In Xenophobia (ONAL) what does he mean by,

"Don't you know dead blood kills interferons?"

What are they? I know it has something to do with JWs not believing in blood transfusion...but WHAT ARE INTERFERONS?

I'm puzzled and it's a dorky thing to put in an instrumental.

I googled interferons and I found this: http://www.albany.net/~tj...r-fer.html

I guess they help fight viral infections.

mrdespues said:

Not sure why Prince decided to use that line in Xenophobia, but the line about "leave that blood alone and interferons" actually comes from another Prince song called "Silicon" (or Rope of Silicon) I forget which. Again, not sure why he decided to throw that line in Xenophobia though. In any case, I don't think what he's saying has anything to do with JW beliefs, it has more to do with Prince being a Vegetarian.

FutureShock said:

nope. jws don't do blood transfusions.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I didn't say JWs don't do blood transfusions... I already know that. My point was that the reference is more in line with Prince being a vegetarian. How many times in a lifetime would someone need a blood transfusion? In general, the need for a blood transfusion would be an extremely rare event in most people's lives. Therefore, Prince is not admonishing people to stay away from blood transfusions (with the line, "leave that blood alone"... don't you know dead blood kills interferons) Instead, On the other hand, people eat meat all the time. Meat is filled with an animal's dead blood. In a round about way, Prince is saying that eating meat is not healthy. And in that regard, what he's saying has nothing to do with his JW beliefs. At least that's the way I see it.

I think he says

"Leave dead blood alone"

Anywho.

Interferon help strenghten and protect your immunesystem
and thus protect against most viral infections and help
to increase white bloodcells, and so called "T" cells.

Stuff like that. Interferon is pretty much one of the
strongest immuno-enhancing substances of all.

I was surprised to hear Prince mention them since I've
been taking "Astragalus" for a while and that's known
for it's Interferon producing qualities [pretty much
one of the few natural substances to propell the body
to create more interferon -that, and Shitake mushroom].

Supposedly dead blood kills the production of interferon,
not the actual interferon itself, which is simply used up
in trying to keep viral infections and poisoning out of
the body which can be caused by dead red meat.

Hence the "Don't you know that DEAD blood kills interferon"