The other day I heard “Raspberry Beret” on the radio and was trying to remember Prince’s real name. I thought it was Victor something because I thought the the pieces of the symbol that Prince changed his name to during his “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” days could be broken up and reformed to spell out V-I-C-T-O-R. Rather than asking “Siri” I chose to text my brother and ask him; Steve’s the biggest Prince fan I know.<\/p>\n
Of course he knew the answer — Prince’s real name is Prince Rogers Nelson. “Victor” is a character in the symbol album songs. This text chain lead to a series of messages from my brother detailing the real names of various other rock and rollers.<\/p>\n
Elvis Costello’s real name is Declan MacManus.
\nDavid Bowie’s was David Robert Jones.
\nIggy Pop’s is Jimmy Osterberg.
\nBono’s is Paul Hewson while The Edge is David Evans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd my favorite text from my brother on this topic?<\/p>\n
Mick Jagger’s is Mick Jagger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Today the world lost Prince Rogers Nelson the man. But the Artist? The artist lives on, here, now and always.<\/p>\n
I can recall hearing a great bar band play “Purple Rain” when Steve and I visited Memphis my senior year of college.<\/p>\n
I caught a few Prince concerts with Steve over the years and he put on an incredible show. His catalog of hits and jams is deep and powerful.<\/p>\n
And so the loss of the man is sad but I have some wonderful memories of the artist that are brought back each time I hear a track played.<\/p>\n
Prince Rogers Nelson was only 57. But his legacy is assured, not just for me but for millions of fans the world over.<\/p>\n
A lot of people have posted thoughts and lyrics on social media. I’m no different and so I close this post with the lyrics to “Let’s Go Crazy” (1984).\u00a0 They mean something today as perhaps they’ve meant something every day since I first heard them.<\/p>\n
Dearly beloved
\nWe are gathered here today
\nTo get through this thing called life<\/p>\nElectric word life
\nIt means forever and that’s a mighty long time
\nBut I’m here to tell you
\nThere’s something else
\nThe after world<\/p>\nA world of never ending happiness
\nYou can always see the sun, day or night<\/p>\nSo when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
\nYou know the one, Dr. Everything’ll Be Alright
\nInstead of asking him how much of your time is left
\nAsk him how much of your mind, baby<\/p>\n‘Cause in this life
\nThings are much harder than in the after world
\nIn this life
\nYou’re on your own<\/p>\nAnd if the elevator tries to bring you down
\nGo crazy, punch a higher floor<\/p>\nIf you don’t like the world you’re living in
\nTake a look around you
\nAt least you got friends<\/p>\nYou see I called my old lady
\nFor a friendly word
\nShe picked up the phone
\nDropped it on the floor
\n(Ah, ah) is all I heard<\/p>\nAre we gonna let the elevator
\nBring us down
\nOh, no let’s go!<\/p>\nLet’s go crazy
\nLet’s get nuts
\nLet’s look for the purple banana
\n‘Til they put us in the truck, let’s go!<\/p>\nWe’re all excited
\nBut we don’t know why
\nMaybe it’s ’cause
\nWe’re all gonna die<\/p>\nAnd when we do (When we do)
\nWhat’s it all for (What’s it all for)
\nYou better live now
\nBefore the grim reaper come knocking on your door<\/p>\nTell me, are we gonna let the elevator bring us down
\nOh, no let’s go!<\/p>\nLet’s go crazy
\nLet’s get nuts
\nLook for the purple banana
\n‘Til they put us in the truck, let’s go!<\/p>\nC’mon baby
\nLet’s get nuts
\nYeah
\nCrazy<\/p>\nLet’s go crazy<\/p>\n
Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down
\nOh, no let’s go!
\nGo crazy<\/p>\nI said let’s go crazy (Go crazy)
\nLet’s go, let’s go
\nGo
\nLet’s go<\/p>\nDr. Everything’ll be alright
\nWill make everything go wrong
\nPills and thrills and daffodils will kill
\nHang tough children<\/p>\nHe’s coming
\nHe’s coming
\nComing<\/p>\nTake me away!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The other day I heard “Raspberry Beret” on the radio and was trying to remember Prince’s real name. I thought it was Victor something because I thought the the pieces of the symbol that Prince changed his name to during his “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” days could be broken up and reformed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[568,570,571,569,39,567],"class_list":["post-2108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artist","tag-live","tag-lives","tag-matters","tag-passing","tag-prince"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}