Historical Events  Music
Prince

MMDE: Dearly beloved - we are gathered here today to celebrate this thing called life.

Current: Dearly beloved - we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.

What are we gathered here for?

What exactly were the lyrics in the famous Prince song "Let's Go Crazy?"

The point of the song is totally different with this change - one is optimistic and upbeat, the celebration many remember, and the other more pessimistic and downbeat. A few references to "celebrate" exist today, but most including the song are "get through". It all could just be a deliberate play on words, because we all remember being "gathered here to celebrate" weddings, and at funerals "..not to mourn, but celebrate", so this is the impression we have when not paying full attention first time round. 

Purple Rain

Let's Go Crazy is the opening track on the famous 1984 Purple Rain album. It's thought to contain many religious themes, from it's almost funeral like organ an monologue opening, to it's Christian upbeat message and even the "De-elevator" mentioned being a nod to Satan.

Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, but not many realise he did this because he was tied into a record contract which he wanted to get out of. He also started writing the word "slave" on his face, and the media referred to him as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today
To get through this thing called life
Electric word life it means forever and that's a mighty long time
But I'm here to tell you there's something else (Go crazy)

The track reached number 25 after it was re-released following Prince's death. In fact, some people claim to be able to pinpoint the change as being the week after his death because it was played so much at the time.