On Episode 66 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, Jerry Bonner (@JBonner71 on Twitter) and I get deep into our feels over Prince’s emotional and impactful ballad, “Condition of the Heart” from the Around the World In a Day album. Jerry relates a personal story of life imitating art, and we try to assess who these women could be, including the “woman from the ghetto who made funny faces.”
“I’m blinded by the daisies in your yard.”
Delicate, tender, wistful, beautiful. These are just some of the words used to describe the slow build but intensely emotional payoff we get for this ballad. Lyrically speaking, Prince does many exciting things with metaphors (“every day is a yellow day”) while also giving us anecdotes about a Dame from London and a Prince from Arabia. It’s a fascinating song, and Jerry and I gush over its charms.
It’s a shame Prince didn’t perform this song in its entirety very often in the ’80s & ’90s – briefly performing it in interludes during the Lovesexy, Jam of the Year, and One Nite Alone tours. It could have had an enormous impact on the audiences at the time. However, the real payoff came on specific stops on his final Piano and a Microphone tour in 2016. A perfect setting, a perfect song for this sort of concert, Prince finally played full versions of his 30+-year-old album cut. Hopefully, someday we will get an official audio release of these performances, but we will continue to have a condition of the heart until then.
The goal of each episode of Press Rewind is to:
- Take a track by track look at the lyrical content of Prince’s discography
- Discuss my own interpretation of each song’s lyrics along with any guest I may have
- If submitted, discuss listener’s interpretations of each song’s lyrics
Thank you for joining me on this journey through Prince’s catalog!
