow Children" (including reformed banished ones) happy ending.

[Edited 6/12/20 7:11am]

This song (and the whole TRC album) has some very shaky lyrics in my opinion, but Family Name is a kick ass song musically.

It's pretty clear that Prince was addressing the "oppression olympics" between blacks and jews with portions of the song. He felt like he was at war with the owners. But it's also not right to try to look at it as one cohesive statement. Prince loved to mix up multiple concepts and ideas.

Like 1914 is a Jehovah's Witness reference (https://www.jw.org/en/lib...-prophecy/) and the banished ones is Mayte & the others who didn't agree with his new found JW beliefs.

RJOrion said:

RJOrion said:

Most jews still have their family names (unless they willingly paid to change it)...slaves from Africa had their family lineage and identities stolen from them by white slavetraders...jews were/are allowed to prosper and accumulate wealth and power...blacks were/are treated as nameless beasts of burden...the song is pretty clear on its content...the lyrics are basically documented history

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Sure... at the same time, did those that were enslaved have family names to begin with? (regardless of the color of their skin or heritage) In the Netherlands, Napoleon forced everyone to take on a family name (although they could choose), by 1814.

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Now, I am not trying to take away from the suffering of the enslaved. However, the family name, if they even had one, is the least important afaic. It didn't take away their heritage.. that was tried in many other ways. I don't understand the hangup on the family name, simply. The lyrics that are bordering on racism against jews are also problematic...

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In the US, many immigrant also had their name changed/anglicised, often against their wishes, on coming into the states. So it's a "pain" felt by many.

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luckily, the song is kick-ass. For me, the album is one of his best, but I tend to not listen to lyrics much.

I understand that it is used in that way, but I disagree. My name is not my heritage. My family name is not my heritage. Others feel differently, I suppose, especially when a possible family name has been forcibly changed. The concept is just weird to me. It just seems too close to "the sins of the father.." and all that.

mediumdry said:

mediumdry said:

I understand that it is used in that way, but I disagree. My name is not my heritage. My family name is not my heritage. Others feel differently, I suppose, especially when a possible family name has been forcibly changed. The concept is just weird to me. It just seems too close to "the sins of the father.." and all that.

You can disagree, but your name IS your identity. If they find you dead in a ditch, and they want to know who you are, your name literally identifies you. I mean, literally. So, let's not try and be dense on the subject. All slaves were stripped of their names given to them at birth. From that, there is no way to tell who they were, or who they came from, unless of course their relatives were brought over with them.

I was in a mixed marriage and when my youngest had to do a genealogy project, it was all the way to the great great great grandparents on my ex's side, but we came full stop around great grandparents on my side. Because once you get to the person that was the slave, who had the slave name, that's pretty much where it stops, unless you got Oprah money.

So, yes, your name IS your heritage. It's lterally your FAMILY NAME, as the song says. It couldn't be more basic than that.