“Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)” – An Ode to Prince
At the age of 14, Prince was introduced to me while on vacation in Jamaica, in the West Indies. In the video for “1999,” two women (Jill Jones and Lisa Coleman) rocked sideways to the music with their hands on the keyboard, looking seductively into our eyes as they sang, “I was dreaming when I wrote this / Forgive me if it goes astray.” I was intrigued. The band, evenly spaced about the stage, with Prince adorned in a shiny purple trench coat, guitar slung to the side as he slides down a pole to hit the stage. Once he lands, the audience (me) is completely captivated. My first inclination was, “WHO is THAT?!” When I returned to London, I rushed to Our Price record store to buy the single. The sound of 1999 was so different from what was happening in UK’s pop; its sound was funk, rock, and pop, with elements that harkened to James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, with the hardness of Jimi Hendrix‘s guitar licks, and visual style that bordered Victorian over punk rock. Prince‘s sense of individuality was striking; he was fully self-expressed and so alluring that watching him made you, too, want to adopt your own sense of originality.
The 80s was when music began to adopt digital production techniques through programmed sounds, with the synthesizer and the drum machine becoming central elements to Prince‘s overall sound. The song that truly hit me on the 1999 album was “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute).” Its vulnerability in questioning a relationship, the yearning and the tug of war between two people, where one does not understand the behaviour of the other. He questions his self-worth by singing, “Some people think I’m kind of cute / But it don’t compute when it comes to Y-O-U,” wondering why is he not enough, why is he being reduced to less and despite feeling this way, he can’t leave. He loves her in a painful and unsatisfying way that ultimately leaves him angry. At the end of the song, in bated breath, he says, “Why? Why? I do love you, or else I wouldn’t go through all the things I do.” Despite the constant rejection, it seems she needs validation and for him to prove that he wants her, when it’s evidently so clear. His haunting delivery of this song exudes so much pain and was one of the songs I heard repeatedly in my head when the news broke of his untimely death, mainly because it did not make any sense to me. “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)” has been a staple throughout my life as I look at past disappointments, whether in love or work and through the hurts, still finding the space to love.
In loss, there is that notion of never being again, which is actually untrue. The memory, the interaction, whether actual or ethereal, continues till the end of your days, and on into the afterworld, if such a place exists (I hope it does – got a lot of people to see and meet!). Prince gave us so much of himself through his art, unabashedly and unapologetically. Through his freedom, he showed love, and to love is to be closer to enlightenment, closer to God. With tyranny, he worked tirelessly to protect his intellectual property and likeness. Far be it an act of defiance or being anti-internet, but standing up for art’s value, knowing your self-worth, and valuing what you do. He illustrated that art of value is indeed worth paying for. It’s quite disappointing that this value has been lost over the years.
As we grieve the loss of our Prince, let’s find comfort in his music, his work ethic, and all those he had touched in music and philanthropy, extending his greatness and memory.
Prince, I wish U love, I wish U heaven…. 4 all time I am with U… U r with me… Until the end of time <3
Roseann V. Warren
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