I was listening to 1+1+1=3 yesterday. I hate to say it, but to me this is Prince's most offensive song. What he seemingly says Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a false belief, and if you don't like it, you're simply wrong.

Essentially he blithely mocks Christians of many creeds, and tells the woman and the listeners for that matte that if you want to be with him you have to get with his line of thinking. Otherwise, you can wait outside.

The exclusionary tone of this track alone is anathema to Prince's long-standing messages of love, tolerance and inclusion. One song doesn't negate a lifetime of legendary work, but it still pisses me off.

It is a funky track, though.

As with my view of TRC overall - Good music, shite lyrics.

WTF ???

I NEVER REALISED THIS. DOSN'T HE BELIVE IN JESUS. HE MUST OF DONE AT SOME POINT BECAUSE HE WROYE THE CROSS. WHY? JUST WHY? PLEASE EXPLAIN THE SONG TO ME.

I'm a Christian and I love Prince. Say this ain't so?

namepeace said:

I always thought he was explaining to a woman that God would be a big part of their romantic relationship. Hence the repetition of "if you want to be with me" and "there's a theocratic order" -- the latter being a reference to Christ, a husband and a wife, as defined in the New Testament.

No, no, no as much as I dislike the album, Prince is not saying that he doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. It is my understanding the people of JW faith don't believe in the trinity. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Melody. This thread is an obvious attempt to keep the garbage going on that have been infecting the org these past few days. Find out some facts about the JW faith and come back, namepeace.

ThreadBare said:

That's it.

I could only respect him less if he started going to Scientology meetings with the Travoltas

namepeace said:

can u possibly bitch anymore... let the man sing his song for christ sake

:Stfu:
[This message was edited Sun May 25 12:00:48 PDT 2003 by DigitalLisa]

I took it to mean Man+Woman+God make for a blessed union.

i probably 1 of the FEW Muslim Prince Enthusiates out there & i can HONESTLY say that Prince is Music is what drew me in & sometimes i'm not feelin' the Lyrics but i get his point & it "IS all about "The 1/God/Allah/The Cre8tor"...

Ozzy said:

OZZY YEAH!!!

The way I take this song is that he is telling the woman he is going to marry, "Hey, if ya wanna be with me were gonna have kids, cause I want kids". IMO Actually I like this song.


~tell me what it's gonna be, cause 1+1+1=3~

th' hell? i could care less 4 the song, but still...th' hell??

namepeace said:

---
You need to go back a listen to the track again. You are reading to much into it.

laurarichardson said:

Okay, let me clarify.

As I understand it, JWs do not believe in the concept of the Trinity. They do believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
They believe, as I understand it, that God is one and the concept of the Trinity is invalid.

Maybe I am reading too much into it, but it sounded to me like he was saying that if the woman wanted to be with him, she'd have to get with that concept. There wasn't "any room to disagree."

In light of Prince's apparent conversion, and his newfound interest in evangelizing, it caught my attention.

Let's look at the verse to which I refer:

There's a theocratic order
There's a theocratic order now
This is how it's gonna b
If u wanna be with me
Ain't no room to disagree
1+1+1=3

later on, he says:

Take ur time and think it thru
If this is what you wanna do
I ain't really that hard 2 please
1+1+1=3

Do u know about the order
Do u know about the order, now?

Sure, he could be talking about the God+Man+Woman concept. But I think there's a deeper meaning there.

Somebody prove me wrong . . . as I want to love this track. It's a banger otherwise.

IstenSzek said:

That's what I always thought too...like a three-fold cord is not quickly broken...
But if he is, in the JW fashion, attacking the belief in the Godhead/Trinity, then he is being totally misled by that cult. The Scriptures are evident without imposing the cult's doctrinal presuppositions and prejudices upon the original Hebrew and Greek texts. JW's champion a modern twist to the old Arian heresy of the 2nd century.

Anyone else notice 1+1+1=3 is a rip of of MJ's Superfly Sister??

Go listen to them!

Rudy said:

lol!

The way I took it, 1+1+1=3 is pretty clearly saying that
the trilogy is nonsense. That God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit make 3, not 1.

