On Episode 101 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, Josh Norman from The Mountains & the Sea podcast (https://www.facebook.com/TMATSPodcast/) and I talk about the crazy night Prince had at the club when he met a beautiful, heartbroken, pregnant woman looking for a rebound on “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” from his Sign o’ the Times album. Does he handle the situation with grace and class, or does he tell her to “get lost?”
“You know and I know that we wouldn’t be satisfied.“
“I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” feels like the anti-“Ballad of Dorothy Parker” in terms of the latter’s surreal imagery and dialogue vs. the former’s straightforward approach. The tale of a man meeting girl in a bar/club, hitting it off, and the girl telling the guy all about her former relationship woes is one that just about everyone can understand. That doesn’t diminish the song’s power-pop ambitions (most clearly evident in the 7″ edit) as well as the album version’s guitar heroism on display.
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!
