Wow! I really don't know where to begin.
Today, the unimaginable happened. I got to sit in a room and talk about God and music with Prince. I talked with Prince, he listened, and answered my questions. I just need to process that real quick because it was the last thing that I was expecting out of this listening party. I somehow knew the day would come, when I'd actually get to meet him, but I was not expecting it, today.
It all started with the album. We (about 20-30 of us) were led upstairs to Prince's billiard room. This is where his pool table and ping-pong table are and where he still has a framed poster of the 94-95 era NPG (the pic from "The Beautiful Experience" where where Mayte has a red bra on in the shape of two hearts over her breasts.) He has it up because this was and still is his favorite band. That's what Femi Jiya said, anyway. The woman who conducted the party/discussion started off by saying that "The Rainbow Children" was in the same line as "Sign O The Times" and "Lovesexy". Only that with "Lovesexy", he was holding back. She said that it was, "beautiful! You guys are gonna love it!" Cue the music.
A drum beat kicks in (REAL drums!) and we're off into the jazzy uptempo hymn, "Just like the sun/The Rainbow Children rise/Flying upon the wings of the New Translation/See them fly, fly." It's very upbeat and energetic but sort of rambling and repetitive. It immediately reminded me of the campiness of a "Jesus Christ Superstar"-type musical mixed with the song, "Hit The Road, Jack." More narration comes in talking about "The Wise One and his woman" (Adam and Eve?) being tempted by "the Resistor" (Satan?). "The Resistor" tempted "his woman, first and only" because he knew "The Wise One's" faith in God was too great. "Chaos ensues and she and 5 others were banished from the rainbow...4ever." The hymn continues. I find it interesting that "The Wise One" is capitalized and "his woman" is not, but I digress. The "song" continues to unravel what I believe is the story of Adam and Eve. Although, Adam and Eve are not mentioned. I must note that the song uses the chant, "Reproduction of the new breed leader. Stand up and organize!" from the song "Sexuality" on the "Controversy" album. Not sure why, yet. More narration interrupts about The Wise One realizing that with his woman being banished and all, God would send him another, one day. The music changes into something less upbeat but still in the same vein and we're into, "If She Could B Muse 2 The Pharaoh."
I believe this is talking about the new woman whom the Wise One was waiting for. It mentions "the future of the nation" resting in her belly and that if she sings Proverbs 31, Verse 10, she might become queen. A rap starts midway through, sounding like it's from the perspective of The Wise One who is trying to persuade her to "b Muse 2 the pharaoh." I'm assuming that the Wise One and the Pharaoh are one and the same and maybe he's trying to say to the Muse, "we should be together." The music calms down and changes into a new "song".
This is the piece that is featured after the Big City Remix of "The Good Life" on NPG AHDIO #5. From the lyrics, I believe The Rainbow Children are supposed to be the people of God. It kicks off with some improvisational rambling on the keyboard and the a fast bongo groove kicks in. What it sounds like is Prince hit the button that said "Bossanova" on his Casio keyboard from '86. This is the only example of sampled drums that I remember on the ENTIRE album. All the rest of it sounds like John Blackwell, to me. This is a good thing because John is AMAZING. The main theme of this portion is "Love, like a rose in bloom/All of the Rainbow Children/Will feel it soon." It's kind of a haunting melody and somewhat repetitive. More narration starts about "the banished ones."
The Banished Ones approached the palace, shouting obscenities, trying to confuse The Rainbow Children and dethrone their King. "Using the lies promoted by the whosepapers, hellavisions and scagazines-the Banished Ones constructed a Digital Garden around the palace that extended throughout the world." They end up demanding compensation for coming out to the palace, which they are granted by the Wise One (Pharaoh), and they then leave for their home city, MendaCity (mendacity). Immediately, the Rainbow Children start to deconstruct the Digital Garden. After this, "door 2 door they went in search of those willing 2 do the work." I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought this was a thinly veiled nod to the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Rainbow Children are exclusively Witnesses? I'm not sure but the discussion moderator says Prince is NOT a JW. It is merely somthing he's "looking into." Whatever. Cue up, "The Work."
Following, "The Work", more narration starts. I must add that everytime this narration comes in, I just wanted to laugh out loud. It sounds SO SILLY in that slowed-down, droll-sounding, mechanically altered voice. "From all over, the people came 2 do the work. And with every phase of the deconstruction (of the Digital Garden), the Everlasting Now became evermore a reality. Everywhere, the people were witnessing a change, but the alchemy occured most in the Muse..." Cue up, "Everywhere."