In my eyes, that makes more sense than 1+1+1=1 as propounded by, say, Catholicism.


I actually also thought it was directed straight to us fans, rather than his woman.

Anyone know Mani's religion???

Ozzy said:

Hey babe

I find the albums lyrics quite patronising - not that Prince isn't entitled to believe what he believes, because he is, but a belief that excludes other people from having their own individual beliefs IS patronising.

He makes it quite clear at the start of the album: The accurate understanding of God and his law

Which I take to mean that Prince feels he has found this (the accurate understanding of Gods law) and he will now outline it in musical form, with lyrics comprising of a religious diatribe.

When we come to 1+1+1=3, I agree, this song leaves a most bitter taste in ones mouth.

As I've stated on these boards before, I find it interesting that the albums three most upbeat / funk songs are also the most lyrically explicit in terms of Prince's over-zealous religious opinions.


"There's a theocratic order, if you wanna be with me, ain't no room for disagree" - This is the religious law I live my life by, and you don't live by it also, there is NO room for compromise.

This sounds quite arrogant (which it is, since a relationship is all about compromise and understanding of the other person) - but he does include a 'get out clause' for his lover:

Take your time and think it through, if this is what you wanna do - So he isn't being completely unreasonable.

Probably more patronising to women (and thus all of us really) is the lyric right at the start of the album:

"... The wise one who understood the law that was handed down from God long ago, reflected the true meaning to his woman everyday - and she surrended her disowning of it into his care and keeping for she trusted he would lead her the right way: her children into subjection to her, she into subjection to the wise one, and the wise one into subjection to the only [true God] forever, he was in subjection God.

Interesting that this lyric is NOT transcribed on most of the lyric sites I have visited.

Now I find that part highly derrogatory to women - whether you do or you don't - I do. To me it says that the woman in the song (and thus all women according to Prince's beliefs - since this is the "accurate understanding Gods law) must be "in subjection" to men, they must surrender any personal beliefs they have and take up the mans beliefs, without question - simply trusting that he is in the right.

Further into the album are themes about race, capitalism, the new world order and much more.

As far as the whole "Prince is a racist" rubbish that has been talked about on here the past few days, I'd like to remind everyone that at the end of the song "Family Name" is this speech by Martin Luther King:

"Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will b able 2 join hands in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!"

Read those words, and ask yourself: "If Prince was racist, would he include that passage in his song?"

namepeace said:

***

The track concerns the theocratic order or Jesus, man and woman. The husband answers to Jesus and the wife answers to the husband.

The song is about relationships primarily. Prince is cleary addressing a woman; 'If you've got no place to stay, come on baby round this way'. It is an invite to be with him in a romantic context. 'If you want 2 be with me', in other words if she desires to be with him (as a wife) she must respect God and the theocratic arrangement.

There may well be a double meaning regarding the doctrine of the Trinity.

However, Prince is as free to express his opinion as you are to disagree with it. If he supported the concept of the Trinity (as he did in 'Holy River') he would risk offending people. As an artist he is merely expressing how he feels on the subject, as I'm sure any artist would. I certainly do not believe that he should edit or censor his work for fear of offending people.

Peace.

Mr7 said:

AMEN!!!

A thread with something interesting 2 say + cool observations + chilled discourse =

- and she surrended her disowning of it into his care and keeping
NOT!
he wrote:her DISCERNINNG of it...to discern..means
to see or make out clearly; recognize.
GET IT?

lunacoco said:

Like I said, I couldn't find a lyric site on the net, coupled with the low, slowed down vocals, I had to transcribe it the best I could.

discerning...my n's got stuck there...

WHAT ARE YOU ALL TALKING ABOUT this song is simply based on mathematics don't get it twisted

Ozzy said:

I agree with u i think someone misinterpreted the song.

Okay, y'all, I think I got it wrong. Here's why.

I took another look at the liner notes again, and the beginning paragraph, last sentence, says:

[i]Her children in subjection 2 her
She in subjection 2 the Wise One
and the Wise One in subjection 2 the only begotten one, all
4ever in subjection 2 God.

Okay, 1+1+1=3.

My apologies.

I hereby recant.