SquirrelMeat said:

It's ethereal. I just isolated the vocal track to check.

You shouldn't have wasted the time. We've known for decades, back when the song audio was coming from a hiss laden cassette that it was "ethereal." These jokers need to stop this nonsense.

I have had it for maybe 30 years and I have always heard it as "ethereal."

But, I get it! I thought the line from "Baby I'm a Star" was "It's got me parralized" when it is "There's got to be a better life."

and I got stuff from "Crystal Ball" wrong for decades too!

Some songs *such as "Mountains" have lyrics that are not easy to understand.

It is definitely "Ethereal"

THEXTH

RJOrion said:

Smh...when Michael Jackson says "sha'mone", alot of yall probably swear that he's saying "Shalom"... yall need new ears and speakers forreal.

This is just an assumption about what you want to imagine we think about the words of different song by a different artist.

It is a poor example because in your example the lyric sites and "we'all" agree that it is not shalom. What we have with this thread is congruence between the word written and heard by most of us.

Marrk said:

ether·eal

[ɪˈθɪərɪəl]

ADJECTIVE

1. extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world:

   "her ethereal beauty"

   • 2. heavenly or spiritual:
     "ethereal, otherworldly visions"

Exactly. Note the lyrics say the dream imagery is not meant to be takes ethereally but as just a bit of seductive fun.

The dream is never about the difference between being a fun dream or a serious dream - What on earth would a serious seductive dream be anyway?

is this a troll thread? I'm trying to hear ethereal, but it just doesn't work... All I can hear is "serious", with his tongue firmly in his cheek. I don't even think he says "serial" in that south park al gore way. Oh well, why not something else to disagree over as Prince fans.

mediumdry said:

is this a troll thread? I'm trying to hear ethereal, but it just doesn't work... All I can hear is "serious", with his tongue firmly in his cheek. I don't even think he says "serial" in that south park al gore way. Oh well, why not something else to disagree over as Prince fans.

We aren't disagreeing, it's not even debatable. You need new ears!

mediumdry said:

is this a troll thread?

Only if you are the troll.

The entire premise of this thread is absurd. I would respect the OP more if they just said, "Hey, I'm bored. Let me waste y'alls time with some bullshit."

mediumdry said:

RJOrion said:

Word...there are some very strange people commenting at this site...its almost as if some of them are trying to rewrite an alternate and sometimes whitewashed history for Prince, since he passed...this one can be partially blamed on the lyrics sites , which are notoriously wrong, especially when it comes to lyrics by black/brown artists, since our speech patterns, dialects, and phrasing can be nuanced...but still, it should be clear to those with good common sense, good ears, and good speakers, that he's saying "serious"...its so funny and so sad at the same time...bless their hearts [Edited 6/13/23 8:52am]

You knew Prince. Praise be to you. All hail ChocolateBox3121 and RJOrion.

RJOrion said:

mediumdry said:

is this a troll thread? I'm trying to hear ethereal, but it just doesn't work... All I can hear is "serious", with his tongue firmly in his cheek. I don't even think he says "serial" in that south park al gore way. Oh well, why not something else to disagree over as Prince fans.

Word...there are some very strange people commenting at this site...its almost as if some of them are trying to rewrite an alternate and sometimes whitewashed history for Prince, since he passed...this one can be partially blamed on the lyrics sites , which are notoriously wrong, especially when it comes to lyrics by black/brown artists, since our speech patterns, dialects, and phrasing can be nuanced...but still, it should be clear to those with good common sense, good ears, and good speakers, that he's saying "serious"...its so funny and so sad at the same time...bless their hearts [Edited 6/13/23 8:52am]

You're on to us.

This was all just another attempt to steal your language by white people with poor sound equipment. And it was such a clever ruse by Prince to seek to fool us by putting in one mispronounced AAVE word said with a lisp to hide its cultural roots. However, you with your superior ears and good speakers have shown us the light. Thank you for your blessings on us simple folk.

IN RJ WE TRUST

yeah... and let's turn this into a white vs black argument. I'll be white, cite privilege and win!

mediumdry said:

yeah... and let's turn this into a white vs black argument. I'll be white, cite privilege and win!

But surely this will be a fragile, otherworldly vision of a win. Even an ethereal win but clearly not a serious win - and we are back.

And people wonder why the org has become such an ugly place.

Just to clean up the debate. http://sndup.net/4jmw

SquirrelMeat said:

RJOrion said:

If you cant hear the "s" at the end of that last eord, you need immediate medical attention... I guess next yall will be saying "ethereals" is a word... Bless your hearts (and ears)

It's the other way around:

If you CAN hear an "s" at the end of that last word, YOU need immediate PSYCHOLOGICAL attention... I guess next yall will be saying "imaginary s'es" are a sound... Bless your heart (and ears).

