I think the simplicity of this song belies its message and in it we get closer to the 'inner' Prince.
Until his untimely death we were of a similar age, so some aspects of our experience were contemporary. I see the song as hearkening to a purely childlike consciousness. In the opening lines
"We want to play in the sunshine
We want to be free
Without the help of a margarita or ecstacy"
he's contrasting the typical party going life we both would have been living at the time the song came out with something more innocent. I'm not saying that either alcohol or drugs are particularly evil, but it says something about you, or the world, if the only way you can enjoy it is through these additives. If you need them you have lost a purity. And we know how Prince's fabulous story ends.
Its not just about having fun while you have the gift of life, its about a true sense of freedom that is already lost by the time the song is written, something you can't get it back.
But with a bit of luck and Prince playing this song into your life you can get a fleeting glimpse of that again, for at least a few moments.
I see this as Prince's cover version of Blakes "Songs of Innocence and Experience"
For a song about pure, simple fun I've always found it simultaneously uplifting and tragic, and if that isn't the essence of what it is to be a human being I don't know what is.
I think the simplicity of this song belies its message and in it we get closer to the 'inner' Prince.
Until his untimely death we were of a similar age, so some aspects of our experience were contemporary. I see the song as hearkening to a purely childlike consciousness. In the opening lines
"We want to play in the sunshine We want to be free Without the help of a margarita or ecstacy"
he's contrasting the typical party going life we both would have been living at the time the song came out with something more innocent. I'm not saying that either alcohol or drugs are particularly evil, but it says something about you, or the world, if the only way you can enjoy it is through these additives. If you need them you have lost a purity. And we know how Prince's fabulous story ends.
Its not just about having fun while you have the gift of life, its about a true sense of freedom that is already lost by the time the song is written, something you can't get it back.
But with a bit of luck and Prince playing this song into your life you can get a fleeting glimpse of that again, for at least a few moments.
I see this as Prince's cover version of Blakes "Songs of Innocence and Experience"
For a song about pure, simple fun I've always found it simultaneously uplifting and tragic, and if that isn't the essence of what it is to be a human being I don't know what is.