A Tribute To Prince: 5 things to learn, and 5 songs to check out!
1. Do You: Be yourself. Prince was the embodiment of this lesson. Inside each one of you is a personality; a charm and a way that might seem a little hard to understand by your family or friends; a way that may make your parents feel “let down” by you, and society turn on you; but as long as you’re not motivated by hurting anyone, or breaking laws, the least you should do is be that personality — Be Yourself.
2. Create Effectively: Prince had a talent, yours may not be music, but you will have a skill, something you are excellent at. Take that, and be creative with it without prejudice to yourself, without fear of criticism, and without worry — whether it is banking, building, barbering, or baking! Find out what you’re brilliant at, and create: Make a New Basketball Pass, Invent a new Fuel System, Make a New Flavour of Cake, Write a Poem Like It’s Your Last Message to the World! Build a Business that Makes The World Happier! Take the chains off your mind and create effectively — Prince was a master of this.
3. Vision: Prince had a vision, what’s yours? What I mean is when you close your eyes and feel your heart and soul — or even look into your imagination, what do you see? Whatever you envisage there, is what you will make here…. here *click! Ok, open your eyes…. Here! …… From the imaginary comes reality, if you don’t imagine then your karmas, your samskaras (patterns of living) and everyone else’s imagination will control you. What is your vision?
4. Be Nasty: Ok, so this one is going to hurt! Prince was ruthless with everything. If you have a vision.. no, when you have your vision, your plan, your goal, or your dream, this is how you make decisions: Anything that deviates you from your positive goal is now BAD FOR YOU — That person, that thought, that temptation. It’s all distractions and obstacles. If you look at Prince’s life carefully, you will see that anything that was contrary to the execution of a plan, was, itself, executed. That is how he got all his goals achieved (OK, but remember to be yogis too! : )
5. WORK: Prince worked hard at things he was actually successful at. When you know what you’re good at (by the way, his fans and record companies were evidence of his ability) and the world or people are at least starting to see and vouch for your quality, then work as hard as you can at it until you hit your vision. There are no short cuts to lasting success. The work you put in will 99% be unseen, do you think we have any idea of the hours Prince put into his music? How much music and ideas we will never see? For every 4 minute song, there is a lifetime of experience and experimentation, that takes work, time and energy. He gave that. Are you willing to do the same?
5 Songs From Prince You Need To Hear That You Might Not Have Checked Out: (You Tube won’t have these, so buy them, trust me….)
1. Tambourine: A song that wreaks havoc with the percussion, drums and bass. Just listen to the groove really carefully and try and pull it apart! Prince was known for making grooves that would make James Brown jump back! This one is routinely overlooked. And listen out for the trademark screaming, squealing and hysteria towards the end, Prince losing whatever assemblance of a plot he had, at its best! (from the LP: Around the world in a day)
2. Forever in my Life: Another cheeky slap in the face of modern music. I can count at most 4 instruments here, if that! (A kick drum, a snare, a hardly-touched synth, and a lazy metronome percussion), yet this is classic Prince; listen as he woos his beloved, encircling her with layered vocals and soul seducing poetry. It is in my Top 5 Prince tunes ever made. Genius (From the LP: Sign O’ the times)
3. Anotherloverholenyohead (no typo): Starts with (I kid you not) his guitar singing through traditional Indian musical scales as if it’s suddenly auditioning for a lead role in a Bollywood Movie! Seconds later his piano bursts through the door demanding to know “what the hell is going on!”, while the snare drums sits at the bar, tapping its toes on the bar stool footrest knocking back Martinis… with olives on a cocktail stick. If that hasn’t made you need to listen to this song (find the long version) then we’re not on the same bookshelf here, forget about the same page! Check it out, seriously.. (From the LP: Parade)
4. Style: “Style — is not a logo, that sticks to the roof of one’s ass, style — is like a second cousin to class…” Just listening to Prince putting the world in its place and taking the position of the definition of style, is very funny! A tongue-in-cheek (I think!?) groove that describes style as everything from “puppy’s breath” to “Ali’s jab”…. this is pure Prince i.e. he has it, and you, me and the rest of us. don’t. (From the LP: Emancipation)
5. She’s always in my Hair: On this chugger, the snare drum is on heat, fizzing away like it knows the whole song is about it! (Listen to the sparks fly off the drumstick as it lands). Prince shows his maturity as an artist by letting the groove, the percussion and drums do all work and keeps a leash on his guitar, punctuating the drums with a thread of funk until the vocals start. And what a lyric! The crux of which is …… that this girl is loyal to him no matter how bad he treats her “if I was a gigolo all my life, she’s still be there, telling me just how much she really cares… she always in my hair” — harsh, but beautiful, he’s actually celebrating this girl’s loyalty mixed in with harmonics that wouldn’t be out of place on a Beatles Album — well, he was born in the 60s! (The B Side to “Paisley Park”, the single)
So that’s it. Of course, this list could have gone for another 40 years, but check out these tracks, and try to live a bit more like the Purple One. Feel free to share these thoughts if you enjoyed them, and “May U Live 2 C the Dawn” as Prince would say….
In peace,
Neil Patel
