Seconda parte del racconto che si snoda lungo questa (lunga) importante intervista.  Un testo che spazia in modo approfondito su molti temi. Per anni – poi – le interviste sarebbero mancate all’appello. Totally. Sparite dall’orizzonte.

Due anni dopo (nel 1985) solo Neal Karlen sarebbe  riuscito a fare qualcosa di simile, con il suo splendido réportage, il lunghissimo piano-sequenza con cui avrebbe raccontato un paio di giornate a zonzo con Prince, in giro per Minneapolis.

A partire dalla fine degli Ottanta lo stesso Prince avrebbe stabilito regole molto stringenti per gli incontri con la stampa (e lo avrebbe raccontato per primo sempre allo stesso Karlen).

Avrebbe vietato ogni tipo di domanda sul suo passato. Insieme a taccuini, penne, macchine fotografiche, registratori e macchine da presa.

Questa intervista curata da Barbara Graustark contiene molti passaggi significativi, molti particolari che sarebbero stati accuratamente cancellati dall’orizzonte.

Per questo deve essere analizzata con molta cura. Per via di quello che racconta, per via dell’immagine che questa inaspettata e lunga apertura dell’obiettivo ci consente di fissare.

Per via di quello che può ancora raccontarci di lui, anche oggi, anche a distanza di quarant’anni. Ci dice molto anche dell’atmosfera che circondava Prince agli inizi degli Ottanta, poco prima che arrivasse il successo planetario.

Poco prima di Purple Rain.

(nello sfondo dei discorsi tra Graustark e Prince sono spesso presenti gli stessi elementi: la povertà, le difficoltà di un’esistenza a lungo borderline, in bilico su una pendenza assai scivolosa, il racconto epico dell’incontro di Prince con Owen Husney, la firma del primo, leggendario contratto con la WB)

Seguiamo questa seconda parte:

MUSICIAN: Who are rich and things?

PRINCE: Yeah. And successful. And have a lot of food in their fridge. I don’t know.

(2 passaggi importantissimi, questo e quello che segue: c’è molta ironia, nel primo punto, quello in cui Prince dice che una delle cose belle nel fatto di essere ricchi sta nell’avere il frigo sempre pieno, forse un riferimento indiretto a quando non aveva soldi per comprarsi da mangiare)

MUSICIAN: Did you ever do anything that you’re embarrassed about?

PRINCE: Mmm…no…well…

MUSICIAN: Were you doing drugs?

PRINCE: No. One thing that turned me off to that was seeing my brother get high. At first we all thought it was funny, but then I started asking him questions and he couldn’t answer ’em, you know. So I felt it was kinda stupid. And I didn’t want my mind all cloudy at any time, because I always felt…I don’t know, maybe it was a basic paranoia or something about me, but I didn’t want anybody sneaking up behind me, and doing me in, or taking my money, or tricking me in any way. So I never wanted to get high.

(il secondo punto di rilievo riguarda l’allusione all’uso di droghe – forse provate, ma senza esserne schiavo: aveva visto uno dei suoi fratelli sballarsi e quello che aveva osservato gli aveva fatto una pessima impressione, perché all’inizio gli sembrava una cosa divertente, ma poi aveva notato che non riusciva a rispondere neppure a semplici domande e questa constatazione lo aveva inquietato)

(il fatto di non avere sempre tutto sotto controllo può esporre ad inganni, a truffe: una cosa intollerabile, per Prince)

(vista in prospettiva, una considerazione profetica, la sua, tuttavia: proprio la dipendenza dai painkillers avrebbe indebolito sotto molti aspetti i suoi ultimi anni, rendendolo fragile e vulnerabile, quasi ostaggio di un potere esterno al suo volere)

MUSICIAN: How does Andre Cymone fit into all of this? Was he there at the beginning, and then you went to New York and came back, and resumed the friendship?

PRINCE: Well, what happened was, before I went to New York we lost our friendship, because he was in the band with me at the time, and I asked them all what they wanted to do: ‘Do you want to stay here, or do you want to go to New York?’ And Andre didn’t speak up, but everyone else was against it. No one wanted to do it. They liked their lifestyle, I guess. I don’t think they really liked the idea of me trying to manipulate the band so much. I was always trying to get us to do something different, and I was always teamed up on for that. Like, in an argument or something like that, or a fight, or whatever…it was always me against them. That ’s when I wrote “Soft And Wet”, which was the first single I put out. I really liked the tune,  but everyone thought it was filthy, and ‘you didn’t have no business doing stuff without us, anyway’. I just did what I wanted to. And that was it.

