What with Prince dying and all, I looked up the lyrics of his song "Purple Rain." For the life of me I can't figure out why anyone thinks the song is so great.

Lyrics go like this:
From the Wikipedia page "Purple Rain:"

Maybe the composition was good, but if the lyrics are supposed to be somehow apocalyptic, they aren't. They make me say, "Huh?" Maybe he quit before he was finished with that song. Pretty much every Merle Haggard tune had better lyrics. Merle never wrote or sang a bad song.

Steve.

Your right. But Merle Haggard never dressed up like a little dandy with velvet, lace, and eyeliner. Haggard sang, not pranced.

Watch the movie and they might make more sense . The home canned goods shelf in the basement he trashed showed his Midwest roots. You don't have to like the movie or understand the lyrics. It's just music.


FWIW Merle Haggard is good too.

No interpretation needed here.

Who sold the most records and had the most Grammy awards?
Which was the Ex-con?
Don't be hatin'

You'd think it was against the law to like what you like.

Merle isn't anything I ever really liked.

But thats ok that others like Merle.

No biggy.

But to just keep jumping on someone you don't like, this campfire is like a bunch of non chaperoned children most days...

And no, Prince is not my favorite either.

purple rain is like a metaphor for you know, like, stuff. ya thats right.

Exactly, just like the bible. It too has an apocalyptic ending.

I liked both Merle and Prince.

I must be bimusical.

Damn. I write incompletely in a way that leads away from what I meant.

Lyrics are part of the song. Some composers are better at expressing the musical composition. Some lyricists are fantastic at capturing thoughts in words. I believe Prince was a more talented in music than in lyrics. He was best at presenting himself as the New Romantic of the Midwest. He might have thought himself as the cross between Don Juan and D'Artagnan. His fashion was as part of him as anything else.

While I do not particularly like him I do not hate him. No offense intended.

Good post Ranger.

Don't worry, old age doesn't last long.

Little red corvette had better lyrics and Nikki had even better lyrics.

If you are looking for wisdom in Pop song lyrics, chances are you are looking in the wrong place.

Goo goo g' joob.

Been a few musically creative folks check out this year and the year is not over. All had thier fans and contributed in their own way. Like all of us, they have have personal struggles, creative types maybe more so. Rest in peace and compfort to their families and friends.

To start a more productive disagreement....how much should an unbreaked 300 win mag walkabout hunting rifle weigh?

Nine pounds max.

Just saying I don't think his "Purple Rain" lyrics are very good, while allowing that his composition may be good, and asking whether anyone here thinks differently. So far no one has put forth any reason to appreciate the lyrics of that -- his most iconic song.

Steve.

The riddles of life could be answered a lot easier if you asked a cowboy. People today are so confused they can't tell men from women anymore, and it is considered wrong to ask.

Music has changed to where lyrics are crude and mostly indistinguishable. Music and entertainment has crossed the line where the unacceptable is commonplace.

Like it or not, if the world was run by cowboys, life would be better, certainly more simple. I doubt you would see this guy laughing at vulgar jokes in a night club or attending a Prince concert...

Cowboys nightclub = Saloon

Shrapnel for president! You see things the way they should be viewed ! Maybe it is our punishment for living so long! God help me if I live as long as my dad I have at least another 25 years in this sh$t world! I can believe the crap people consider as important! Prince dying, Jackson dying, people die these were dope heads! Who gives a crap!

snyper said:

"Who sold the most records and had the most Grammy awards?
Which was the Ex-con?
Don't be hatin'"

Prince's lyrics are gibberish.
I love the way a lib, if you don't like something on the lib agenda, calls you a "hater."
I don't hate Prince, never bothered with his music enough to love or hate him.

Why do you have to throw around such a weighted word?
Next you will call me sexist or racist.
Oh, the horror you are breaking my heart Mr. Liberal! I may have to get counseling now that you have exposed my hate and racism.

Merle wrote a lot of really good songs but he did sing some that weren't much. Some of the Tommy Collins songs come to mind. I had a friend who used to say about Merle: "Why settle for fifty percent when you can get a hundred." He was comparing Merle to Hank Sr. I'd have to agree on that as far as consistency but I do love a lot of Merle's songs.

Prince was a very good musician and could play a lot of instruments well. The lyrics to his songs were not as good as his musical skills.

Pretty much what I was thinking.

Steve

Gotta love Merle.

