The ending of the bridge of "Manic Monday" always called up in my mind a part of "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)" by John Fred And His Playboy Band, most notably before the first verse and before the last.
There are a lot of #1 records from the 1980s and 1990s that didn't do much for me when first released. There are a lot more that I liked then but don't really care for now. And then there are records like "Kiss", which thrill me just as much now as then. It just "gets" me from the very first note.
It's really weak, though. Subtract "Beret" and "Pop Life" and you have material that's bested by most of his Purple Rain B-sides.
Yeah, and "Kiss" parked at #1 brought back the falsetto. I never really realized that Prince was so much at the vanguard of rehabilitating "retro" sounds like that, but clearly he was. The Bangles also deserve some credit here, too. I've heard Prince's original of "Manic Monday" and it's fine, but they really polished it to a perfect sheen. Two of the great singles of the year, back to back, both written by Prince. He was certainly having another moment in '86.
Rock Me Amadeus and Kiss are 2 of the best #1 hits we've had in a while. Prince's androgyny is EVERYTHING in this video, he could rock the hell out of a crop top. This just reminds me that I need to get back in the gym.
"Little girl Wendy gonna play". I forgot "gonna". Kind of a cool thing to say before her solo. I'm going off memory, so who knows, maybe he says "I want me some tapioca pudding right now" .
Coming in VERY, VERY late on this one. I remember hearing the U.. S Mental Foundation saying at the time that they had received 100's of letters saying how the song had helped people through difficult times. Since my wife died 5 months ago I've come tp appreciate the lyrics of the song and just what they mean. If anything describes the way grief feels it is that song, exactly how I feel as if my wings have been broken. I'm loathe to come down hard on any song that seems to bring that much healing power to people when they need it most.
I'm beyond anything a gym could help with. Are they doing lipo in the middle of the pandemic? Maybe I can get a discount... But yeah, Prince was swimming against the tide and bringing the androgyny back to MTV just as it was starting to fade. I thought the lyric was "Little girl Wendy's parade". Didn't Parade opening cut "Christopher Tracy's Parade" start out as "Wendy's Parade"? Christopher Tracy’s Parade - Prince Vault
Kiss One of the all-time great pop/rock songs. Funky, sexy, funny, unique, playful, and confident. I've never thought of Prince as androgynous. Yes, he used elements in his clothing that could be considered female, or female-inspired, but he made it all look so masculine and sexy that it never came across as androgynous to me. He would wear heels and make it look like the manliest thing ever. His dancing would melt women. He would wear a half shirt that would look positively buffoonish on me but he made it look like that is what he SHOULD be wearing. Uncanny how good he was with fashion and clothing. He never seemed in any way interested in men, nor was his dancing ever feminine. He was one of a kind and one in a million. No one like him ever before. Maybe ever again. Easy 5/5
Those outfits screamed "gay" to me. And I loved them. Prince wasn't afraid to dress like a woman because I don't think he believed women were inferior to men. And because he rocked those outfits. No woman carried heels and tight pants better than Prince. Sorry, ladies. Of course, both heels and tight pants were originally invented for men, so Prince was really just reclaiming them from the "fairer sex". We demand you give us back our outfits! (I'm trying to imagine what heels would do to my middle-aged back. It isn't pretty.)
Not gay, but androgynous. It is now known that Prince a lot of what he did in the 80s just to piss off the record label. As we know now, he was always very socially conservative in his views. We now know that he disapproved of homosexuality as far back as the early 80s, yet used it to the hilt, from Wendy & Lisa as lesbian lovers (they are both gay), to his manner of dress, to some of his songwriting. It was all a put-on. Thing is, he was so good at it, too well, it seems, because a lot of people to this day still think Prince was gay. I know a guy who won't even allow Prince's music to be played in his home. Rick James and Eddie Murphy thought he was gay, too. They didn't like his image. Murphy exhibited the ultimate Black male macho, although Rick James did the androgynous thing with makeup, glitter, necklaces, wrist bracelets. But, I thought it was great, too! I loved every time Prince pushed the envelope of what was socially acceptable, egging people on, from songs like "Head", "Sister", Do Me Baby", "Jack U Off", "DMSR", "Temptation", Darling Nikki", and many others down the road. (Notice that I did not jump ahead! )
His lyrics are at best ambiguous regarding whether he approved or disapproved of homosexuality. He actually wrote some stuff that was far ahead of the curve, especially in the early '80s. He always threw out conflicting views. I suspect the religion disapproved, and that Prince himself might have had personal issues. I never thought it was all a put-on, even if it 95% was...
I've never read of anybody who was close to Prince saying he was anything but heterosexual. He was androgynous: both masculine and feminine and he did encourage Wendy and Lisa to be publicly out, it was part of his overall all inclusive thing. But his sexual relationships as far as I have ever heard were all with women. I don't think his androgynous nature was a put on either: I think that he was weirdly masculine and yet lady-like at the same time. Have you seen his handwritten lyrics? I'm surprised he didn't adorn them with sketches purple unicorns.
I always thought it was "You go, Wendy's parade" (which doesn't make sense) but who knows? Weirdly, I don't think Wendy even played on this song, as most of the backing track is by Mazerati and Bobby Z. Besides Bobby Z having co-produced the song it seems that Brown Mark claims to have written the words of the second verse; was promised credit, but did not receive it and is not on the copyright. (Prince's acoustic demo had only the first verse.)
My gut feeling is that Prince did have some issues dealing with his own sexuality (gay, straight or in between) in general due to religious or similar issues (a la Little Richard). I'm not a Prince fanatic by any means, so just looking in as a disinterested observer pretty much.
Prince was the Willie Mays of modern pop music, a five-tool genius. Probably the most talented pop musician since rock and roll emerged.
I don't know what I thought he said all these years - maybe "you go get me parade"! Listening right now? Sounds like "little girl Wendy go ray", but that's probably not correct! I did always know it was "women NOT girls...", so I beat @Jmac1979!
Y'know, I honestly think Prince was very straight. Dude seemed nearly obsessed with women throughout his career. I think he was such an individualist that he liked what he liked in terms of fashion and didn't care if it looked "gay" or feminine. Kinda like Bowie. Even though Bowie at times claimed to be gay or bi, I don't think he really was - he just toyed with those labels as part of the "show"...
Sure, he may have been, I think his issues were with sexuality in general, not the gay/straight angle. I mean, he was a horny guy, that's for sure, but seemed to have issues with being that way such as inserting spirituality into the sex, instead of just admitting he wanted to get laid all the time. And again, I am just speaking from observing distantly, I am not much of a Prince aficionado, other than liking a lot of his singles. So, I could be completely wrong.
For what it's worth to the recent thread of conversation, a motivating factor in Prince giving "Manic Monday" to The Bangles was that he became enamored of Susanna Hoffs after seeing her in the video for "Hero Takes A Fall" and continued to pursue her for some time even after she decided she was not interested (she said his constant phone calls started to make her "uncomfortable"). So, definitely sounds on the surface like heterosexual behavior, with probably a very sensitive side that found rejection particularly painful.
Yeah, you're right according to the lyrics. I'm going to keep hearing it "Little girl Wendy gonna play" though
He wanted a music celebrity that was really short like himself for a girlfriend. After Susanna didn't happen he set his sites on Sheena Easton. I like tall women, so Prince and I would have made a good team picking up women in the clubs. He never called me to hang out though.
