Friday, March 25, 2011

Why I quit Prince

Ever get a song that just keeps going and going in your head?  That happens to me a lot.  I used to be a Prince junkie.  But I haven't bought or played a Prince CD in... well, it's been years now.  A couple at least.  But when I get in a good mood, I usually start groovin' to a Prince tune -- at least in my head.  It's A-U-T-O-matic.

Anybody wanna buy some records?

I've seen him live in concert ten times and even went to Paisley Park and played his ol' drum machine and the symbol guitar.  But I made up my mind to quit Prince shortly after becoming a father.  Why?  Well, the lyrics were either too racy... too whacky or just theologically incorrect.  And music is a powerful thing that can just get stuck in your head.  So, one day, I just decided to go cold turkey.

Cold turkey sucks... except in sandwiches and it really took me a while to find music I could really get into again... but with great fatherhood comes great responsibility.  I wouldn't want that stuff playing around my daughter.  I guess it's like when a pregnant mother or father gives up their smokes.

So what's going through your head?... I just picked some random lyrics from artists I used to plug into and strung them together:

Well, my legs are shakin' and my knees are week -- I can't seem to stand on my own two feet... how can you just leave me standing, alone in a world that's so cold?  Just beat it!  Beat it!  No one wants to be defeated.  I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?  But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.  Where do you want this killing done?  On the road again.

-Elvis/Prince/MJ/Beck/Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do we all seem to quote the lyric, "I shot a man in Reno. Just to watch him die."?

Seems strange we are all drawn to that lyric. But you can't go wrong with Cash.

Prince.....wow....I had no idea.

Damien Schmitt said...

I do like Cash. I was going on a "see'm before the die" thing a few years back. Saw the Stones, Dylan, Willie Nelson, Neil Young... and they are all still alive! What are the odds. Sadly never got to see the Man in Black.

Anonymous said...

Any others on that list?

Damien Schmitt said...

James Brown was on the list... another miss. Roy Clark... there's still time! I used to pretend I was Roy Clark back in the days of Hee Haw.

Anne said...

When I spent a semester in Spain, there was a Spanish student in my house that loved Prince. He asked me to translate some of the lyrics for him, and his response was: "that's what the song says?!?" Let me tell you, the innuendo and double entendres were VERY hard to translate and I probably missed a lot of it. So he probably didn't even get the full effect of the lyrics.

Damien Schmitt said...

That's hilarious, Anne!