Resplendent Prince |
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan
Prince in his Little Red Corvette. |
Growing up in California in a fairly poor family and a run down area I had to find entertainment which cost nothing. A favourite past time was walking to the Boulevard and watching cars go by. There was a well to do neighborhood nearby and I could always tell which cars came from there. One in particular which I loved. A Little Red Corvette.
The man pushed boundaries but he sure could dress |
Life was hard and childhood was short. Even before a lot of them left school they had children to feed and too many bills to pay. Most of the kids who attended this school did not dream of other lives, or doing great things. They knew their reality and they just wanted to survive the best that they could. And have some fun. They lived life fast, as if they were scared that it would run out before they had used it all up. They taught me so much and imparted the most important lesson upon me - You have to dance, and love hard, while you can.
"What's missing from pop music is danger."
~ Prince
~ Prince
By the time that Prince came onto the scene I had been grown up for a very long time and was living in a different country. Listening to him brought back memories of those early days, how free it was when we danced. And when I first heard Little Red Corvette I was mesmerised. Those lyrics, at once risky and liberating. He was the Prince of one night stands. The love child of 'Will you still love me tomorrow' and Little Richard.
Prince and his magic wardrobe |
All gold leaf, with serpent eyeliner, like a Jackie Morris painting |
bedecked, bejewelled, embellished |
San Francisco City Hall illuminated for Prince |
Hard Rock Cafe, New York |
New York's Hard Rock cafe paid tribute to him by featuring his lyrics on the front of its restaurant in the heart of Times Square - in the city where he announced just last month that he would be writing a memoir.
Projected on a purple background the sign read:
I never meant to cause you any sorrow
I never meant to cause you any pain
I only wanted to one time to see you laughing
I only wanted to see you
Laughing in the purple rain
RIP Prince
"And just like that ... the world lost a lot of magic."
Katy Perry on twitter
MY NOTES:
Tori Amos in concert in 2014. I love how she has combined her version of Little Red Corvette with Stay With Me, the torch song by Shakespeare's Sister. The sound quality is not great, but close your eyes and listen. If only Prince could have stayed a little longer.
Tori Here:
Prince here
The idea to turn City Hall in San Francisco purple came from local writer Eve Batey, who made her request on Twitter.
READ MORE:
Jack Hamilton writes
The story behind Little Red Corvette
Gorgeous post for a gorgeous man - thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you .....
ReplyDeleteSO SAD..hE MADE ME DANCE..
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though the tears shed for one brilliant light's passing have scarcely dried before we tragically lose another these days. Prince's loss hit me all the more hard because he was the same age as my mom currently is (thankfully - knock wood - she's in good health and there's no reason to think going anywhere for a long time to come, but still the identical age rattled me a bit) and though they've lived vastly different lives, it's hard to believe he left us so relatively young.
ReplyDelete♥ Jessica
This is a fine tribute about this sad loss.
ReplyDeleteHi Leeann,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a wonderful tribute to such a talented man.
His birthday and my husbands are a day apart, both born in June, 1958.
Way too young, and will be missed
Carolyn
Such a lovely post and tribute! Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post to such a talented man. I've just found you blog via Linda's Peaceful Place. I enjoyed your previous post too. I'm a Royalist, I greatly admire our Queen, she is great. Love your Fans of Black Cats photos.
ReplyDeleteI learned a little more about you. Lovely tribute to Prince ... Little Red Corvette ... Yes!
ReplyDeleteDearest LeeAnn,
ReplyDeleteYes, another icon has left us...
Your wrote a beautiful tribute and that was a joy reading!
Hugs and happy May.
Mariette
LeeAnn,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this entry in a bitter sweet way and the two touching photographs at the end.
Also, the very first one that shows how beautiful and elegant Prince was.
Another great and inspiring artist who has "always" been around and who, quite unexpectedly, has also gone too soon.
Kind regards,
Nina