Haggard was married five times, first to Leona Hobbs from 1956 to 1964. They had four children: Dana, Marty, Kelli, and Noel. Shortly after divorcing Hobbs, in 1965 he married singer Bonnie Owens, former wife of Buck Owens, and a successful country singer at the time. Haggard credited her with helping him make his big break as a country artist. Haggard shared the writing credit with Owens for his hit "Today I Started Loving You Again", and acknowledged, including on stage, that the song was about a sudden burst of special feelings he experienced for her while they were touring together. She also helped care for Haggard's children from his first marriage, and was the maid of honor for Haggard's third marriage. Haggard and Owens divorced in 1978, but remained close friends as Owens continued as his backing vocalist until her death in 2006. In 1978 Haggard married Leona Williams; they divorced in 1983. In 1985 Haggard married Debbie Parret; they divorced in 1991. He married his fifth wife, Theresa Ann Lane, on September 11, 1993. They had two children, Jenessa and Ben. A truck driver and part-time musician named Scott Haggard has said that he is Merle Haggard's son from a brief relationship in 1968. According to Scott Haggard, a DNA test confirmed the paternity, but Scott and Merle Haggard had no contact until 2004, when they met and talked after a concert. After that, they had sporadic contact. As of Merle Haggard's death, his family had not confirmed or denied Scott Haggard's paternity.

Haggard said he started smoking marijuana when he was 41 years old. He admitted that in 1983 he bought "$2,000 (worth) of cocaine" and partied for five months afterward, when he said he finally realized his condition and quit for good. He quit smoking cigarettes in 1991, and stopped smoking marijuana in 1995. However, a Rolling Stone magazine interview in 2009 indicated that he had resumed regular marijuana smoking.

Shrapnel: You cannot possibly be serious. Look at the traditional western boom towns. Bars, brothels and many rough characters. Of course cowboys after riding, ropin' and pushing cows for days and weeks at a time would roll into town and go to church. That would be because they didn't, drink or have unclean thoughts of women.

You've watched way too many "B" movies. Your reality is from television...

I tried to watch purple rain again,first time since the eighties,and like the first time I lasted about 15 minutes.

I liked some of princes music,one of my friends actually knew him , but I wouldn't put any importance to any of his lyrics whatsoever,or any pop music song really.
that would be like picking a used car,solely because of the color,rather than how many miles it has. or what condition it is in.
at least in my opinion.

If I ever heard a Prince song I don't remember it, never saw Purple Rain either, but one things certain, Prince did OK for Prince, like him or not, he was a tremendous success.

Scoped?

you mean like this?



Or this?

You are right! I'm the only guy on the planet that believes Miss Kitty was just a barmaid.

It was the drugs talking.

All you damn homos can quit with the damn Merle-love already.

Merle was a fuggin obamalover

Merle Haggard on obama ;

“It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout. It’s really almost criminal what they [the media] do with our President,” Haggard tells Rolling Stone. “There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down.”

Read More: Merle Haggard: 'It's Criminal What They Do to Our President' | http://tasteofcountry.com/merle-haggard-president-obama/?trackback=tsmclip


Mike

Prince was so popular, especially with Purple Rain, with women, young ones.... it didn't have to make sense... they don't make sense.... but they love something all touchy feely and emotional...

so its a good thing it makes no sense to most of you guys...

I mean we're talking a 5 foot tall 98 lb weakling Mulatto kid from Minneapolis....

he had talent, that he was able to sell...he ran a good business at Paisley Park...

despite being what many of us would call awfully [bleep] like, he was also a very generous individual... with his time, sharing the financial benefits of his success with those that worked for him...more power to him...

sorry to see him pass away at only 57.. I would have wished him a longer and healthier life....

I liked some of Merle's Stuff.... one of my favorite songs of his is Pancho and Lefty....that song makes zero sense either.. but I still like it...

one takes from a song, what they take from it... and for each of us that can be something totally different than the others....

ya wanna talk about useless and overrated... let's talk about the Beattles...

I like Prince. Strike that, I have really enjoyed some of his stuff, mostly the Purple Rain era and mostly becuase of when I heard it / being in a youthful, formative period.

He's creative and quite an entertainer.

That said, I've listened to his interviews over the years and of course recently. Like many artists/famous people, I just dont see him as being as deep as he portrays. Rick Ocasic (sp?) of the Cars once said in an interview, he just makes stuff up so the lyrics fit the flow of the melody of the song. I wouldnt doubt for a second if he wrote it attempting to be all metaphorical and deep, and then later noticed it "could have" meant something else "better" and ran with that story.

PRain is I think, a classic because of the genre and the era. To me.

It's just music & art. Room for all sorts of flavors.

OK so maybe it's not as profound as the old time classics such as the Age of Aquarius or Tootie Fruitier. You know the billboard classics from yesteryear.

If I called you sexist or racist I'd probably be right

You didn't hesitate to start name calling just because I didn't say Merle was better.

That "weighted word" seems to fit judging by your overreaction and overcompensation

Years ago, when I used to play a little music, I hung around way too many singer/song writers. Even the ones who didn't get high (or at least not much) were too wierd to figure out.

Prince vs. Haggard.


Its the new hot/cold chamber

or 30-06 vs. 270

or 30-06 vs 308

or 9mm vs. 45

or brunette vs blond..

or...

Scope, bases,slings,etc. too many options and subjective.

Barreled action + stock/pad/swivels would be easiest to translate.

