Prince's Lyrics Gave Clues to His Personal Politics

[liberalnarb]

Last edited Fri Apr 22, 2016, 11:39 PM - Edit history (1)

"Baltimore"
Prince released this tribute last year and performed it at a benefit concert in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray. In the song, Prince croons: "Does anybody hear us pray/For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray? ... Are we gonna see another bloody day?/We're tired of the cryin' and people dyin'/Let's take all the guns away."

"Sign o' the Times"
This 1987 song from the album of the same name was Prince's reaction to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, making the "Purple Rain" singer one of the first artists to speak out about the disease. He sang, "In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name/By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same."

"Dreamer"
Another song released in 2009, "Dreamer" reveals Prince's thoughts on racial inequality and his frustration that it remained a problem decades after the Civil Rights Movement. In this song, Prince even references Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. "Eye was born and raised on the same plantation/In the United States of the red, white and blue/I never knew that I was different/Until Dr. King was on the balcony," he said.

"Ol' Skool Company"
With a country still reeling from the Great Recession, Prince debuted this song in 2009, shedding light on his feelings about the Wall Street bailout a year earlier. "Fat cats on Wall Street/They got a bailout," Prince sang, "While somebody else got to wait/700 billion but my old neighborhood/Ain't nothing changed but the date."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/princes-lyrics-gave-clues-personal-politics/story?id=38603286

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[xmas74]

1. He was neither Republican or Democrat

Due to his religious beliefs. And the line about "Ronnie talk to Russia "was while we were still in a Cold War. It wasn't in agreeance with a political party but a plea to do something about the situation.

[liberalnarb]

2. Well, there was "left-wing guerrillas".

Look, I'm not here to bash a person who just passed away, but he was definitely right-leaning.

[xmas74]

3. I believe he was referring to the Sandinistas

Who were considered extreme left wing guerillas and were addressed as such in news reports in the 80's. It's not what we think of here in the U.S. as left wing but rather an entirety different thing.

[Demonaut]

4. I read the lyrics too on Ronnie, my impression was the sandinistas as well

he was a progressive

[xmas74]

6. I guess youve got to be of a certain age to remember

them. People sometimes forget that both sides have extremists.

[Demonaut]

7. not sure which song but he mentioned ABSCAM in one

[Demonaut]

5. but you bash anyway