Listening back to ‘Why The Butterflies’ and when I hear Prince calling for his mother...
“Mama...”
I can’t but think of Prince pleading to Wally Safford
“Wally...”

Now, in ‘Wally’ it’s obviously a lot more quirky and not as emotional or soulful, but I feel like its stemming from the same idea at least

Imagine in ‘Babyless’ (which is apparently Wally #0), where Prince is going something like
“Mama....
Somethin, somethin
How did I end up babyless?”

Or idk.... obviously I haven’t heard it... but with that title and what we know from the version if Wally we have, i’m trying to imagine where the words could be placed

Instead of pleading to a band member (or, in the song, Wally is simply a friend ig), what if ‘Babyless’ and the original Wally had Prince pleading to his mother? Asking for guidance and support...

And I can imagine how that would be too personal to him... as naturally when we talk to our mothers, we talk about really personal stuff... we talk about our vulnerabilities...

What do y’all think?

I think Susan Rogers would sooner cut out her own pancreas than leave out the detail of Prince pleading to his mom over how ill he was due to Susannah's absence. That is the kind of shit that curls Susan Rogers' toes.

LoveGalore said:

Don’t you think she would keep that detail secret, out of respect?

Or maybe she forgot that detail in her ripe ripe age?

The first is more likely, ok?

AvocadosMax said:

What? Absolutely not. Susan has gone on at length a few times about how willing she is to describe and recount it all for posterity now that he's gone. She said it once quite poignantly at a speaking engagement, referring to how Prince was so guarded and how that interplays with his most ardent fans' memories and understanding of him.

I think they're both built with a similar foundation: Prince, sad and a little lonely, scatting over a blues progression on his piano. A scene that's played out thousands of times - literally.

"Why the butterflies" and the shaking sounds like a small cihild experiencing an epileptic seizure.
Read Prince's memoir where he describes how the clouds would swirl and he'd shake -- then listen to the song.

laytonian said:

Obviously the themes is different

laytonian said:

Fair point

But it just strikes me as, both of these recordings stem from the same part of his brain...
Its just more fully flushed out in Wally, with a lot more going on

Now they say Babyless still might exist. I hope one day it leaks or the estate finds it and releases it... i wanna know if i’m right or my brain just went off on a tangent