Not just weird but extremely Egotistical. The competition between Egos did me in with continuing this lifestyle. It was amazing anything productive got accomplished at all.

Not terribly surprising.

If the current fuss about Prince (may he RIP) doesn't sum to anything else, it provides a grim picture of the degree to which discernment and taste have sunk in this culture during the past 25 years or so. His writings and performances were designed to appeal to the base aspects - and he was very successful.

A guy I worked with in the late eighties was a mechanic in the Bakersfield CA area before moving to southern Missouri

He had worked on Merle's car and Merle skipped on the bill

He hated Merle

http://s59.photobucket.com/user/ben...110536504_4328642082345483171_n.jpg.html





P

I dug his music...but that right there, made me laugh out loud.

Goo' one!

We get it...you don't like Prince or his music, you've made that abundantly clear. Others of us disagree. Sure is a lot of effort on here being put into tearing the man down after he died. I think now I'll go fire up the turntable and put on my Purple Rain album and satisfy my obviously base and uncultured instincts.

It's funny how you labor under the delusion everything has to meet your approval to be valid.

I cant believe I read this whole f'n thread

You speak like you have the reasoning power of a moron, and you certainly have no idea how I reason or labor. Big assumptions, but zero credibility there.

I didn't say a thing about the "validity" of the guy's music - said he was a successful performer, and merely stated an opinion on tastes - firmly. Only a nitwit would expect a person with different tastes and standards to jump in line with the likes of you. Why not try to get used to the fact that you can't read the minds and dictate the intent of others, and that some folks may think lowly of what you like.

You are wrong - I do like some of what he played at times and never said I didn't. Did you miss the part about musicianship?

I've read enough of your posts to reach that opinion, and your reply reinforces it.

If "culture" is sinking, you're part of the problem

I find myself saying that a lot around here. But, usually, it's on about page 40 or 50...But I keep reading.

I never much cared for his stuff. It just wasn't my kind of weird. There is no doubt the man was very talented though.

Below is a video of him with Tom Petty, Steve Windwood, Jeff Lane and a few others doing the Beatles tune: While my guitar gently weeps at the 2004 rock and roll hall of fame inductions. At about 3:28 in the video it's his turn and he does it right. The man was good at what he was good at.

I liked a couple of his songs, "Time" and "Pop Life" but you seldom hear them on the radio anymore.

Snyper - you are a presumptuous coward who can't begin to defend his own bad assumptions.. "IF" culture is sinking?? You can't even define the problem, let alone begin to determine the cause. Any mirrors at your place??

Merle, Prince, Tom Brady....they're all just entertainers boys...they live in one world and we live in another and we buy what they sell...or not.

++

Prince and Merle in the same thread wtf. U so called guys can keep your purple rain ...I where my own kinda hat .

What I haven't missed is your seemingly limitless capacity for sanctimonious and condescending responses to anyone who disagrees with you both on this thread and the other Prince thread.

The thing about purple rain in my view is the movie is that lead singer 4 the time acting performance stole the show. The woman dressed (princes girlfriend) nice also. The movies best musical set was the "shirtless set" where prince ended with the song Nikii. The song purple rain has layers of lead guitar that is hard to emulate. Merle Haggard is perhaps a top ten lyric writer, no doubt. Just my opinion.

Sort it out Squirrelnut - if you could read you would see that I have no concern with opinion disagreement. That is normal - and I merely give evidence for mine. You can opine all you wish about condescension and sanctimony - but you have zero knowledge there.

If you read for comprehension, you will see that my strong rejoinders were to folks who stooped from the topic and lowered themselves to personal attacks. I don't start such fights, but do punch back.

If you felt stung by the simple impersonal critical analysis of the music and then assumed condescension, the cause is somewhere in your own weakness. If you don't like the stiff rejoinders, don't stoop to personal attacks. Done here with you too.

Thank you for proving my point. You launched straight into an ad hominem attack questioning my ability to read. Fact is, you are a condescending azzhole convinced for some reason of your superiority over others. All you've succeeded in doing on these Prince threads is make yourself look petty and jealous in your attempts to diminish him. Must suck that a huge musical genius like you is reduced to spending his time tearing down a successful musician on an Internet message board instead of selling millions of records and receiving the acclaim you must so justly deserve.

Uh oh.

Doncha know that CCCC is a self-claimed badass counter puncher just like he is a self-claimed NFL band class musician.

Even though he says he is done with you, I suspect the Innanet bully in him will not let your post stand unanswered.

I kinda shiver in awe of him and have Depends on hand just in case I might soil myself.

Country and prince

Blacks need heroes too.

And they pay them well.

300 million for the Prince.

But he considered that to be "slave wages"

His music was as self indulgent as that implies.

But compared to de rapperz he was a musical genius.

A least Prince could play a Pentatonic Scale

Ask a rappa what dat iz?

my cousin use to play lead guitar for Jackson.