Prince has just broken up with his girlfriend and is still in the fresh pain of their final argument (“violent room”, “fighting with lovers past”). In his pain and loneliness he retreats to a hot bath and a book of poetry and short stories by Dorothy Parker.

While reading Dorothy’s writing Prince becomes so enamoured with her that he starts to daydream about what it would be like to meet her. To make her more accessible he fantasizes that she is a beautiful, charming waitress that lives and works near him at some cheap dive of a restaurant; the kind of girl who charms everyone she comes in contact with (“big tips”). Just as he expected through her writing she also turns out to be very intelligent and quick witted. Not only that but she even understands his idiosyncrasies (he only orders a fruit cocktail). They immediately hit if off like soul mates and are soon at her house in her warm tub.

Growing closer with each poem and short story, the daydream gets more intense and intimate. Sitting their in the bath with Dorothy (her art, at least) he feels like he’s getting so close to her that he’s almost cheating on his current troubled relationship. Prince obviously still feels a strong enough connection with his past love to think about her welfare in this moment of escalating passion. He say’s he’s willing to fool around just a bit, but he can’t go all the way with her. When Prince finds out Dorothy even loves the same music (Joni Mitchell) and that her focus is completely on him (she ignores her ringing phone), thoughts of his ex-girl evaporate in the heat of the tub and he knows there’s no point in fighting his urges any longer. Smart, attractive and funny; she’s the girl he’s been dreaming of. In short -- “Dorothy Parker was cool".

Now prince sings, “My pants were wet, they came off / But she didn’t see the Movie / Because she hadn’t read the book first.” This is a clever way for Prince to say that he had a sexual move that Dorothy the intellectual didn’t see coming because her knowledge is all tied up in books (and not the kind with pictures ), while his comes from experience and street smarts. But the next lines -- “Instead she pretended she was blind / An affliction brought on by a witch’s curse” -- show that while Dorothy is perhaps a little less sexually knowledgeable than he is, her shyness is mostly one built of artifice. She may not know the exact move, but she certainly knows what’s happening and is just using her own bag of sexual tricks and feminine beguilement to fake naivete and mask her own experience. King makes a quick and unexpected move to slip out of his wet pants, queen counters with a coy covering of her eyes, king goes in for the check, and queen allows the mate.

Prince “wakes” up from his bubbly hot-tub daydream with the pages of the Dorothy Parker book perhaps a little dampened by the experience (hopefully only by water ) and is not only feeling better, but is able to go back to that “violent” place and make amends with the situation. He was either finally able to let his ex-girlfriend go or they were able to heal their relationship and get back together. Prince doesn’t reveal that, that’s up to the audience to have their own daydreams about.

In short, the song “Dorothy Parker” is a daydream whose theme is the healing power of art. And at songs end Prince declares that next time he’ll return to it much sooner.

Has art ever made such a strong connection with you that it’s helped you through tough times? I’ll bet it has.

Brendan

Um. She pretended she was blind means he got a handjob. Maybe with a little butt play.

sorry, but the rest is very nice!



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Now prince sings, “My pants were wet, they came off / But she didn’t see the Movie / Because she hadn’t read the book first.” This is a clever way for Prince to say that he had a sexual move that Dorothy the intellectual didn’t see coming because her knowledge is all tied up in books (and not the kind with pictures ), while his comes from experience and street smarts. But the next lines -- “Instead she pretended she was blind / An affliction brought on by a witch’s curse” -- show that while Dorothy is perhaps a little less sexually knowledgeable than he is, her shyness is mostly one built of artifice. She may not know the exact move, but she certainly knows what’s happening and is just using her own bag of sexual tricks and feminine beguilement to fake naivete and mask her own experience.

> Dauphin said: "Um. She pretended she was blind means he
> got a handjob. Maybe with a little butt play."

> sorry, but the rest is very nice!

Yeah, you might be right about the sexual act. I like that idea! It also could be a blowjob because when you kiss the “frog” it can be said that you bring on a “witch’s curse”; thus the closing of the eyes upon touching him down there.

But the eyes closed also to me portray Dorothy as someone faking a bit of shyness and naivete, regardless of what she’s actually doing to Prince. Since it’s Prince’s fantasy I assume he preferred to picture Dorothy as a very sexual person, but someone who also has just a little bit of shyness about her upon first encounter. A sexually bold person would not close their eyes during such an act.

I think you're wrong about the "didn't see the movie" part... that's a phrase I've heard before and I reckon it means don't go all the way until you know someone well???

I always thought that pants weren't actually pants.....

This is a nice story, thank you! - They should all have a happy end...

Saxjedi said:

Yes, it is a fairly common phrase. You say “Didn’t see the movie” to someone when they say something or do something that you aren’t familiar with.

It’s just Prince having some fun with wordplay games. Rather than “move” he says “movie” because the phrase still carries the same meaning without him having to be so direct.

Novy said:

I meant to add that “But she didn’t see the movie” also plays off of the next line, that being “Cuz she hadn’t read the book first.” Another common part of our movie culture is people asking whether or not you’ve read the book when you go see a movie based on material previously published.

Ummm, yeah, I know. My point is that the phrase is exactly the same as saying "Don't eat your dessert before the main course".

Susan Rogers is quoted in DMSR saying that Prince got the basic idea 4 the song in a dream.

After it was finished she asked him if he'd read any of Parker's work. Turned out he didn't even know her. So he'd probably just picked up her name somewhere without really knowing who she was.

Seems fair 2 me. Cuz U know, somehow, having read Parker's biography "What Fresh Hell Is This?" I can't imagine her being a waitress. Ever.

Pluse the discription of the D.P. in Prince's song could not be more remote from the appearance of the real Dorothy Parker who was rather small, with dark hair and prone 2 gaining some weight [altho not fat].

She was very articulate and she used 2 swear more than a man [which was quite something 4 a woman at that time]. She also didn't really have a problem having sex with anyone.

Well, she surely wouldn't have said 'no' when in a bubble bath with a man, that's 4 sure.

Saxjedi said:

Yes, that's a great way to put it. Sorry, but I didn't see where you were coming from before.

Hee,hee - it's like an interpretation of Shakespeare or something. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to study a whole course at college/uni of Prince's music?! Or maybe you can already?

Don't see why not, although you'd need a pretty liberal teacher. Song lyrics are a form of poetry after all, and you're forced to analyse poems at school. Trouble is, you might get a whole bunch of kids wanting to analyse Britney lyrics, and most teachers wouldn't know the difference between that and Prince...

I read somewhere that the lyrics to 'If i was your girlfriend' were studied at great length by some music students somewhere. Anyone.....anyone....any.....one?