I was listening to starfish and coffe yesterday and thought dang everytime i hear this i think im missing something...i mean the meaning is so simple that i think i must b missing a hidden message..what do you get from the song?

Redirecting to Prince: Music and More forum....

jimmyjamm said:

I think the point of the song is that it has no meaning, it's just a lot of childlike fun in a childlike setting. Though you could try playing it backwards to listen for satanic messages.

"Starfish and Coffe" was inspired by Susannah Melvoin's recollections of her schooldays and a retarded girl named Cynthia Rose whom she went to school with. Prince recorded a Linn drum machine track to the song and then flipped the tape upside down and played it throough, thus reversing the drum track from beginning to end. According to Susan Rogers it was all part of the song being about opening your mind to other possibilites.

diamond99 said:

yes... a way of saying there is more than one kind of wisdom in this world.

Great song!

diamond99 said:

Aren't there certain drum parts Prince was overdubbing...like the cymbal crashes towards the end?

Wow diamond, where did you get that info? Who are Susannah Melvoin and Susan Rogers? Starfish and Coffee is one of my all time favorite songs! I definitely knew however that the song was about opening your mind to other possibilities and that is why I loved it so much!

Heather

diamond99 said:

"Starfish and Coffe" was inspired by Susannah Melvoin's recollections of her schooldays and a retarded girl named Cynthia Rose whom she went to school with. Prince recorded a Linn drum machine track to the song and then flipped the tape upside down and played it throough, thus reversing the drum track from beginning to end. According to Susan Rogers it was all part of the song being about opening your mind to other possibilites.

amalgamation said:

I'm going to give you the benefit of a doubt and say that you are a brand new Prince fan.

Anyway, to sum it up in a nutshell, Susannah Melvoin is the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin (the chick who used to play guitar in Prince's 80s band, The Revolution). Susan Rogers was one of Prince's recording engineers around that time as well.

Personally I always thought the man was high as a kite when he wrote it.


Actually, Starfish is one of those songs I have in rotation when I sing my 2 year old to sleep. It is a great song for children, even if there may be some deeper implications to it. My daughter also loves "Mountains" and "Forever in My Life". She's not a big fan of "Jughead" though".

GottaLetitgo said:

I used to think this, too.

I used to sing this song to my baby too! Great info, I was so happy to hear it in concert!

diamond99 said:

Yeah, where did you hear this? Maybe I need to pick up my prince book sitting on the shelf and actually read it.. Man, I'd love to do a Q&A with Susan Rogers.. I wonder where she is now/ what she's doing.. One of my favorite parts of the last celebration was the Q&A with prince's current engineer (the british guy, forget his name).

okaypimpn said:

brand-spanking new... man, i remember when i was brand-new...

You still are brand new Dansa..hehe

I"ve always wanted to know this about S&C: What are they chanting at the very end of the song with the cymbal clashes???

Anyone figured it out???

laylow03 said:

According to www.dtt-lyrics.com ...


"(La la la la...)
Starfish and coffee, love 4 the soul" (x2)

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I'll bet our perspectives on his music would be better...or not as tainted.

Sometimes I wish I didn't know that much about his music, but I think that as one gets more involved with whats out there...it's just natural that you just find out about these things. For better or worse...I can't decide.

okaypimpn said:

Yup, it's just the basic Linn-Drum that's reversed. Prince then recorded some live drums
(the right way round) over the top (mostly just high-hat and rim-shot with a few cymbal crashes).

I've never really liked this song and can't quite pin point why,I always try and skip it.

BorisFishpaw said:

Okay, that's what I thought.

anemone said:

I got this information from the liner notes to "Dream Factory - Remastered" released by Sabotage SAB 193. I loved this song from the first moment I heard it. And the first time I heard it, I knew where Prince was trying to take us with this song.

As far as the last Celebration, the engineer's name was Femi Jiya. I had some very intersting conversations with him. He was the best part of the last Celebration, aside from the actual concerts.

WOW, thanx DIAMOND99!
i always wanted 2 know the history of this song.
i had set my mind free but never CLEARLY understood.
years of pondering have been resolved.

JOEYCOCO said:

Don't thank me, thank the hard working people of Sabotage Records- whoever they are.

The song is about How we are all diffent!!AND some children a SPECIAL--Why be normal!