I've written a few words on the evolution of Camille and one thing I noticed which I haven't seen mentioned before is the crossed out lines in Shockadelica's handwritten lyrics.

It's clearer in the SOTT superdeluxe book but you can see of evidence of the internal battle it took to wrestle the Camille character into being.

There's several attempts at the "reason is Camille" line, including lines such as "I’m so in love" and "I want a baby all the time", and when he finally commits to the first mention of his alter ego, he's now writing in pencil, suggesting a creative block that he had to put down and return to later.

Not a huge revelation, but an interesting glimpse into his thought process.

Interesting observation, and what seems to me like reasonable conjecture... good eye!

I would suspect that the original lyrics were connected to the version offered to Jesse Johnson. When Jesse turned it down I'm guessing Prince tweaked the lyrics it to fit in his upcoming 'Camille' album; particularly as it was earmarked to be the first single.

SquirrelMeat said:

I would suspect that the original lyrics were connected to the version offered to Jesse Johnson. When Jesse turned it down I'm guessing Prince tweaked the lyrics it to fit in his upcoming 'Camille' album; particularly as it was earmarked to be the first single.

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It wasn't offered to Jesse, seems Prince sent him a copy to troll him. The version he sent was identical to what he released save for a very minor edit

RODSERLING said:

Camille is the reverse of Michael (Jackson) ( according to some rumors)

A while back I posted a link to a video on the YouTube of Quincy Jones saying that Prince's nickname for MJ was Camille.

I can't find my post, but I found one by someone else who saw the video:

https://prince.org/msg/7/431653

lurker316 said:

A while back I posted a link to a video on the YouTube of Quincy Jones saying that Prince's nickname for MJ was Camille.

I can't find my post, but I found one by someone else who saw the video:

https://prince.org/msg/7/431653

Hang on a second. So Quincy claimed that Prince used to refer to Michael as Camille?

15^th September 1986

Prince updates “Wouldn’t U Love 2 Love Me?” for Michael Jackson. As such, he has Michael on his mind around this time.

16^th September 1986
Prince records ‘Shockadelica’.

This has me thinking. Is it possible that the Camille album was Prince accepting Michael’s offer to see which one of them was the baddest, but on Prince’s own terms? On the B-side label, Prince has the name ‘Camille’ mirrored. Possibly some sort of cryptic clue?

VaultCurator said:

lurker316 said:

A while back I posted a link to a video on the YouTube of Quincy Jones saying that Prince's nickname for MJ was Camille.

I can't find my post, but I found one by someone else who saw the video:

https://prince.org/msg/7/431653

Hang on a second. So Quincy claimed that Prince used to refer to Michael as Camille?

15^th September 1986

Prince updates “Wouldn’t U Love 2 Love Me?” for Michael Jackson. As such, he has Michael on his mind around this time.

16^th September 1986
Prince records ‘Shockadelica’.

This has me thinking. Is it possible that the Camille album was Prince accepting Michael’s offer to see which one of them was the baddest, but on Prince’s own terms? On the B-side label, Prince has the name ‘Camille’ mirrored. Possibly some sort of cryptic clue?

I found my original post: https://prince.org/msg/8/459952

And here's the YouTube video queued up to the relevant part: https://youtu.be/ePAGL2Vb8Uw?t=278

VC, you were the first person to reply to my post...

lurker316 said:

VC, you were the first person to reply to my post...

Sorry Lurker. I've got such a bad memory these days. I though the Michael / Camille topic sounded familiar. Great find with that clip of Quincy btw.

... so after the James Brown / Michael Jackson gig, Prince waited outside in his Limo,

wanting to run over Michael and Latoyah ?

Drama mama.

Hi-la-ri-ous! ...if it's al true of course.