funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

This has prob been asked before but listening to a remake of it recently made me think that while musically its great which is maybe all that matters,does the song make sense? Or, does that last verse even go the others? Obv he starts off talking about a breakup The last verse is the one that confuses me though What does being a leader have to do with anything ? Was he part of an activist group? Did the breakup lead the girl to want a cult leader to follow? Did the breakup mean prince thought he had to become the messiah? Is the purple rain a cult faction prince was trying to induct us into? Great guitar though. [Edited 12/28/20 10:59am]

Someone is having way too much fun.

I'll let someone else take a shot at this analysis, but no question Prince has plenty of head-scratcher lyrics.

funk, when I saw your topic, I thought the thread was going to talk about the "extra, additional" verse of Purple Rain that wasn't used going forward.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

i guess prince just had a lot going on in this period

eg -

https://prince.org/msg/5/429482

I thought that the last verse was directed towards the audience and reflected his religious belief system and his role as a preacher with the answers. RJ mentioned it, a messianic tendency @ times.

He had such a deep, commanding voice and understood how to control an audience...that must have been heady.

[Edited 12/30/20 8:48am]

Margot said:

I thought that the last verse was directed towards the audience and reflected his religious belief system and his role as a preacher with the answers. RJ mentioned it, a messianic tendency @ times.

He had such a deep, commanding voice and understood how to control an audience...that must have been heady.

[Edited 12/30/20 8:48am]

Yup!

At that time i think he was trying to tell "the audience" that they don't exactly know what they want,

and if they don't, then please "follow me"

HOWEVER, i think he meant musically...

Then there's how, in Prince world, music and divine stuff can get all mixed up together.

Prince as vessel, etc., etc.

On another topic, IMO the strongest decisions and beliefs (introduced by a leader or otherwise) survive and strengthen through an open mind.

But P might not think so, and maybe "closing your mind" in this case just means making a decision and therefore closing off a different path.

Maybe it does make sense to at least look at what P considered that his lyrics would say right after that leader part.

Are these words correct?

"Honey I don't want your money, no, no.
I don't even think I want your love.
If I wanted either one I would take your money and,
I want the heavy stuff"

Maybe he's singing to a different audience in the last verse. The first verses are to a specific woman, then the end it's to the whole world.

I don't know, but I'm glad he took the verse about money away. Ruins the song.

nayroo2002 said:

Margot said:

I thought that the last verse was directed towards the audience and reflected his religious belief system and his role as a preacher with the answers. RJ mentioned it, a messianic tendency @ times.

He had such a deep, commanding voice and understood how to control an audience...that must have been heady.

[Edited 12/30/20 8:48am]

Yup!

At that time i think he was trying to tell "the audience" that they don't exactly know what they want,

and if they don't, then please "follow me"

HOWEVER, i think he meant musically...

I sort of think it was the beginning of his tendency to preach.

Some more observations possibly relevant to that time. Most here are likely already familiar with observations like this.

This particular quote is from Erica Thompson's blog. She's a journalist from Ohio and a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. For about ten years, she has been preparing and gathering interviews for a book. The quote is from a 2011 post that talks about her interview with Howard Bloom.

Margot said:

RJOrion said:

Margot said:

I sort of think it was the beginning of his tendency to preach.

maybe he's just too demanding...maybe he's just like his faaaather...too bold

He's not a woman, he's not a man. He is something that you'll never understand.

EnDoRpHn said:

RJOrion said:

EnDoRpHn said:

He's not a woman, he's not a man. He is something that you'll never understand.

he was dreamin' when he wrote that...forgive him

he's not a human, he is a dove
he's ur conscience, he is love

RJOrion said:

EnDoRpHn said:

He's not a woman, he's not a man. He is something that you'll never understand.

he was dreamin' when he wrote that...forgive him

"...4 all y'all that know the number n don't call: fuck all y'all"

RJOrion said:

Margot said:

I sort of think it was the beginning of his tendency to preach.

maybe he's just too demanding...maybe he's just like his faaaather...too bold

LOL

EnDoRpHn said:

Why does it seem like people here don't like sprituality or anything along those lines when it comes to Prince and his music? this is a constant theme here. Is majority of the place athiest?