| Prince's recent "Creep" cover, analysis |
[Friday
07.04.08 @ 1:39pm] |
Speaking of beautifully entertaining control freaks, I found this long slow live version of Prince covering Radiohead's classic "Creep".
MP3: "Creep" (Live @ Coachella 2008) - Prince (9:07)
| THOM YORKE LYRICS (Original) | PRINCE LYRICS (Cover) |
When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
And I wish I was special
Youre so fucking special
But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I dont belong here.
I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo.
What the hell am I doing here?
I dont belong here.
She's running out again,
She's running out
She's run run run running out...
Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special...
But I'm a creep,
I'm a weirdo,
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here.
I don't belong here.
|
When I was here before,
You couldn't look me in the eye.
I'm just like an angel;
My skin makes you cry.
I float like a feather
In this beautiful world.
You wish you were special,
So do I.
You're a ...
You're a liar.
What are you doing here?
You don't belong here.
You don't care if it hurts,
You just want to have control.
You want a perfect body.
You want a perfect soul.
You want me to notice
When you're not around.
I wish you were special - yes I do,
Because I think you're special.
Maybe I'm just a ...
Who's to say (unintelligble)
What are we doing here?
We don't belong here.
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He flips the pronouns around, so that instead of it being this weird, sketchy, self-loathing, loving confessional, it becomes this wierd, sketchy, self-glamourizing, loving and ultimately compassionate accusation.
The volta (this is a technical term used to talk about poetry, it means a jump or shift in direction of the emotions or thought) is flipped about too. In the original version "Yorke" speaks about how special, wonderful and beautiful the other person is and how awful he is, but then he says "you're so fucking special" which reveals this edge to show that it's not all bliss and pedestals, but that there could be some exasperation, resentment and jealousy as well.
From that point into the next verse he speaks in more sadistic and pathological terms about not caring if it hurts, wanting control, etc.
After she freaks out and runs away, he shifts back to a desperate, concilliatory tone, with "whatever you want", etc.
In flipping the perspective Prince pushes the volta back further into the song because he outwardly agrees with the "Yorke" character at first in a softly self-righteous tone, acknowledging their differences, that he doesn't belong, etc.
In Prince's version there's only one complicated volta and it comes at the end of the second verse where he recognizes that "Yorke" is sadistic, shallow and manipulative.
Instead of "running out again" in rejection, "Prince" reveals that he secretly thinks "Yorke" is special. But it's doubly revealing because they both know he isn't. "Yorke" is a jerk and they each know it, but at least "Yorke" is being honest to himself, while "Prince" exists in a state of rosy-lensed denial.
"I wish you were special, because I think you're special."
He is lying to himself: He wants "Yorke" to actually be special because that would validate his faith in him, and his identity as the Good Guy/Angel who sees the good in other people. But if "Yorke" really is awful, then "Prince's" faith is currently and knowingly misplaced: it is a self-deception.
So he then includes himself in the chorus. And although it's mostly unintelligible, if it mirrors the first chorus, then he is likely indicating that he is a liar as well. They both don't belong "here", which might as well be Heaven. It's an interesting bind to be somebody that wants see the good in people, when confronted with somebody who is an admitted sadistic, shallow, manipulative "creep". Is it still useful, or right to view them as good? How is that a virtue? "Yorke" is fucked up and broken and needs help, he's not alright, and harboring that view isn't really noble or acknowleding his situation.
Anyway, there's no third verse, because no sooner does "Prince" start to doubt that he deserves to belong Here then the music stalls. The song ends with ominous, rumbling thunder. Both have been cast out, perhaps? |
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breniecia
ohnotheydidnt
frustrated
amused
"Everlong"