ShellyMcG said:

MattyJam said:

ShellyMcG said:

Call My Name takes it by a mile for me. It doesn't just sound better to listen to but the message of the song is much better. More positive.

I'd rather listen to a love song than one about Prince arguing with someone.

I respect your take, but that is a strange logic. By that thinking, you'd rather listen to Incense & Candles over When Doves Cry?
[Edited 10/10/25 9:04am]

ShellyMcG said:

MattyJam said:

[/b]
I respect your take, but that is a strange logic. By that thinking, you'd rather listen to Incense & Candles over When Doves Cry?
[Edited 10/10/25 9:04am]

No. You can't just snip part of my post and expect to get the full context of what I said.

Besides, those two situations are not even remotely similar. My issue with Man O War is that Prince is playing the victim in the aftermath of his break-up with Mayte. Talking about how lonely he is. And how he needs somebody. Well, if he wasn't such an insensitive prick to her then he'd have somebody and he wouldn't be lonely. He's not the victim in that situation. He was just being an arsehole and even though the song is a good one when taken by itself, the truth behind the song makes it difficult for me to listen to.

But Prince's personal failings are not the topic so I'll leave it there. However, I will say that I really like Incense And Candles too and even though I wouldn't put it on the same level as When Doves Cry, I think it's a really good song and I actually do listen to it more than When Doves Cry

MattyJam said:

ShellyMcG said:

No. You can't just snip part of my post and expect to get the full context of what I said.

Besides, those two situations are not even remotely similar. My issue with Man O War is that Prince is playing the victim in the aftermath of his break-up with Mayte. Talking about how lonely he is. And how he needs somebody. Well, if he wasn't such an insensitive prick to her then he'd have somebody and he wouldn't be lonely. He's not the victim in that situation. He was just being an arsehole and even though the song is a good one when taken by itself, the truth behind the song makes it difficult for me to listen to.

But Prince's personal failings are not the topic so I'll leave it there. However, I will say that I really like Incense And Candles too and even though I wouldn't put it on the same level as When Doves Cry, I think it's a really good song and I actually do listen to it more than When Doves Cry

Well, who really knows what went down? I enjoyed Mayte's book, but it's only one side of the story. She mentions nothing of cheating on him, despite the rumours of an affair with Tommy Lee. All I know is, I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore sounds deeply personal and I doubt he would've written something so blunt if it hadn't come from a real place. So maybe he had more right to play the victim than you think?

The truth is, most marriage breakdowns are caused by a failing from both parties.
[Edited 10/10/25 11:05am]

ShellyMcG said:

Man O' War. I feel the heartbreak, it feels like a peak behind the curtains. The whole song simmers. I really like the falsetto here because its also a bit on the raspy side.

MattyJam said:

ShellyMcG said:

Most marriages don't have to put up with the wife being forced to go on national television a few days after her son has died and pretend that everything is tickety boo. You're right, we'll never know the full 100% truth of exactly what happened between them. But everything we do know paints Prince as being an arsehole. Like, I get that nobody is perfect and there isn't a single singer, actor, writer or whatever who doesn't have skeletons in the closet. That's to be expected. They're only human like you or me. But it's when these people try to make out like they're the victim at the expense of the ones they've abused that I take issue with.

I'm not defending his actions during the 96 Oprah interview. That whole debacle was awful for both of them and yes, it's hard to defend Prince's handling of the situation. He was obviously grieving too, but it is indefensible what he made her do just to keep face. That said, we started this derailment of the original topic because you said you found it hard to listen to Man O War because of his ill treatment of his wife, and I'm merely pointing out that she was the one who was rumoured to have been unfaithful. She is also the only one to control the narrative by cashing in on her marriage putting a book out before Prince was even cold. It's not really fair to throw the book at Prince because of one lousy thing we know to be true, when he's had no chance to defend himself. [Edited 10/10/25 13:12pm]

C'mon. Take the purple-colored glasses off. Anyone can see that Prince's treatment of Mayte was horrible. I haven't read her book nor did I pay much attention to a lot of the gossip when they were together but by osmosis I've seen enough breadcrumbs to conclude he didn't treat her well. Hell, he groomed her from the start so that's a huge indicator of who would be at fault if one were to play the blame game here.

Oh... Man O War for me. I take the song as fiction anyway so I just like it more.

poor mattyjam, you picked a Rave song and things derails so so fast

I'd also pick Call My Name. It's a nice song, but I think I like Man o War
a bit better.

However, I can't listen to it anymore. Knowing what we know about their
relationship, their shared brief parenthood and what went down after, it's
impossible to listen to the Rave album and not feel like Prince is schizo or
at the very least has been a deplorable asshole to her.

MattyJam said:

"Call My Name" easily

You're comparing apples and oranges here.
Aching heart vs. Ode to the ego? I don't think so.

"Call My Name" is great up to the point where it goes "Prince — That's right" and all of a sudden it crashes down, ruining everything that went before, turning it into a commercial about his navel.
Yeah dude, we all know, you let go of because of all the media mockery.

I wish Shelly didn't bring up bad memories, but hey, fair enough.

Leaving that aside, "Man O’ War" is vastly superior. The vocal harmonies are among the very best he's released, the lower register explodes all of a sudden and brings great dramatic effect, and the minimalistic guitar solo is an absolute gem, reminiscent of the restrained way he played on "Time Waits For No One", saying a lot with the fewest notes possible.

The undisputed (hem) highlight of Rave, no doubt.

[Edited 10/13/25 10:50am]

BonnieC said:

happyshopper said:

BonnieC said:

My vote goes to "Call My Name" with the song's beautiful sentiment and gospel-intoned instrumentation.

Germanegro said:

I'll contribute one aside--Prince never changed his name. I'm guessing that he continued to sign all his papers as the parentally-assigned Prince R. Nelson.

>

The Symbol stuff was just, well, symbolism set font-and-center (haha)! A nom de plume. For me all of that publicity and flash was fun to see.

>

The self-referential thing that he would put in his songs sometimes is indeed an egotistical flair that not all the public might be able to stomach, but I can dig it.

BonnieC said:

You're comparing apples and oranges here.
Aching heart vs. Ode to the ego? I don't think so.

"Call My Name" is great up to the point where it goes "Prince — That's right" and all of a sudden it crashes down, ruining everything that went before, turning it into a commercial about his navel.
Yeah dude, we all know, you let go of because of all the media mockery.

whodknee said:

MattyJam said:

ShellyMcG said: I'm not defending his actions during the 96 Oprah interview. That whole debacle was awful for both of them and yes, it's hard to defend Prince's handling of the situation. He was obviously grieving too, but it is indefensible what he made her do just to keep face. That said, we started this derailment of the original topic because you said you found it hard to listen to Man O War because of his ill treatment of his wife, and I'm merely pointing out that she was the one who was rumoured to have been unfaithful. She is also the only one to control the narrative by cashing in on her marriage putting a book out before Prince was even cold. It's not really fair to throw the book at Prince because of one lousy thing we know to be true, when he's had no chance to defend himself. [Edited 10/10/25 13:12pm]

C'mon. Take the purple-colored glasses off. Anyone can see that Prince's treatment of Mayte was horrible. I haven't read her book nor did I pay much attention to a lot of the gossip when they were together but by osmosis I've seen enough breadcrumbs to conclude he didn't treat her well. Hell, he groomed her from the start so that's a huge indicator of who would be at fault if one were to play the blame game here.

THIS!

.

.

.

Also love both, but Call My Name gets the most plays from me