Prince Says He Wants Less Explicit Lyrics

The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Prince is turning down his mojo.

"I have a responsibility to (young fans) to perform in a manner that I would like my children to be performed in front of," he says in an interview to air Tuesday on CBS News' "The Early Show."

Prince, who has written songs such as "Gett Off," "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Kiss," says he's moving away from the explicitly erotic lyrics of the past.

"I just want to be the best human being I can be ... on stage and off," he says. Excerpts of the interview were released in advance.

The 46-year-old singer-songwriter is listed as the No. 1 "greatest rock frontman" of all time, beating out Mick Jagger and Robert Plant, in the August issue of Spin magazine.

Prince earned a 10 out of 10 for sex appeal, in a vote of editors, and kudos for singing like an "oversexed elf."

At the concert I saw Monday night, when Prince performed DMSR, he changed the old line "work your body like a whore" to "party like you want some more". He made similar changes to other songs he performed. He still had some sex appeal in his performance, but lyrically, Prince had indeed toned the sex talk way, way down.... :( I miss it!!!

I'm sure that his recent religious conversion has a lot to do with this, too. I don't really miss the explicit/sexual lyrics; I can take them or leave them. All I care about is whether or not he rocks.

Originally posted by AKA
I don't really miss the explicit/sexual lyrics; I can take them or leave them. All I care about is whether or not he rocks.

Same here, actually. The main thing is the music itself. I was just joking (uh, sort of).
Seriously, I will admit, part of what made me a fan in the beginning was the explicitness, not so much for profanity's sake, but just that it seemed to be a natural part of his expression. With the 1999 album, I hadn't been used to hearing what I heard from Prince from any other artists at that point. It was that freshness that appealed to me, and the dirty words were a part of it. But I guess he's right when he says now that the envelope has been pushed so far, people don't seem to blink at explicit/sexual lyrics anymore. These days, he's definitely proving he doesn't need the explicitness to still be electrifying.

I hope he doesn't edit his previous albums.

Originally posted by Brian
I hope he doesn't edit his previous albums.

Nah, I doubt he'd ever do that.

Originally posted by Brian
I hope he doesn't edit his previous albums.

That's something I was wondering about. I think it was in a NY Times article where they said Prince was considering working with Warners on remastering all his old albums, and I immediately thought "he wants to edit out all the curse words". If they do remaster, hopefully it'll just be improved sound, with b-sides and extended versions of a-side singles included as bonuses.

Originally posted by vashti1999
That's something I was wondering about. I think it was in a NY Times article where they said Prince was considering working with Warners on remastering all his old albums, and I immediately thought "he wants to edit out all the curse words". If they do remaster, hopefully it'll just be improved sound, with b-sides and extended versions of a-side singles included as bonuses.

I hope he doesn't do that. I think he can leave the original music the way it was. I think this is what made Prince the artist that he is. His tampering with his music would be like Da Vinci taking the smile off the Mona Lisa. He should just move on and know that it was a different side of him, and now he is more conscience of how he wants his music to be heard.

Gee, Prince Light. Less fat and half the calories. ohno:

It's like when Mark Farner, formerly of Grand Funk, became a born again Christian in the 80's, he decided he wouldn't sing "We're An American Band" as part of his solo act because the lyrics about partying conflicted with his newfound beliefs. How wimpy-wampy is that??:mad: The Born Again Taliban rises to the rescue.

Originally posted by AKA
I don't really miss the explicit/sexual lyrics; I can take them or leave them. All I care about is whether or not he rocks.

Yeah, same here. I never really listened to a whole lot of Prince's music. I've got cassettes of his hits albums, but I've never listened to them. I have some of his music on various CDs though that I've burned. I like the songs: Kiss, When Doves Cry, Little Red Corvette, Raspberry Beret and 1999.

Originally posted by AKA
I'm sure that his recent religious conversion has a lot to do with this, too. I don't really miss the explicit/sexual lyrics; I can take them or leave them. All I care about is whether or not he rocks.

I didn't know he had a Religious conversion. What Religion is he a part of?

Originally posted by mdntrider7
I didn't know he had a Religious conversion. What Religion is he a part of? Didn't I read before that he converted to being a Jehovah's Witness?

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
Didn't I read before that he converted to being a Jehovah's Witness?

That's correct.

it doesn't matter to me because I coudn't really hear the lyrics.

I agree about how vulgar lyrics have gottn played out.

When albums like 1999 and Dirty Mind came out, it was channeling sexual boundaries in music thatwere unheard at the time.

Yet now there are hip hop albums that have more cuss words in a minute than Let's Pretend We're Married had in 7. What was so shocking about Prince's music in the 1980's is tame as hell now.