Thoughts about Prince Seven Months Later

I had my i-pod on shuffle the other day while riding my bike when a Prince tune came on. His song, Let’s Go Crazy, is so prophetic that it gave me chills. I listened to it twice in a row.

The song starts with Prince talking, giving sort of a eulogy.

“Dearly beloved

We are gathered here today
To get through this thing called ‘life’

Prince. Courtesy of Google Images.

Electric word, life
It means forever and that's a mighty long time

But I'm here to tell you
There's something else
The afterworld

(Harp music here)

A world of never ending happiness
You can always see the sun, day or night…”

Then he sings about how to get through life.

“Cause in this life
Things are much harder than in the afterworld
In this life
You're on your own…”

and..

“If you don't like
The world you're living in
Take a look around
At least you got friends…”

Little Richard. Courtesy of Google Images.

He sings about the elevator. WHAT? You say? The elevator? Yep. The elevator. What if the elevator is death? Is the elevator death?

“We’re all excited

But we don’t’ know why

Maybe it’s cause

We’re all gonna die

And when we do (When we do)

What’s it all for (What’s it all for)

You better live now

Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door

Tell me, are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down?

Oh, no let’s go!...”

Prince is (was) pretty avant-garde, but I think he was also a musical genius. This is probably why I didn’t “get” some of his work.

Rick James. Courtesy of Google Images.

But this song got me thinking of some what ifs..

What if Prince did not die in his elevator, but instead instructed his people, his handlers, to announce that, upon his death, they should say it took place in the elevator? That kind of thing sounds like a Prince move to me.

I think Prince could be considered a healthy mix of the flamboyance of Little Richard, the funk of Rick James, the sexuality of Elvis (remember his hip gyrations?), and the fashion sense of Michael Jackson.

Elvis. Courtesy of Google Images.

What if Prince didn’t die from a similar drug O.D. as Michael Jackson? Maybe he was sick and didn’t want people to know. That seems like a Prince move, too.

I read that Prince had started writing his autobiography and it was to be published in 2017.

It’s also weird to me that Paisley Park, Prince’s home in the suburbs of Minneapolis, has already opened as a museum, much like Elvis’s Graceland. In fact, they’re both managed by the same company.

How could a product as big as Prince get a museum opening off the ground just six months after his death? Maybe the deal was done by Prince himself far before his death on April 21, 2016.

Michael Jackson.
 Courtesy of Google Images.

I think Prince had total control of every aspect of his life. Perhaps even right down to how his death would be played out.

I know this post is not exactly “timely,” in fact, Prince’s death is probably considered old news by now, but Let’s Go Crazy prompted me to write this. And as you may know, I like song lyrics.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine