Of course, we know the song "The Sacrifice Of Victor" from the LoveSymbol album. The name Victor popped up a lot in the early 1990s regarding Prince, and it supposedly was linked with his name change to .

What is the story behind Victor? Who/ what was Victor? Was there religious/ spiritual meaning?

Good question.

The last lines of the song (closing out the album) are:

Keep on walkin' down this road
When I reach my destination
My name will be Victor
Amen

That led a lot of people, including myself, to think his new name ("0(+>") might be Victor. That was quickly shot down, but it was a reasonable guess.

[Edited 6/18/23 20:16pm]

yeah,many fans thought the symbol itself spells out the name "Victor"

I swear we just had a thread or at least a discussion about this a few weeks ago on here.

He will be victorious when he wins his fight for the right to be free.

That's why his name would be "victor" in the end.

I like that clever breakdown of the symbol, though

victor

SoulAlive said:

yeah,many fans thought the symbol itself spells out the name "Victor"

back in the '92-'93 days a similra breakdown of the symbol was in som article in some fanzine. And we all believed that.

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

Of course, we know the song "The Sacrifice Of Victor" from the LoveSymbol album. The name Victor popped up a lot in the early 1990s regarding Prince, and it supposedly was linked with his name change to .

What is the story behind Victor? Who/ what was Victor? Was there religious/ spiritual meaning?

Where else did you hear victor outside of that album?

LILpoundCAKE said:

I swear we just had a thread or at least a discussion about this a few weeks ago on here.

DAYS ago but some people need attn.

nayroo2002 said:

He will be victorious when he wins his fight for the right to be free.

That's why his name would be "victor" in the end.

I like that clever breakdown of the symbol, though

That's exactly what it is and has always been my answer to it all. He's the victor, not named Victor. He achived a victory - his freedom.

And moreover, he had to sacrifice what some saw as victory by signing contracts over the years, and him feeling like a slave to it. But he told Oprah he was grateful for the journey, because he could better appreciate where he's at now having gone through the other stuff.

The real story is that WB pampered him and treated him quite well. One album a year? It's a record company's wet dream. His outlet through proteges? Even better. In contrast, MJ was 5 years from Thriller to Bad, then another six to Dangerous. Prince put out how many studio albums between 1982-1993??? His only gripe w/ WB was maybe his restriction of frequency. And the fact that despite his genius, he was average what - 5M in sales per album, give or take? He wasn't nearly reaching the goals to get those $10M bonuses in that $100M contract.

So he sacrificed some money there to get free. And since people see wealth as success or victory, it could be a double meaning there.

[Edited 6/18/23 14:20pm]

TrivialPursuit said:

nayroo2002 said:

He will be victorious when he wins his fight for the right to be free.

That's why his name would be "victor" in the end.

I like that clever breakdown of the symbol, though

That's exactly what it is and has always been my answer to it all. He's the victor, not named Victor. He achived a victory - his freedom.

Of course that's what it ulimtately means, but he explicitly sings "my name will be Victor", so you can't fault anyone for wondering if that lyric was literal.

TrivialPursuit said:

The real story is that WB pampered him and treated him quite well. One album a year? It's a record company's wet dream. His outlet through proteges? Even better. In contrast, MJ was 5 years from Thriller to Bad, then another six to Dangerous. Prince put out how many studio albums between 1982-1993??? His only gripe w/ WB was maybe his restriction of frequency. And the fact that despite his genius, he was average what - 5M in sales per album, give or take? He wasn't nearly reaching the goals to get those $10M bonuses in that $100M contract.

Agreed. In addition to allowing him to release far more music, more quickly than they'd be willing to release for anyone else, there are also the following ways in which Warner Bros. pampered him:

• Allowed an 18-year old, novice musician to produce himself with nearly totally articistic control.
• Agreed to release a double album (1999) before Prince was a star, which was something that was usually only done for the most popular acts because of the difficulty in profiting from double albums.
• Agreeing to finance a movie for him, which was a reach because most rock and roll movies bombed at the box office, and the move Prince was proposeing was pretty dark and not something you'd assume would light up the box office (the star/main character would be a domestic abuser who takes after his father who tries to commit suicide).

The words in The Sacrifice of Victor point to this being about Prince's life, especially his childhood years.

Prince explained this in 1997 in an article in the Minnesota Monthly. Whilst being free of WB was probably part of this, the seeking to the victor is about more than this.

"Leaning back in his chair in the studio, he expands on this topic, “I’m as much a part of the city where I grew up as I am anything I was very lucky to be born here because I saw both sides of the racial issue, the oppression and the equality I got the best of all worlds here I saw what happens here, and it’s not like what happens in, say, Atlanta I used to be part of a busing program that took me through Kenwood every day to John Hay Elementary School and then Lincoln Junior High You can check it out in the song ’The Sacrifice of Victor.’ That runs down the whole scene here"

lurker316 said:

Sacrifice of Victor is such a masterpiece song.

PJMcGee said:

lurker316 said:

Of course that's what it ulimtately means, but he explicitly sings "my name will be Victor", so you can't fault anyone for wondering if that lyric was literal.

Not to mention the first song/lyric on the album is My name is Prince.

Great point. I forgot that. Those lyrics bookend the album. The very first line is "My name is Prince" and the very last line is "When I reach my destination my name will be Victor".

So yeah, I understand he wasn't changing his name to Victor. But it was completely reasonable for people to wonder whether he was.

[Edited 6/19/23 6:02am]

he said 'my name isn't prince'

and I said 'is it victor?'

and he said 'no, but i am victorious with you by my side'

SoulAlive said:

yeah,many fans thought the symbol itself spells out the name "Victor"

A coincidence? Me thinks not. I never realized this. Cool.

SoulAlive said:

all jokes aside,I recall that,right before Love Symbol was released,it was reported that Prince would eventually tell us what the “symbol” means.He was planning videos for every track and in the final video,all would finally be revealed.

according to INSIDERS there are pretty much "videos" for most 90s tracks

SoulAlive said:

all jokes aside,I recall that,right before Love Symbol was released,it was reported that Prince would eventually tell us what the “symbol” means.

And what did he say in the end? That sounded like "Prince." I don't see how any video or song was ever going to tell us what meant. It was his "Muhammad Ali."

TrivialPursuit said:

whodknee said:

yeah, but, that's a "G" not a "C"

Veegtore, Veegtore! Nooooo! Don't do dat! Veeeeegtore, nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

My say is that it is self-referential, and expressing his own wishes for life success--to be a victor!

Germanegro said:

My say is that it is self-referential, and expressing his own wishes for life success--to be a victor!

Yes but also a reference to the sacrifices - or struggles - of being a Black person in Minneapolis/USA. For example Dr King being killed. A number of times he tells a preacher "don't say it".

I think it is his equivalent of "the Cross I bear" - A rejection of what an unnamed Preacher kept saying (could be that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins so we don't have to? - possibly like prosperity theology where if you are good (ie donate enough), good things will happen?). Instead, Prince recalls the stuggles and sacrifices of his life and his people. How Bernadette (Andre Cymone's mother who looked after Prince after he left home) set him straight on what sacrifices he needed to make. How he has needed to, and will always need to sacrifice for all his life so that he will be Victor (victorious) at the end - Just like the call for Christians to take up the Cross and not just coast because some Preachers say just believe and you will be saved. That we need to be willing to do the work so we reach the joy that is round the corner.

SoulAlive said:

whodknee said:

A coincidence? Me thinks not. I never realized this. Cool.

I have to admit…the fan (or fans) who came up with this symbol breakdown are very clever

Or perhaps he leaked it so it's meaning wouldn't be lost.