Grabbed me by the short n curlies again today. What a truly
good composition. Such a strong and convincing performance.

It's in those moments that I don't miss the 'old' Prince &
believe again that he can do anything.

However, come "young & beautiful" . just kidding.

Me to. I love listening to it live aswell.

CAMILLE4U said:

Me too. The additional horns give it even more atmosphere
just a shame he left out the second verse when he did it
live. That would have made it completely off the hook.

a really SPECIAL prince composition !

truly xceptional !

abolutely fantastic vocal !

love it,love it,f**kin love it !!!

fantastic song:)

what you all said!!

yea
i


love the one nite alone bootleg dvd when he sings it ,,,

hes so into it !!!


mellow !!! i wish that bootleg dvd was released !!!

IstenSzek said:

Definitely.

Actually, I haven't listened to that one for quite some time, but I really should. Very good song indeed!

Hmm, seems like for the first time ever, a lot of people
agree about a certain song being quite brilliant.

Interesting.

'Avalanche' - a bit of a modern Prince classic, even down to the lyrics. I mean, what the hell is he talking about? I can see he has some views about Abe Lincoln being a racist and references to the battle of Little Big Horn (I think). But a little more clarity would have been nice.

Or maybe I need to work a little harder at 'the work'?

Miles said:

It's about exploitation, double standards and greed.
At least, that's what I can make out.

It's a slam on the "White" snow that always comes down on everything...

it's obviously his take on a Strange Fruit type track.
i played it for a friend who used to be a big fan. he said that it was an awkward thing to sing about but now come to think about it...it's not really.

ufoclub said:

Um... yeah. I heard it like that too, but I don't want to cause any arguments!

Actually, I'm editing this so I can add that (in my mind), he's saying not all white people are bad - individuals being like snowflakes, but when viewed as a whole they're an avalanche.

White people are prone to bulldoze other ethnicities' cultures and identities. Intentionally in the past but unintentionally at present. Whites don't realise that just being a majority presence, can make other races feel opressed and scared.
[This message was edited Fri Oct 24 18:46:07 PDT 2003 by BinaryJustin]

i love the way he sings 'ohh, and he's saying sign your kingdom over to me yeah and be known throughout the land'.

Boy sounds fired up.

BinaryJustin said:

What a horribly racist thing to say...

howcomeudontcallme said:

That's my favorit bit too!

I can't get past the lyrics. They're juvenile and inciteful.

The best thing on ONA. It's definately up there with his best work. White people (not all whites cause I'm white too!) think he is being racist, but the song's not about racism as such, for me it's also about blacks being able to overcome their past and not let it get to them to the point where they waste their lives (again I'm using the term blacks VERY loosly). It's about trying to be free from the past - something everyone can relate to. Similar to Family Name...

madartista said:

What's juvenile about them? explain please.
Lincoln racist - true
black artists abused in the past - true
white people in america running away from their collective responsibilty for slavery and discrimination - true

basically he is just saying all the individual white people don't respect the fact that they have prospered off the degradation of other humans.

tricky99 said:

Good point. I'm not saying that any of it isn't true. What's juvenile is Prince's songwriting. I think that metaphor and a clever turn of phrase is much more interesting, and sometimes more enlightening, than a run down of facts. The gift of an artist is to take the literal and illustrate it in a different light to make a point. Prince can do that well, and I think in this case, he took a very simplistic approach. That's not wrong, I just don't care for it.

And whether some is racist or not, to call him one is inciteful, particularly someone dead for 138 years. I think there are more constructive approaches, that's all.

I have only heard this song three times and I am not fond of it at all.

Love it. It's in the tradition of the classic spirituals and sorrow songs at the turn of the century, that spoke to the hurt and pain of the black experience.

sweet melody--biting lyrics..he did that on purpose