Electric Word, Life, It Means Forever
So have I ever mentioned that I love Prince? Probably not, because he's a guilty pleasure of mine. But I swear to you now, on a stack of purple magazines that as a person who graduated High School in 1988 that I am duty-bound by my times to love the man's music. And that half-time show, complete with the Aunt Jemima headscarf (!), Austin Powers Shadow Pervery (!!) and homage to Tina (!!!) was the same electric thrill I once enjoyed when Gilmore, the great Creator, W.C. Handy and John Phillip Sousa all came to town on the very same historic day.
The minute I heard him start in with "Dearly Beloved, we are gathered today..." I was driving my Chevette to the ice cream parlour and telling myself that it didn't matter if he was a crappy boyfriend because I had my whole life ahead of me and I was gonna be somebody, baby.
Then he started into "Hey! Look me over! Tell me, do u like what u see?" and I was dancing happily in my basement enjoying a night alone with my record player and a rich fantasy life where I could actually dance and sing without looking like an epileptic elephant.
He also wrote my favourite "Christian" song. I don't know if he meant I Would Die 4 U to actually be about Christianity, but at a time in my life when hymns seemed dry and choruses repetitively dull, this lyric
Im not your lover
Im not your friend
I am something that youll never comprehend
No need 2 worry
No need 2 cry
Im your messiah and youre the reason why
cuz u - I would die 4 u, yeah
drove home the point about my central faith.
And yes, in this life things are much harder than the afterworld. But I always like the thought that I all have to do is punch a higher floor and dance a little bit to feel better about it.
P.S. Don't tell my mother. She still hates Prince.
posted by Kat Coble @ 2:34 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I love Prince, too. And "I would die 4 u" has some of the best Christian lyrics I've seen. Cool.
Funny how the parents thought Prince was so horrid and compared to some of the stuff out there today, he was like Sesame Street.
I always wonder what happened to those two girls that were in his band during the heyday? Lisa and ??
Interesingly, Wendy and Lisa continued working together in their post-Prince days and have turned into quite the prolific soundtrack producers. Among other things, their credits include the main theme from the HBO series Carnivale, as well as music for Heroes and Crossing Jordan.
when you are listing the great, truly great pop-rock songs of all time, little red corvette HAS to be on the list near the top, imho.
I also love the Prince and i was think Aunt Jemima..when i saw that scarf..
little red corvette HAS to be on the list near the top, imho.
Absolutely. Without question.
As should The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.
lol lol..if 'E. Fitzgerald' were any longer it would rival the album version of Inna-gadda-da-vida in length. I do like his (Lightfoot's) voice but this song always felt interminable and so fricking repetative...by the end of the song, I'm really wishing that everyone would hurry up and perish.
but maybe, that's just me....I do think it is better than 'yummy yummy...', the other song I listed in my short compendium of really crappy songs.
I've never got Prince. I know many people praise his guitar-handling and "genius" but I just don't see it.
Fitzgerald, on the other hand, I dig.
Here's another song I hate that many people love: America's 'Horse with no Name', their faux Neil Youngian tune with the most-grammar challenged line in lyrical history..
'for there ain't no one for to give you no pain'??????????
Even though I tend to leave off verbs and the endings off of words ('I also love the Prince and i was think Aunt Jemima' in an above comment), that one line in that stupid song drives me crazy.
'Yummy Yummy Yummy, I've got love in my tummy' is wrong in so many ways. It's a travesty to the name of pop/rock, it's stupider than Louie Louie, it's so saccarine sounding it makes bubble-gum sound like AC/DC, AND...AND, it's about oral sex....I'm really thinking if you're going to be peddling sub-adolescent soft rock to kids, fellatio probably should be bypassed as a theme..
Post a Comment
<< Home