Oh, Prince.
Prince came into my life through my Fashion Maven Cousin when I was just a little girl. See, Fashion Maven Cousin (FMC) was older than me. And so cool. And I wanted to be just like her. It helped that she was lots of fun and had fantastic taste in just about everything. And that she introduced me to Prince.
It was love. Instantly. How could it not be? Songs like When You Were Mine (still one of my favorites) and Sexuality practically insisted that my little 7 year old self got up and danced around the living room. Luckily, I have music-loving parents who understood the genius of Prince (and dug him, themselves), not to mention that it was plainly obvious I had no idea what he was talking about. Radio edits helped my cluelessness, along with a more simple (innocent) time. But my general lack of ability to distinguish lyrics without a printed copy helped, too. Like Darling Nikki?
According to my little brain, he met her in a hotel lobby master bedroom in a magazine. You know, like, she was reading Architectural Digest. She was into that kind of thing. And when the lights went out? Nikki started to cry. Because she was afraid of the dark. It happens to the best of us.
When I reallyreallyreallyreally wanted to see Purple Rain? Mom was on it. She stayed up to record it, off of cable, onto a VHS tape, and edited out the naughty parts. My friends were all so impressed! And that meant they could come over to my house and they could watch it too! And after we watched the non-naughty version of Purple Rain, we would go play in my playroom. The playroom where I had a poster of Prince wear the shiny purple coat, black panties, and nothing else. Yep, we had boundaries in my house. Prince in panties? Okay. Prince not in panties? Not okay.
The year that Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was the same year that George Harrison was inducted. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne performed some of George's songs, one of which was While My Guitar Gently Weeps. When it got to the guitar solo at the end of the song, Prince came out and played it. It was one of the most amazing moments ever. As the show was going to commercial, they showed Dhani Harrison backstage, pushing people out of the way saying "Where's Prince? I want to hug him!" And right after that Dad called and said "How cool was that?" Very, Dad. Very.
Awhile back, Best Friend asked if I would please compile a Prince CD that she would be able to play in the car when her children (my goddaughters, ages 3 and 5 at the time) were in the car with her. A tall order, but I was up to the challenge and made her a most excellent mix. Shortly after that, Best Friend called to tell me that her eldest daughter was singing in the shower. So Best Friend put her ear to the door to hear what she was singing and she heard "Baby, don't waste your time... I know what's on your mind... wouldn't be satisfied with a one night stand... and I could never take the place of your man." I remain the proud godmother.
(PS - The title of the post comes from here...)
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you capture
1 comment:
I honestly love how your stories don't usually coordinate with your photos. You meet the photo challenge, but you keep it interesting. Always a pleasure to read.
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