(terza parte)

Ed è nell’ultima parte di questa lunga intervista che lo ritroviamo davvero. È già tutto lì. Specie nelle pieghe. Negli angoli nascosti, quelli in cui dice e non dice. Sottintende. Quelli in cui va interpretato.

(esegesi princiana)

Certo, talvolta emerge una certa sua tendenza alla braveria, all’iperbole, ma quella fa parte del personaggio.

(è sempre stato così)

In questa intervista si mettono in evidenza alcuni tratti del Prince-pensiero che sarebbero poi rimasti costanti: l’insistenza sul tema della verità, la difficoltà a fidarsi davvero delle persone, il sospetto che la sua casa discografica sia parassitaria, rispetto al lavoro duro che lui porta avanti, il diritto-dovere di cambiare, di evolversi, a dispetto di quello che gli altri pensino di lui.

Traspare a tratti anche un aspetto meno edificante (ma era già emerso nei passaggi precedenti): quello della spietatezza con cui Prince, nel corso della sua vita, si è sbarazzato di chi non gli serviva più.

Ed il caso Owen Husney – da questo punto di vista – è l’esempio più lampante, si direbbe.

(molti anni dopo, nel 1999, riferendosi al suo primo manager, – quello che lo aveva scoperto e tirato fuori dalla miseria – Prince avrebbe più o meno detto in una trasmissione televisiva: “un manager, di cui non ricordo più il nome”)

In questo 1983, Husney era già stato allontanato. Con un pretesto, sembrerebbe, per via di un piccolo braccio di ferro tra loro due, una cosa di poca sostanza, a sentire la versione di Prince.

Dietro la quale si celava – evidentemente – ben altro.

Stavano già sorgendo gli astri Fargnoli, Magnoli, quelli in procinto di sostenere il progetto Purple Rain, (album+film+tour mondiale) ma Prince, di lì a non molto, si sarebbe sbarazzato anche di loro.

Con eguale spietatezza.

(sembra un po’ la favola della rana e dello scorpione, ma lui era fatto così: uno dei motivi per cui era, e forse è ancora oggi, odiato da molte persone, va detto con chiarezza)

Torniamo a questa intervista di Barbara Graustark.

1983, dunque.

MUSICIAN: How much time did you spend in the studio?

PRINCE: Hours. Hours. I was a physical wreck when I finished the record…it took me five months to do the first one. I’m proud of it, in the sense that it’s mistake-free, and it’s perfect. And it’s…that’s the problem with it, you know. But it wasn’t really me, it was like a machine. You know, I walked in, and I was sleepy all the time. I didn’t really feel like recording for eighty percent of the record. But I did it anyway, because, by the time I had gotten close to $100,000, it was like, you know, you were going to have to do something great. So, by that time, I didn’t want to make any mistakes. The relationship between me and the executive producer that they assigned with me was horrifying.

(“…it’s mistake-free”. Un’affermazione che si addice proprio a tutto quello che lui faceva, perché, come affermava spesso, “non c’è spazio per l’errore”)

(mesi di lavoro intensissimo, quello per portare a termine i primi album, sempre chiuso dentro lo studio. Un uomo ridotto ad un fantasma, quello che ne era emerso alla fine. Un uomo che aveva già cominciato la sua lotta contro il sistema delle case discografiche, a partire dal suo executive producer, con cui aveva avuto degli scontri)

(era solo l’inizio)

MUSICIAN: Did Warner Bros. ever look as if they were just going to wash their hands of the whole thing, or were they committed?

PRINCE: No, I don’t think so, because I owed them too much money.

(Prince inizia a sottolineare un concetto che sarebbe diventato martellante nella sua narrazione della realtà, durante i Novanta, negli anni della sua epica battaglia contro la Warner: era lui che consentiva alla sua casa discografica di guadagnare milioni di dollari, non il contrario)

(non si riflette mai abbastanza quanto il suo agire di capitalista sia stato anti-capitalista: una contraddizione vivente,Prince)

MUSICIAN: They had to stick with you, so you could pay off.

