As many of us thought I thought it was about Sly , but after seeing the ONA DVD it seems to have changed into a tribute to himself. Any ideas?.

i always thought it was about himself
look at the lyrics:

I knew this dude/He was very cool
He used 2 rule/Until he went 2 school

Not a normal school/That breeds a fool
But the ones that teaches/Men aren't fit to rule

That's when he took his pearly crown/He raised it up and spun it 'round
And tossed in2 the deep blue underground

No longer lead by the ways of men/He looked 4 the kingdom deep within
That's when the drums in his head began 2 pound

Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now/Join the party, make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down/The Everlasting Now

Now turn the page, at an early age
This brutha on stage, he was all the rage
He taught an integrated world 2 sing
The color u are don't mean a thing
Everybody's a star all the everyday people sang

He changed the funk, put it in a bag
Then he changed the colors of the flag
But u can't teach a dog new tricks if his tail don't wag
Don't know matter how much money u made
All the cars u got and all the women u laid
Mess with the flag and 2 them u're still a spade

Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now
Join the party, make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down
The Everlasting Now

See this girl in her make-believe world/Plastic boobs and clip-on curls
'Round the pole see her big butt twirl/There r the dreams that do unfurl
Never everlasting

Don't let anybody bring u down/The Everlasting Now

Watch that girl in her make-believe world
Plastic boobs and clip-on curls
'Round the pole see her big butt twirl
Electric beaches skin do bake
Vanilla fudge and wedding cake
If u should die b4 u wake
U got any last requests 2 make?

The Everlasting Now/The Everlasting Now/The Everlasting Now

Johnny, B. Well and bring the beat

From this day forward 'til times indefinite, those who love Christ r the
ones who benefit. All the players' ice melted in2 one platinum chain and in
a downward spiral it dropped down the chain.

"U know, this is funky but I wish he'd play like he used 2, old
scragglyhead."

Don't let nobody bring u down
Accurate knowledge of Christ and the Father
Will bring the Everlasting Now
Join the party, come on make a sound
Share the truth, preach the good news
Don't let nobody bring u down
The Everlasting Now

The Everlasting Now/The Everlasting Now
The Everlasting Now/Now, now, now
The Everlasting Now

MashedPotatoKid said:

This part is about Sly Stone. The cover of "There's a Riot Goin' On" (I think) featured the American flag with black instead of blue and bullet holes for stars. He got tons of shit for it.

good point... when have an analysis of the Lyrics it does seem that P mayb speaking in the 3rd person... it may just as well b about him...


but always seems 2 write Metaphorically but that's singers in general isn't it?

but during the 'taught an integrated world to sing' you can hear the riff from 'everyday people'. Maybe it applies to them both, but as we know Prince changes his mind so often it probably started a sone thing and ended up another. Still damn funky though!.

"Everybody is a Star" and "Everyday People" are both Sly and the Family Stone songs.

Couldn't the 1st verse be about P, the second Sly (or Larry?)

1p1p1i3 said:

Sounds like it to me.

The first verse is about Little Richard...The second is about Sly...Prince said this at the Celebration 2001...

-SWANGswangsin
[This message was edited Thu Sep 4 11:12:05 PDT 2003 by SWANG]

It's about all of them.Overlapping meanings that morph into each other."Put the funk in abag" is a reference to JB.It's like a character made up of all these black entertainers.

i think it's about specific ppl but it seems he's refering to a cross section of black performers if you ask me. Little Richard, Larry Graham, Sly, Prince, MJ, whoever...it's all the same probably in P's eyes.

All of the above.

wizardofmath said:

FunkMistress said:

One of my favorite album covers

Very interesting thread.

I'd always just thought this song was about Prince himself. Thanks for helping me understand it better in regards to its references and meaning.

The first verse is about Prince;



This refers to Prince as the superstar he was, but he now renounces that since being taught by the JWs (men aren't fit to rule, only Jehovah)



Further affirmation of rejecting his previous years and followign Jehovah.



As Funk Mistress rightly says, this is about Sly.



If you ask me, this is yet another swipe at Carmen Electra and women of her ilk. Plastic boobs and clip-on curls is obvious, but the real hint is the clever use of the phrase "Electric beaches".

"plastic boobs and clip-on curls" is the part about Prince!

I have heard everyone say that this song is about Sly Stone. I never believed that.

When I watched The Aladdin DVD, they show old pictures of Prince when they play this song.

I have always said it was about Prince, and this prooves it.

If it's NOT about him why did they do this?

The Everlasting Now is about Prince, in third person

Final.

Mindflux said:

Interesting. You're probably right. "Electric beaches" always made me think of tanning beds.

chookalana - it is only partly about Prince - Verse 2 is unquestionably about Sly and the evidence is all in this thread.

I think the first verse is about Prince.

The crown - royality, Prince, "pearly crown" (Diamonds & Pearls"?) it was 1991/2 when he first seriously got disallusioned with the record industry and tried to change his circumstances after recording

The second is about Sly, he says "now turn the page", which I know is ambiguous, but I take to mean he's talking about a different person - plus all the stuff about the flag, everybody is a star, everyday people yadda yadda, already covered about.

The last verse about the woman does point to Carmen Electra maybe, but maybe it's Mayte.

Didn't she dance round a poll at one point for Prince?

And the "electric beach skin do bake" is a sunbed.

The wedding cake part leads me to believe it's Mayte, although it could just be a composite of Prince's pussy.

Romance1600 said:

A composite of all the Prince pussy?
That's one multifaceted pussy!
A muthafuckin' pussy diamond!

SWANG said:

Its about Prince.. He gave a damn pictorial of it during the dvd performance.. geez

Sdldawn said:

ya know?

SWANG said:

-SWANG'snotdoingthisagain

One of my current favorite songs.The song is deeper than whale shit and is speaking about Little Richard,Sly,Prince,and Carmen.

The best version live is the Tonight Show 12-11-02.