(al di là di quello che viene raccontato – un normale momento di attrito/screzio nella band, nel momento in cui Prince decide di partire per NY, senza essere seguito dagli altri componenti – emerge qui, forse per la prima volta, un aspetto della personalità di Prince, sottolineato molto bene, anni dopo, anche da Neal Karlen: la tendenza a manipolare gli altri, a fare di tutto per dominarli, per imporre solo e soltanto il suo punto di vista)

(Andre è stata forse la vittima più illustre – certo non la prima e nemmeno l’ultima – di questa pratica, che nel tempo ha reso odioso Prince agli occhi e nel giudizio di molte persone)

MUSICIAN: When did you realize that?

PRINCE: When I was in Andre ’s basement. I found out a lot about myself then. The only reason I stayed was because of Andre’s mother. She would let me do anything I wanted to, but she said ‘all I care about is you finishing school’. Anything.

(la giustificazione del suo modo di essere, di comportarsi – una specie di autoassoluzione: esso risalirebbe indietro nel tempo; Prince ha appreso le regole di vita e ha cominciato a coltivare la sua idea di indipendenza vivendo a casa di Andre, seguendo le regole imposte da sua madre Bernadette, che lo aveva lasciato libero di fare quasi tutto, purché finisse di studiare)

MUSICIAN: How much can you do in a basement?

PRINCE: Well, it depends on how many people are there (laughs). You know, one time she came down and saw a lot of us down there, and we weren’t all dressed, and stuff like that. It kind of tripped her out, and we got into a semi-argument, and whatever, but it, was…you know…

(Bernadette era molto rigida con le sue regole: hanno litigato spesso, ma l’ospite era lui e dunque si era adeguato…)

MUSICIAN: Was the scene back then in the basement a heterosexual scene? Was it homosexual?

PRINCE: No, everything was heterosexual. I didn’t know any homosexuals, no. There was one guy who walked around in women’s clothes, but we didn’t know why he did it, we just thought it was funny, and that was that. Some things don’t dawn on you for a long time. And now I hear, like…Minneapolis is supposed to be like…the third largest gay city in the country, or whatever. Huge.

(qui entriamo in una sorta di terreno minato: il rapporto di Prince con la comunità gay, anche in quel momento, agli inizi degli Ottanta)

(siamo nel 1983, infatti: certi temi sono ancora difficili da affrontare, sono rimossi piuttosto, Prince nega in modo risoluto di avere avuto intorno a sé persone omosessuali; certo c’era un tipo che si vestiva con abiti da donna, ma era divertente; a volte – osserva Prince – capita di realizzare all’improvviso come stiano davvero le cose, il fatto che, ad esempio, Minneapolis abbia una delle più grandi comunità gay della nazione, una roba gigantesca)

(Prince ha giocato spesso e molto sulla fluidità di genere, specie nella seconda metà degli anni Ottanta, ma, da un certo momento in poi, ha avuto verso i gay un atteggiamento di chiusura totale, forse derivato dal giudizio negativo che sulla questione davano e danno i Testimoni di Geova, comunità nella quale è entrato a partire dalla fine degli anni Novanta)

MUSICIAN: Were you ready for New York when you came?

PRINCE: Yeah. I was ready for anything. I felt disgusted with my life in Minneapolis.

(eri pronto per affrontare un posto come NY, quando sei arrivato? ovvio che sì, avrei fatto qualsiasi cosa, non ne potevo più della mia vita a Minneapolis)

MUSICIAN: What’d you do when you got here? Did you know you were gonna live with your sister?

PRINCE: Mm-hm. When I called her and told her what had happened, she said, well come here and I’ll help you. And I came. She had a great personality. You know, all my friends were girls, okay? I didn’t have any male friends, because they were just cheap, all of  ’em were just cheap, so I knew then that if she used her personality and her sensitivity she could get us a deal. That didn’t mean going to bed with anybody, it just meant that…you know, use your charm rather than trying to go in there and be this man, because you’re not.