Ethereal all the way! It's clear as day.

SquirrelMeat said:

And people wonder why the org has become such an ugly place.

Just to clean up the debate. http://sndup.net/4jmw

.

Thanks for that, now at least I can understand where people get the idea... it's the long reverb on the tongue in cheek "serious" that makes it sound as if there's another syllable. And it makes it harder to hear, further clouding the issue.

.

I'm still in camp serious, but at least now I understand the ethereal people. Progress!

.

Just by the way, can anyone explain what this lyric would mean:

Play my record double speed, feel the climax fit 4 a king
Just fun, nothing ethereal

.

I got nothing there. This makes some sense at least:

Play my record double speed, feel the climax fit 4 a king
Just fun, nothing serious

.

People do tend to take climaxing and having sex quite serious...

mediumdry said:

SquirrelMeat said:

And people wonder why the org has become such an ugly place.

Just to clean up the debate. http://sndup.net/4jmw

.

Thanks for that, now at least I can understand where people get the idea... it's the long reverb on the tongue in cheek "serious" that makes it sound as if there's another syllable. And it makes it harder to hear, further clouding the issue.

.

I'm still in camp serious, but at least now I understand the ethereal people. Progress!

.

Just by the way, can anyone explain what this lyric would mean:

.

I got nothing there. This makes some sense at least:

Play my record double speed, feel the climax fit 4 a king
Just fun, nothing serious

.

People do tend to take climaxing and having sex quite serious...

So what we have is people who clearly hear a word with no distortion against people who need to hear either a lisp, a tongue in the cheek, and now an added reverb to hide the word that they want to hear.

The explanation of why ethereal makes much more sense has been discussed. It is about a dream seduction or an imagined seduction in dream that is just meant to be for fun, hence the symbology in the dream should not be taken as having any ethereal or otherworldly meaning. This is based on the whole of the song and its title, not an attempt to just find a meaning to fit one line with just one other.

Hear ye, hear ye, one and all
That the double speed playhouse is making a call
Welcome, this is where I live
This is where I dream my dreams
Tonight we'll make love until the world stops turning
You're small but very strong

You move like a cat, quickly but gentle
So insane

...

Lisa may not even be there and it could all be just a fun fantasy dream about marrying and having sex with her (or the listener) forever. Is it forever, or just tonight? Is it real or just a dream? Is it meant ethereally with the references to exotic parrallel worlds, Marilyn Monroe and sex that lasts forever or does he want this fun in reality as shown by it being also tied to reality by the Captain Crunch and Cheerios reference? The three stanzas that make up the sex dream are just the dream - the intro and outro above clearly put this all within a dream - otherwise it would just be an erotic poem with no explanation. All this could be seen as either an explanation of why it is not meant to be serious or ethereal, just fun - except it is meant to be both fun and serious, but never fleetingly ethereal. The seriousness of this is emphaisied in the conclusion:

All my dreams, all my dreams
Goodness will guide us if love is inside us
The colors are brighter, the bond is much tighter
You know no child's a failure
Until the blue sailboat sails him away from his dreams
Don't ever lose, don't ever lose
Don't ever lose your dreams
Yeah

He seriously wants to encourage people to hold on to the fun in their dreams for reality, not just an ethereal dream that never happens and fades away overtime to the detriment of goodness and love so it results in failure. He pleads that she, and the listeners, never ever lose our dreams. The choice is between dreaming about a future reality of fun, love and goodness or seeing these dreams die because of their ethereal fragility. It is not between having fun and being serious about having an orgasm.

JimmyJimmy said:

It’s a MISHEARD LYRIC How it turned into an argument is peak Internet. Such a strange angry site these days We don’t deserve new music.

I don't think anyone is angry here. You must not know how angry people used to get here in the past.

This is just a discussion on opinios and, as such is unlikely to convince anyone. It is nothing more than the discussions on what colour is that dress etc.

Actually, If you play with the EQ, are we hearing 'Serious' here? http://sndup.net/yyzt

SquirrelMeat said:

Actually, If you play with the EQ, are we hearing 'Serious' here? http://sndup.net/yyzt

Its clearly "Just Fun, Why. So...Ethereal?". You need to clean your ears out

Revolution81 said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Actually, If you play with the EQ, are we hearing 'Serious' here? http://sndup.net/yyzt

Its clearly "Just Fun, Why. So...Ethereal?". You need to clean your ears out

"Why so serious".

Perhaps you should have played the link?

IanRG said:

Revolution81 said:

Its clearly "Just Fun, Why. So...Ethereal?". You need to clean your ears out

"Why so serious".

Perhaps you should have played the link?

I did. "just fun. why...so..Ethereal?" 100%