SONG TITLE: THE CROSS

PERFORMER: PRINCE

SONGWRITER: PRINCE

YEAR OF RELEASE: 1987

COMMENTS: "The Cross" is (along with "7") Prince's best charismatic Christian number. The man has a good sized stack of overtly Christian testimonial songs scattered amongst albums of songs about, well, you know, Prince stuff: sex and ego - exactly not traditional Christian ideals. Nonetheless, he makes the most convincing Christian music of his generation: "Sweet song of salvation/ a pregnant mother sings/ Her kids live in starvation...Soon all of our problems will be taken by... The Cross."  Way more real than Stryper, God knows.

 

One of the ways in which this song is exceptional in the Prince catalogue is that it absolutely is not funky. For all the broad stylistic ground he covers, almost every song is at least broadly built on and against post James Brown r&b dance music. There's not a hint of that here.

 

This song is instead built roughly on the "Stairway to Heaven" model. Simple melody delivered as ballad, and then cut loose with the metal. The song structure / dynamics are obviously Zeppelinesque, but the distorted blues stylings, the throb of it, is much more Hendrix like. Then there are all the little Prince things that come from, well, Prince alone.

 

Those little Prince things, the unique musical traits that make his work personal and memorable, most often come from his careful attention to detail. This goes back to the "chamber music" argument. The precisely dull thud of the drums, and the exact dramatic entrance into the original quiet soundscape: "...if we can just bear..[BOOM] The Cross." Every note of this recording counts. The tempo is only medium, but the big bass boom on every beat sets up a quiet but desperate anxiety. The sitar sounding riff puts its own little hippie spin on things. The raw blues guitar chords are thundering around like the 10 headed beast from Revelations roaming the earth, or the Man from Mars eating bars and cars, or whatever.

Then, after all that apocalyptic death and destruction, the final crowning detail: the brief glimpse of the heavenly choir that ends the record. It lasts less than ten seconds, but suddenly the guitars and drums, everything worldly is stripped away, and we have Jesus' own choir giving multi-part harmony to just the title.

Freakin' ay! I'll have whatever he's having.


Prince Rogers Nelson playing guitar onstage


   


Holla Back! 

Prince

Music Sustains the Soul

MoreThings home

 

 

Link Soup
morethings master photo gallery index sammy davis little richard photos buddy holly pictures fats domino images chuck berry pictures 05/ 06/ 07/ 08/ 09/ 10/ 11/ 12/ 01/ 02/ 03/ 04/ 05/ 06/ 07/ 08/ 09/ 10/ 11/ 12/ 01/  03/ 04/ 05/ 06/ 07/ 08/ 09/ 10/ 11/ 12 01/ 02/ 03/ 04/ 05/ 06/ 07/ 08/ 09/ 10/ 11/  02/ 03/ 04/ 05/ 06/ 07/       manchurian candidate pictures lucille ball images james blunt photos clint eastwood pictures lena horne images team america pictures robert mitchum photos bruce springsteen pictures  mariah carey pictures ann coulter photos sissy spacek pictures tanya tucker images  loretta lynn pictures beatles pictures white stripes pictures andy griffith pictures kill bill pictures parliament funkadelic p-funk pictures beverly hillbillies pictures al barger frank zappa pictures jerry lee lewis pictures richard pryor photos june carter johnny cash pictures vic mackey shield pictures macy gray pictures james cagney images elvis presley pictures gwen stefani images dolly parton pictures devil whores pictures tom petty photos tori amos pictures joaquin phoenix images Quills movie images peter lorre images reese witherspoon pictures  flaming lips images rolling stones photos fiona apple images dr strangelove pictures elvis costello images  ray charles photos marx brothers pictures prince rogers nelson pictures blazing saddles images  sinead o'connor images  eddie murphy photos all in the family pictures south park pictures homer simpson images bob dylan pictures elizabeth taylor photos drawn together images saturday night live pictures hee haw pictures james brown images pete townshend photos tina turner pictures dixie chicks photos robert anton wilson images guns n roses jodie foster photos borat eminem frank sinatra photos