So here goes.
I was not always the biggest fan of Prince's music, but I appreciated him as an artist and person.
He seemed to have a healthy relationship with his persona and was not afraid to make fun of himself.
My relationship with Prince and his music was over the Purple Rain period. I loved the soundtrack, but did not see the movie until cable. And boy oh boy- was that movie on A LOT.
My cousin and I could recite the dialogue to each other. There was a boy I liked that hung out with a girl who liked him too and so the song "the Beautiful Ones," was a page out of my diary and I listened to it over and over and over and over and over again.
I have been reading a lot of Prince music commentary and there has been mention of many of the cuts from the Purple Rain soundtrack, but I have only one article which singles out the song and you can find it here.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/beautiful-ones-the-moment-prince-became-a-movie-star-20160422
It is mostly about his performance of the song in the movie (which is still one of my favorite moments in a movie), but the song stands on its own. Though it is hard to push out the imagery if you have seen Purple Rain.
The song begins with Prince singing in a kind of falsetto voice and keyboard accompaniment. It gradually builds to full band participation and some talk lyrics about getting married. He quips that "the beautiful ones always smash the picture, always every time." To me, this indicates that besides going out on a romantic limb, the writer of the song also knows that she is probably not the best choice even if the love interest in question decides to choose him.
After many questions to the love interest, Prince in Prince-screaming fashion sings the lyrics " I want you!," and "Baaaby, baby, baaaby!" And trust me, I am not doing the song justice. It is powerful.
The song is an inner dialogue of deciding you want to be with someone and there being obstacles for which you have little control.
At one point, he sings "u make me so confused, the beautiful ones, u always seem to lose," this to me is not commentary, but emotionally charged ego romance stuff. Other tunes of this era were coming from a more sexually charged part of his psyche- "Take Me with U," and "I Would Die 4 U," are more of the love song-y kind of thing.
I have always wondered why it wasn't released as a single. Half the record was released as singles and charted in the top 25.
I mean, hello!
A friend of mine did a record club and we would bring our vinyl and listen to cuts and explain why we chose the record and the song.
I don't remember exactly what I said as to why I chose it, but I know it was my thirteen year old self who was behind it.
The beautiful ones
Always smash the picture
Always...every time...
