On Episode 91 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, Julian Long returns to help me answer the primary question of the show. Does anybody know about the quake? Yeah! We do! I mean, really, really? Julian certainly helps guide me towards the Southern Baptist traditions that Prince was leaning heavily on as Camille, the pulpit-pounding funk exhorter in “Housequake.” It’s the brand new groove going ’round, so grab your dancing shoes and make sure to hydrate before the aftershock hits.
“Shut up, already. Damn!”
Question. Does anybody know about the Quake? Prince wants us to do his new dance, called the Housequake, but it’s a brand new dance going ’round; therefore impossible for anyone to actually know how to do it without it being taught first. So that’s what this song is about: teaching the funk via this new dance craze and creating a fun track that harkens back to Chubby Checker and James Brown’s ’60s dance-craze heyday.
Julian and I had a blast discussing this song, its quirks, Prince’s cursing, the illusion of a crowd of Prince’s singing and chanting along with the bandleader and enjoying, wait, what was that, aftershock?
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!
