April 21, 2016, the landscape of my musical world split in two when Prince died. As someone who isn’t the type to cry over the latest celebrity death, my grief shocked me. Prince’s death still chokes me up. I’m crying as I write this. Maybe that will give you an idea of what Prince’s music meant to me. Or maybe you’ll just write me off as another crazy music fan. I will always remember him for his mastery of loneliness, heartbreak and love.
Another Lonely April
Let me explain. I’m an introvert, a bit of a loner. Lonely people are often disappointed. We place high expectations on companionship, and we are often disillusioned when it doesn’t bring us the comfort we expected. Into that loneliness reached Prince. He understood and felt that same “otherness.” Beyond feeling the loneliness, he spun it into an incredible fabric of sound. I often tell people that Prince taught me how to write. Bare, shocking and honestly, I do my best to honor him with the way I write. As his song said, “maybe he’s found the answer to all the April snow.”
Condition of the Heart
If ever your heart was broken, you could turn to Prince’s music. He had a lyric to express your heartbreak. If you fell in love, he could do that too. Prince’s life mirrored so many of our own lives. We remember the names of the women he dated: Susan Melvoin, Mayte Garcia, Carmen Electra, Kim Basinger. So many of his leading loves played out publicly, though he was a very private man. It humanized him. You couldn’t help but think if it weren’t for his musical genius, Prince would be just like one of us, eating ice cream and wallowing in despair over not being called back.
Tell me who in this house know about the Quake?
Then there was party time. Oh, you would party, or be told to “shut up, already, damn!” Prince could you take you on a journey through the lush landscapes of a Minnesota afternoon (where you undoubtedly would purify yourself in the lake), or to the bowels of a seedy hotel where women do interesting tricks with magazines. Either way, you were ready to dance your behind off. His band, full of amazing drum beats, lively horns and an assortment of harps, tambourines and sitars would lift you from the ordinary and into the extraordinary.
I hope wherever he is now, that he and his children are together. That there is laughter, and love and purple as far as the eye can see. I hope he found whatever he was looking for on this earth there. As his song said, “maybe he’s found the answer to all the April snow.” There were many before him, there were many after, but there is only one Prince. The world of music should be split into two categories: BP (before Prince) and AP (After Prince). Once he came onto the scene, it was never the same. Take your time, and mourn for one of the greatest musicians to ever live.
It still hurts, and I know it always will.
*Featured image artwork by: DoodleBlule
