This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Oh yeah!
In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same
At home there are seventeen-year-old boys and their idea of fun
Is being in a gang called 'The Disciples'
High on crack and totin' a machine gun
Time
Times
Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church and killed everyone inside
You turn on the telly and every other story is tellin' you somebody died
A sister killed her baby 'cause she couldn't afford to feed it
And yet we're sending people to the moon
In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time
Now he's doing horse, it's June, unh
Times
Times
It's silly, no?
When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly
But some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies
Oh why?
Time
Time
Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly
Neighbors just shine it on
But if a night falls and a bomb falls
Will anybody see the dawn?
Time, mm
Times
Is it silly, no?
When a rocket blows and, and everybody still wants to fly
Some say man ain't happy truly until a man truly dies
Oh why, oh why?
Sign o' the times, unh
Time
Time
Sign o' the times mess with your mind
Hurry before it's too late
Let's fall in love, get married, have a baby
We'll call him Nate
If it's a boy
Time
Times
In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same
At home there are seventeen-year-old boys and their idea of fun
Is being in a gang called 'The Disciples'
High on crack and totin' a machine gun
Time
Times
Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church and killed everyone inside
You turn on the telly and every other story is tellin' you somebody died
A sister killed her baby 'cause she couldn't afford to feed it
And yet we're sending people to the moon
In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time
Now he's doing horse, it's June, unh
Times
Times
It's silly, no?
When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly
But some say a man ain't happy unless a man truly dies
Oh why?
Time
Time
Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly
Neighbors just shine it on
But if a night falls and a bomb falls
Will anybody see the dawn?
Time, mm
Times
Is it silly, no?
When a rocket blows and, and everybody still wants to fly
Some say man ain't happy truly until a man truly dies
Oh why, oh why?
Sign o' the times, unh
Time
Time
Sign o' the times mess with your mind
Hurry before it's too late
Let's fall in love, get married, have a baby
We'll call him Nate
If it's a boy
Time
Times
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Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
A great song with Prince viewing late 80s society as nearing the apocalypse. But the song is unfortunately still relevant (maybe even more so) today. The entire album is in my opinion a concept about late-80s life, when the good times died, finances hurt, people feared world war, and retreated into meaningless sex and drugs to try to escape. So, yeah, pretty much it's not that much different than 2007.
The "big disease with a little name" is obviously AIDS, which at the time the song was written (1986) was still somewhat of a mystery due to it being so unexpected and people having problems distinguishing reality from myth on it. Must have been especially scary for our favorite sex addict Prince.
The teenage Disciples gang refers to the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples gang, which reeked havoc on the city in the 80s and 90s, making Chicago the murder capitol of the US for a lot of years.
The Rocket Ship exploding refers to the Challenger explosion where a schoolteacher who trained to be an astronaut died along with several others.
"Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly" is talking about then-President Ronald Reagan and his Star Wars missile defense shield in outer space during the Cold War. It turned out to be a huge bluff, but possibly prevented nuclear war with Russia.
The ending verse is just a wish to try to enjoy life while you can, and just ignore the bad times. A definite late-80s sign o' the times. Prince is a great lyricist when he wants to be. Unfortunately he spends most of his songs obsessing about sex. That's fine once in a while, but songs like this show he is way too talented to be so low brow all of the time.
@cmp744 I think the last line "We'll call him Nate, if it's a boy." Might reference the Chinese killing their daughters. I just felt that way when I first heard, like they wouldn't keep the maybe unless it was a boy.
@cmp744 I really like your analysis. I agree that Prince did have the talent to write well, but he did write a lot of stupid songs that were radio friendly because he always gives us great production.
"Sister killed her baby 'cause she couldn't afford to feed it, And we're sending people to the moon" I think that line says it all. Prince is so under-rated as a musician and a songwriter, and this song is exhibit A.
definitly one of the best songs ever. It's very similar to Marvin Gaye's What's going on.
social commentry - to a beat and a guitar lick
Genius. such an accurate truthful depiction of our pitiful times even Mr. Bob Dylan couldn't have said it better.
This song has recently been cover by British rock gods Muse, whom I think did an amazing cover of it, you can find it on YouTube. I have heard rumors they were possibly going to.record it which would be awesome. They did it on the Radio 1 and on A French Night show. It's amazing....the trouble is I have been trying to find the Prince version of this song and I cannot find it. Can anyone tell me where I can find it? Every time I try to look it up it only brings up the album of the same name. Thanks in advance if anyone has any advice :-) youtube.com/watch. OR antiquiet.com/news/2012/09/muse-covers-princes-sign-o-the-times-on-radio-1-live-lounge/
@musemadness Prince doesn't let his stuff on the internet, you'll have to buy it.
What are they going to do to that baby if it's not a boy? I can guess.
I always thought he was saying "The Senate knows when the rocket ship explodes."
Totally agree sammm,princes finest song.
godly song