Abstract
The aim of this paper is to show how Prince Rogers Nelson’s lewd onstage antics and perverse song lyrics were not the only factors that contributed to his sexually charged compositions. By examining the use of anthropomorphism (the ascription of human characteristics to what is not human), in the analysis of several of Prince’s early works between the years 1980 and 1984, the researcher makes the argument that his musical arrangements taken from this earlier musical cannon embody the stages of Masters and Johnson’s human sexual response cycle. Ultimately, the researcher views Prince’s musical arrangements and improvisations to be metaphors for his own genitalia having intercourse with his public.
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Notes
In the video for “1999” that featured the provocatively dressed vocalist Jill Jones and keyboardist Lisa Coleman, both women are shown as to sexually rubbing up against one another while sharing and playing one synthesizer. In this manner, the synthesizer is serving as a male figure involved in the act of a “threesome” with both Jones and Coleman “stroking” its keys.
Bolo Sete was a Brazilian guitarist that married the styles of traditional Brazilian folk music with jazz music (Neder 2016).
Lil Louis is the stage name used by Chicago-born house music producer and DJ Marvin Burns (Larkin 1999).
Stewart’s assessment of Prince’s onstage conduct is crucial as it is the antecedent for what I am proposing, but my work differs from his in that I am proposing that the musical arrangements and sounds from the instrumentation draws its listeners into Prince’s vison of hedonism by emulating the aural aspects of sexual intercourse.
Written by Prince Rogers Nelson • Copyright © 1984. Universal Music Publishing Group.
Written by Prince Rogers Nelson • Copyright © 1982. Universal Music Publishing Group.
Written by Prince Rogers Nelson • Copyright © 1984. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group.
Written by Prince Rogers Nelson • Copyright ©1984. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group.
Written by John L. Nelson, Lisa Coleman, Matthew Robert Fink, Prince Rogers Nelson, and Wendy Melvoin • Copyright © 1984. Universal Music Publishing Group.
Written by Prince Rogers Nelson • Copyright ©1980. Warner Bros. Music.
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de Lima, B.J. Erotic Cities: Instrumental Anthropomorphism in Prince’s Compositions. J Afr Am St 21, 385–407 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9362-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9362-8