LILpoundCAKE said:

i don't know. something tells me RUNNING GAME is when he will let loose good and proper, before mellowing things out again with BORN 2 DIE and 1000 LIGHT YEARS before we get a little bit of fluff and summery pop with HOT SUMMER.

it would make a lot of sense for RUNNING GAME to be something very hard and fast

Yeah... I guess I miss some kind of Extended Version of "HARDROCKLOVER"... Or "The Undertaker"... I really do like these exercices in extremes, the floating, minimalistic, atmospheric verses and full-on choruses.

It's like I'm expecting 7 more minutes after the "Hit me!".
In that sense, I understand some complaning this song ain't goin' nowhere.
But this can only means Prince wanted the focus on the lyrics.

And yes, they may appear simplistic, but I think they're a far cry from
Guru Skippa at his most out of this world (his trippier interpretation of The Book so far).
These are more anchored.

I do prefer this, but having Prince in jazzy mode
is always a treat. But I do miss a long jam after what some feel as an intro
(supposing there's a theme, but by 20Ten albums become
more singles collections than concepts, except of course for Art Official Age).

Still W2A makes me think of several songs that sound kinda dull on record,
but when I come across some live versions, they're truly something else.
And still the same song, so... It would have been great in an extended live jam.

Now when it comes to SKipper and politics,
as far as I'm concerned, one of the apex remains
"Dear Mr. Man / Hit The Road Jack" from Shark Tank (San Jose, Musicology Tour).

For a few seconds, the whole arena was gospeling for Dick, Double U and the whole gang of decrepits greedy falcons to get the fuck out of America's sight.
Courtesy of Ray.

[Edited 4/13/21 12:22pm]

LILpoundCAKE said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

"The opposite of covid is divoc... divoc sounds like divorce.... a divorce from what? God. You think God wanted you to die from this disease? I dont think so. "

ahahahah omg this is INCREDIBLE

SimonCharles said:

One of the things that has continued to frustrate me with Prince's work, is his religiosity. Back in 1988, I thought he was on some journey to enlightment, possibly to a more humanist perspective. Even GB still seemed to be a conversation rather than out and out proselytising. I'm glad he found faith and comfort in his religion...I really just wish it had been a different, less certain perspective. but, that's just me.

it is definitely not just you.

We should be able to download the live B-Side that will be on the gold vinyl single. Take my money please!

Transformed1 said:

We should be able to download the live B-Side that will be on the gold vinyl single. Take my money please!

Agree. I've been hoping they do this. Along with the concert dvd - put that audio up for sale/download.

This is a tricky one.

It's not lead single material, clearly. I'm a big fan of Parliament Funkadelic and W2A doesn't stand up so well in comparison to "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)" either. Also generally I find that Prince's slightly cranky sermonizing around politics or religion not super interesting lyrically. Even as a kid back in 87 listening to SoTT for the first time, I didn't buy the line about the Challenger disaster, it just seems unintelligent.

On the other hand, I'm happy to hear W2A and I've been dying to hear more of his unreleased late-career stuff. So, bring it on says I.

[Edited 4/15/21 1:16am]

[Edited 4/15/21 1:16am]

"One of our greatest exports was a thing called jazz...you think today's music will last?"

*

So, this has got my head spinning, too. There is obviously a self-awareness that he is speaking about his own output, too - and a purposeful use of clichéd jazz be-bop and chord sketch to illustrate the genre. But shouldn't there be a less clichéd reference? Shouldn't this comment come on a more memorable song? Was he trying to prove the point by doing it this way? This song is making my head hurt.

*

That said, I'm beginning to enjoy the second guessing this song is conjuring up in me. I'm hoping that, much like Dirty Mind, SOTT and Art Official Cage, this is a song setting up an album that has a consistent theme/tone/ambience running throughout. I can hope, can't i?

AvocadosMax said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

AvocadosMax said:

People complaining that ‘this aint a song’ just don’t get it Its a groove with a bunch of interesting lyrics. That’s what it’s supposed to be My only problem is that Prince sounds tired... or bored... maybe he just really wanted us to focus on the words? Maybe he didn’t want to overshadow Shelby J and Liv Warfield vocals... but i’m leaning towards he just intended to re-record his... ik it was intended for release, but i think he would have re-done his lead part before finalizing the track and album

It's just prince going through the motions. I dont think he sounds bored exactly, more that he hasn't really got much conviction in anything hes saying, but also kind of cranky like someone else said, and also preachy. I really hate prince in preachy mode. As I said before, he was not gil Scot heron. [Edited 4/15/21 23:36pm]

Interesting, I could not disagree more with all of this.

I don't think it's going through the motions at all.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Having let the song gestate over the past the week, it's grown on me a lot. On first listen, I loved the ominous, slightly threatening stop-start bass. The unsettling synth that appears 30 seconds in reminded me of the way a synth disrupts the opening of Hand of God (the first track of Nick Cave's latest album Carnage), and for one delerious moment I thought Welcome 2 America was going to explode with the same frenetic energy that song does. Obviously, it doesn't. So I waited for something else - a guitar/bass solo, a Rainbow Children-esque crescendo - but nothing. The song felt kind of lifeless, bland.

A week later, I think it's a lot stronger. I wish he'd gone harder and weirder with the lyrics (as people have commented, things he says in live versions are omitted here, and as I don't listen to Prince for his rational social critques, the wilder and more interesting the lyrics the better). And I still wish he'd got stranger with the music. Saying that, there's lots of cool stuff going on in the song. Tal Wilkenfeld's bass is atmospheric and carries the track, Prince's delivery is nice and sly, and there's all sorts of weird sounds like the backmasked vocals and intruding synth squiggles. And now I hear Shelby's, Liv's and Elisa's harmonies with more of a P-Funk strut, I enjoy them a lot more.


While it doesn't stand up against songs like Colonized Mind or The War, I would take this sort of Prince over Party-Prince any day, which makes me excited to hear the rest of the record. Thinking of the time period, it's a much stronger opener than Compassion or the disgusting, bile-inducing, kidney-stone passage that is Art Official Cage.

RJOrion said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

as i said:

Still love the man, just not every single thing he did.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

OperatingThetan said:

SantanaMaitreya said:

OperatingThetan said:

SantanaMaitreya said:

Or it was something he improvised during the concert.

The line is featured in multiple live performances of the song, including the mash-up with 'Dreamer'.

What was the line? I'm not looking for an exact quote if you can't remember, hust the gist of it.

lurker316 said:

How long were those sermons he gave on the One Nite Alone tour. 15, 20 mins? That was preachy. This isn't really.

Don't go anywhere near One Song, anyone who finds this new single preachy

yeah, in fairness, this is not sermonising like in the larry days, its pretty tame, but idk, its not really blowing my mind, content-wise (would it have been diff in 2010? idk). also, its not really whats being said, its more whether its good or cool or effective musically, and im not sure its that special. sounds like a warm up to something bigger and better, like a follow on track. i think my expectations are raised as its the first song to come from a new album, and its being released as a proper single, which just seems weird for a song like this, but hey.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

RJOrion said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Gilles Peterson just played this after people make the world go round That's where he stole the bassline from!

yo...arent you tired yet?...youve been complaining about this song for 9 days and over 7 pages

why do you insist on replying to everything i post? have you got a crush on me or something? are you like prince's cyber bodyguard or something? you want to be big chick with prince riding on your back?

i was actually going to say hearing this on the radio, as opposed to earphones via spotify, makes it sound better. lyrically im not that into it but the song has kinda grown on me.