So..cheesy...as in 'cheesy' lyrics, people? 'Cheesy' music? 'Cheesy' arrangement? 'Cheesy' performance? 'Cheesy' trousers in the live concert footage? 'Cheesy' funk faces during the solo?
Without specifics, there is confusion. Remember, a baby bunny dies for every human frown.

Take Play In The Sunshine, which a few orgers recently described as having 'cheesy' lyrics.

"Ahh...'pop' goes the music,
When the big white rabbit begin to talk,
And the colour green'll make your best friends leave you,
It'll make them do the walk,
But that's cool because every day will be a yellow day so let's play."

Nonsense to the idiot, of course, but certainly raises a dude's smile.

To reiterate, the big white rabbit (Bugs Bunny) is Warner Bros wanting him to make cohesive disposable chart songs for amnesiac shells of humans who buy Michael Jackson and Madonna recordings like they buy McDonalds and spend fucking fortunes on foul 'designer' concoctions to make their bodies smell better.

Green, being the colour of money and envy, is the cancer of friendship and love. Look at the MTV Parade-era interview where he seems deliriously happy, surrounded by around 30 people from the extended Revolution line-up and various hangers on and parasites signed onto his payroll.
How many of these people are around today? None. Sometimes losing the connection would have been his fault, sometimes it wouldn't have been. It doesn't matter. They're lost to him. He knew it then. He saw the fall coming. People are stupid, generally. Prince knows this. It explains all the so-called 'eccentricities' in his career, really. He takes the piss constantly, pushing it as far as he can. He always will. He doesn't care what you think. His arrogance takes him to a higher (some might say self righteous and isolated) plataeu.

And, to conclude this increasingly incoherant rant - that's the meaning behind the lyric. The battle of art versus commerce and the fact that he knows that no-one in his life will be in his 'circle' a few years down the line. He is an artist and therefore cannot afford to get complacent or allow people to get too close - in fear of them exposing him as the naked, scared and lost creature we all are underneath these masks of illusion we project everyday.
Prince has to maintain ego - the belief his ass ages like wine, staying interesting and relevant musically and lyrically. He is driven to shed 'eras' continually - even if it means sacraficing friendships and the safety he feels among whoever his trusted confidantes are at the time. Nothing is as important as his art - not himself, not his friends, family or social life - and he's proven that continually over the years.
Shiela E seems the execption that proves the rule. She must have Christ-like patience for he'll have pushed her away many times in the past - believe it. It's the only way he knows how to 'grow' within the celebrity vaccum. To stay fresh and childlike. He moves forward, searching for his increasingly elusive 'yellow' days where everyone understands his music, actions and behaviour.

To me, branding Play In The Sunshine cheesy is like calling the Bible old-fashioned. It does what it says on the tin. Like most Prince songs, the deeper metaphorical content is over-looked or ignored by most listeners.
All I',m saying is listen a little deeper to these so-called 'cheesy' songs and you'd be suprised at what you might find. Now I sound pious and arrogant. But I am so that's the way it comes out.

However, I do agree that Arms Of Orion is cheesy shite.


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[This message was edited Tue Apr 13 11:27:23 2004 by Number23]

Cheesy explanation.

Number23 said:

I love you.

Number23 said:

I always thought the whole song was about an acid trip.

Talking/walking/playing with the big white rabbit being a euphemism for dropping acid.

I thought this was his take on it, "playing in the sunshine" being his euphemism for tripping. ... and that the line "Without the help of a Margarita or Ecstasy" was just there to confuse, and make one think that the song was not about tripping when really it was (in a tee hee tongue-in-cheek kind of way).

Of course, my interpretation of it could be complete shite, in which case, what is the song about ?


I agree about Arms of Orion, pure gorgonzola.

AsylumUtopia said:

Well, see above. I agree with Number23's post. "Pop goes the music when the big white rabbit begins to talk" - think about it. Like my man said, Warner Brothers (which used Bugs Bunny as its icon throughout the 80s) wanted Prince to make neatly packaged pop records in Flintstone-vitamin doses.

And the color green could be symbolizing money, envy or both. It's also been suggested that this line is specifically about Morris Day ("The Walk").

Goddamn, Prince is so multilayered.

So yes, of course your interpretation is complete shite.

FunkMistress said:

You beat me to it funkmistress and I love the both of you! This post just inspired me.

FunkMistress said:

Thanks! I thought so.

And yeah, I did think it was possibly a warner reference, it's just that big white rabbit = acid. After that my theory falls apart.

Ummm, one hole in this theory: Bugs Bunny isn't a white rabbit, he's grey.

I always thought it was a reference to "Alice in Wonderland", (which was also the basis for the Jefferson Airplane drug anthem "White Rabbit"). Prince was doing the whole "mind-trip" thing, and a neo-psychadelic angle when he was working on SOTT, so that is where I think the "white rabbit" line fits in. In fact, if you look at the line about "we're gonna be free/without the help of margarita or exctasy", it fits in with the whole idea of music and love being a replacement for the drugs and alcohol of the psychadelic era. Prince was trying to reclaim the "peace and love" sensibilities, without the drugs. Love and music were the new drugs of his Paisley utopia.

I don't agree at all with the folks saying that this song has "cheesy". lyrics. I personally think they are suppossed to be very 1960's hippy-esque, and they succeed incredibly well. Just my thoughts.

Regardless whether it's deep or not, something can still be cheesy.

INSATIABLE said:

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, m'dear.

Number23 said:

I'm afraid of horses. I ride elephants and camels.

Number23 wrote:

I think if you keep approaching Prince lyrics like Scripture, you're liable to come away with all sorts of "deeper" meanings that overlook sensical, obvious meanings.

Maybe the rabbit lyric was a reference to his record label. I dunno. I didn't write the song. But, when you start looking at the evolution of his friendships and business relationships as the results of some sort of prophecy, look out. Those typically evolve and change over time.

As much as we all like Prince's music, there's a chance that everyone affiliated with him on a professional level needn't think that affiliation is the end-all be-all. So, folks could "leave" Prince to pursue more meaningful opportunities.

And, what's the title about? Jesus' weeping is considered cheesy? Or is the title as random as it reads?



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[This message was edited Tue Apr 13 10:41:27 2004 by ThreadBare]

INSATIABLE said:

I know. You forget the pictures I took of you on our honeymoon?





I still love you, baby. Come back to me. I'll make it work this time.



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[This message was edited Tue Apr 13 10:45:58 2004 by Number23]

Number23 said:

I did look out of place at the ranch, didn't I.

INSATIABLE said:

@ your signature!

...or I'll poke myself in the eye! As many times as my kids have subjected me to that movie, that shit still cracks me up.

FunkMistress said:

I Mike Wazowski. His round green bod is hot.

INSATIABLE said:

How To Get From The Philosophy Of The Artist To Mike Wazowski's Hot Bod In Sixteen Easy Posts. Avaliable in all good Venusian bookstores.

I agree, very well said. thank u 4 your post!

NPG187 said:

Well! Thank you very much!

And you're welcome!

INSATIABLE said:

Number23 said:

althom said:

Who cut the cheese?