(Prince arriva carico di speranze a NY, ospite di sua sorella, che forse sarebbe stata in grado di aiutarlo a cercare i contatti giusti per entrare nel mondo dello spettacolo: la maggior parte delle sue amicizie era già costituita da donne, conosceva dunque la mentalità femminile, era già consapevole del fatto che, grazie all’abilità della sorella, che sapeva come muoversi, non ci sarebbero stati grossi problemi a trovare agganci)

And then my sister was introduced to this one guy who had a band. And, I don’t know how she got this, but it was really cool. She ended up talking to this guy and found out everything he did, and found out that he had a demo and he was gonna take it to this woman named Danielle. And he was gonna try to get his band signed to her. So we all went together, and she said, ‘Can my little brother come in?’ And she said sure. So we were all sitting there, and Danielle said, ‘Alright, put your tape on’. So he put on the tape of his band. That tape was pretty terrible, and Danielle said so, and the guy started making excuses, saying ‘Well, that’s not the real guitar player, or the real singers, so don’t worry about it’ And she said, ‘Well, why did you bring a tape that doesn’t have the real musicians?’ Then my sister started telling Danielle about me and finally she asked me to sing. And I said no (laughs). And she said. ‘Why not?’ And I said: ‘Because I’m scared. And she said. ‘You don’t have to be scared’ and they turned the lights down, and it was really strange. That same day I had just written “Baby,” and I didn’t really have it all together, but I sang the melody and she really liked my voice. She said: ‘I don’t care what you do, just hum, because I just want to hear you sing’. So that’s what I did, just started singing and humming, and making up words and really stupid stuff.

(l’episodio raccontato qui – il primo provino fatto a NY, grazie a sua sorella – rivela il grande senso dell’umorismo di Prince, che si trova per la prima volta – e con suo grande disagio – ad essere giudicato da qualcuno che appartiene ad un ambiente del tutto diverso)

(in una intervista successiva Prince avrebbe descritto in modo esilarante questa sua prima ‘manager’, Danielle: qui si limita a raccontare che si era rifiutato di cantare, in un primo momento, salvo cambiare idea, limitandosi a canticchiare (‘hum’) la melodia, mettendo in mezzo alla musica parole inventate e stupidaggini.

(in quegli anni Prince era convinto di non saper cantare e di sapere/volere solo suonare)

MUSICIAN: Were you singing in your upper register then?

PRINCE: I only sang like that back then because, I don’t know…it hurt…it hurt my voice to sing in the lower register. I couldn’t make it, I couldn’t peak songs the way I wanted to, and things like that, so I never used it.

(preferiva cantare in falsetto, perché usare il registro più basso gli dava fastidio)

MUSICIAN: Oh! I would think it would hurt losing in a falsetto.

PRINCE: Well, not for me. I wish it was that way, but…

(non è più fastidioso per le corde vocali cantare in falsetto? ‘not for me’- risponde Prince)

MUSICIAN: Did Danielle sign you to a contract?

PRINCE: Well, she wanted to start working with me immediately. Nevertheless, this guy was pretty upset that he didn’t get his band in there. He and my sister fell out right away, but she didn’t care. And that’s what I dug about her. So I talked with Danielle, and she told me to come over to her apartment. She was very beautiful, too, which made everything a lot easier, I remember that about her. And she made me bring all my songs, and we went through ’em all, and she didn’t like any of ’em.

(ok! capire cosa sia accaduto è abbastanza complesso: l’altro musicista presente all’audizione non ha successo, ma Danielle  vuole assolutamente incontrare Prince, a casa sua; Prince  forse vuole già alimentare la sua fama di seduttore e lascia capire che Danielle non sarebbe sfuggita al suo fascino, anche se, alla fine,  dopo l’audizione, non aveva apprezzato nessuna delle canzoni che lui aveva proposto)

MUSICIAN: None of them? Not even “Soft And Wet”?

PRINCE: None. Except for “Baby”. She wanted me to do “Baby” with a lot of orchestration, tympani, strings and…

(…a parte “Baby”, che, secondo lei, avrebbe dovuto cambiare e di molto la sua struttura)

MUSICIAN: How’d that sound to you?

PRINCE: I didn’t care. You know. I was cool with it. All I wanted to do was play a couple of instruments on it and let it say on the album that I played something. And she said no, unless I could play better than the session guy, which I didn’t think I could do if a guy was gonna sit there and read the chart, and I was going to get aced out right away. So that materialize. Anyway…after I finished that, that’s when me and my sister kinda had a dispute.

(lui e Danielle non si trovano d’accordo su chi debba eseguire le parti: se Prince da solo con tutti gli strumenti o con l’aiuto di session men)

MUSICIAN: About what?

PRINCE: Mainly money. I had nothing. I was running up sort of a bill there, at her place, and she wanted me to sell my publishingtor like $380 or something like that, which I thought was kinda foolish. And I kept telling her that I could get my own publishing company. I didn’t care about money. I just didn’t care about money. And, I don’t know, I never have, because…the one time I did have it was when my step-dad lived there, and I know I was extremely bitter then.

(vengono fuori problemi di soldi tra lui e la sorella, che gli propone di vendere la sua musica per ripianare i debiti)

MUSICIAN: And did you have to go back to Minneapolis?

PRINCE: I didn’t have to, which was nice. Danielle knew this was gonna happen sooner or later. It’s was all really interesting to me back then, and I kind of would have liked to have seen what would have happened if she had managed me.

(Danielle sapeva che prima o poi Prince avrebbe avuto successo e lui si chiede cosa sarebbe accaduto se fosse diventata lei la sua manager)

MUSICIAN: What did happen? Why didn’t she?

PRINCE: Well, when I got back to Minneapolis, that’s when I first met Owen Husney. I had been talking to him over the phone, and all he kept saying was that he thought I was really great, and that…

(Prince torna a Minneapolis ed entra in scena Owen Husney, che lo ha aiutato a creare i suoi demo e non vede l’ora di prendersi cura di lui come manager)

MUSICIAN: Was Owen big time then? Was he a big-time kind of promoter, or manager?

PRINCE: Mmm. He had promoted some gigs, but he was working mainly in his ad company. And he wanted to manage an act. The main thing he said was that no one should produce a record of mine, I should do it. And, I still had a deal with Danielle if I wanted it, but something about him saying that to me made me think that was the way to go. So I told her that I was going to college.

(piccola bugia a Danielle: le racconta che sta per andare al college, mentre è pronto a seguire Husney)

MUSICIAN: Was Danielle somebody that you had a relationship with?

PRINCE: Mm-mm. It was only…it was only mind games. I mean, we’d look at one another and…play games, but it wasn’t…we never said anything.

(avevi una storia d’amore con Danielle? erano solo giochi mentali, non abbiamo mai detto niente di preciso in proposito)

MUSICIAN: Um…when you came back and started working with Owen, what did he do? Did he get the contract for you with Warner Bros?

PRINCE: Owen believed in me, he really did. First of all, nobody believed I could play all the instruments.

(inizia la parte leggendaria: nessuno credeva che Prince potesse ideare/suonare/registrare tutto da solo)

MUSICIAN: How many instruments did you play?

PRINCE: Well, on the demo tapes I didn’t play too many: I played drums, keyboards, bass and guitars, percussion and vocals; but when I did my album, I did tons of things. Somebody counted and said I had played twenty-seven on the first album. Different ones, but I don’t know, I never count things (laughs). Because the quantity is…people put so much emphasis on that. It’s about the quality, and what it sounds like.

(quanti strumenti hai suonato? beh, nei demo ho suonato batteria, tastiere, basso e chitarre, ma quando ho creato il mio album, ho fatto un sacco di cose: qualcuno li ha contati ed è arrivato a 27 strumenti, a me non interessano questi aspetti, che molti enfatizzano, a me interessa di più la qualità del mio lavoro)

MUSICIAN: It must have been a battle with the record company to produce and arrange.

PRINCE: Well, I got a couple offers and the only difference between Warner Bros and the others was that they didn’t want to let me do production, they didn’t want to let me plan anything on the records. Warners had a lot of problems with it at first, but Owen was fighting for control for me. They made me do a demo tape. So I did it, and they said that’ s pretty good. Do another one, and so I did another one. Then they said: ‘Okay, we can produce your album’. And they waited a week to call me back and they said I couldn’t. I had to go through that process a few more times. Then finally they said okay. It was kind of frustrating at first but I got used to it.

To some degree in the earlier days I was listening to Owen and the company. I didn’t want to create any waves, because I was brand new, and stuff like that. But now I feel that I’m going to have to do exactly what’s on my mind and be exactly the way I am. Otherwise sooner or later down the road I’m going to be in a corner sucking my thumb or something. I don’t want to lose it. I just want to do what I’m really about”

(il racconto delle fasi che hanno portato al suo primo, leggendario contratto con la Warner: nessuno avrebbe voluto lasciargli campo libero nella produzione, ma Owen Husney era riuscito nell’impossibile: fare di lui il più giovane producer nella storia della musica)

(2.continua)

Fonte: Barbara Graustark, Musician, settembre 1983