PRINCE: Yeah. At least three albums. And I didn’t want to do anything like interviews or touring. I was being real stubborn and bull-headed, and Owen didn’t realize how to get it out of me, and make me stop. And, I don’t know, our friendship died slowly after that. It just got strange.

(un ulteriore colpo di luce sui motivi della rottura con Husney: il braccio di ferro sul fatto che Prince non voleva mai fare interviste o stare troppo a lungo in tour)

(Husney non aveva saputo gestirlo: “la nostra amicizia è morta lentamente, dopo questa cosa”, è di fatto diventata una cosa strana)

(sempre bravo a prevenire obiezioni e critiche, a piegare il racconto a suo favore)

MUSICIAN: How did you get the whole act together? When did you get a band and decide to go on the road?

PRINCE: Well, the band came right before I did the second album (For You).

(in che modo, poi, hai messo insieme una band e sei andato in tour?)

(dopo For You)

MUSICIAN: What happened when you went back to Minneapolis…first, after New York, and then, after you had actually recorded? Were you treated very differently? I mean, this was big time with Warner Bros, for sure.

PRINCE: Yeah. The same people who told me I wasn’t gonna be anything, treated me with a lot more respect now. And it made me a much better person. It took a lot of bitterness out of me. Because that’s all I really wanted; I didn’t want the respect so much as I wanted friendship, real friendship. That’s all that counts to me. And I tell my band members the same thing now. I mean, you have to learn to deal with me on an up-front level, or else, you know, it’s dead. I don’t want people around me who don ’t do that.

(cosa è cambiato per te dopo l’accordo con Warner, quando, alla fine, sei tornato a Minneapolis?)

(molti sassolini escono da quelle scarpe numero 39)

(le stesse persone che gli dicevano che non sarebbe mai diventato nessuno, ora lo trattavano con molto più rispetto)

(un’altra parola chiave nel Prince-pensiero: “respect”)

MUSICIAN: Has your music changed much since then?

PRINCE: I think I change constantly, because I can hear the music changing. The other day I put my first three albums on and listened to the difference. And I know why I don’t sound like that anymore. Because things that made sense to me and things that I liked then I don’t like anymore. The way I played music, just the way I was in love a lot back then when I used to make those records. And love meant more to me then, but now I realize that people don’t always tell you the truth, you know? I was really gullible back then. I believed in everybody around me. I believed in Owen, I believed in Warner Bros., I believed in everybody. If someone said something good to me, I believed it.

(la domanda di Graustark è molto importante e riguarda un elemento che è rimasto costante nella musica di Prince: il cambiamento, l’evoluzione continua)

(ascoltando i suoi dischi precedenti Prince ha capito una cosa: “le cose che per me avevano un senso e quelle che mi piacevano allora, non mi piacciono più”)

(that’s all)

(l’ultima parte della risposta è molto importante, perché  contiene i semi che avrebbero dato i loro frutti una decina di anni più tardi: “(…) mi rendo conto che le persone non ti dicono sempre la verità, capisci? sono stato proprio un credulone a quei tempi, ho caduto a tutti quelli che mi circondavano, Owen, la Warner, ho creduto a tutti, se qualcuno mi diceva qualcosa di buono, credevo a tutto”)

(‘verità’: un termine-feticcio, per lui)

MUSICIAN: And it was reflected in your music?

PRINCE: Yeah, I think so. It was…

(questo tuo essere ingenuo con gli altri si rifletteva sulla tua musica? eri più romantico?)

MUSICIAN: More romantic?

PRINCE: Yeah. And I felt good when I was singing back then. The things I do now, I feel anger sometimes when I sing, and I can hear the difference. I’m screaming more now than I used to. And things like that. I think it’s just me. It also has to do with the instrumentation. It has nothing to do with trying to change styles or anything. Plus, I’m in a different environment; I see New York a little bit more. In my subconscious I’m influenced by the sinisterness of it, you know, the power. I hear sirens all the time, things like that. It’s not like that in Minneapolis. If you ever go there you’ll see it’s real laid back: real quiet, and you have to make your own action. I think a lot of warped people come out of there. My friends. I know a lot of warped girls, okay? Warped to me means they see things differently than I would, I suppose. They talk a lot. They talk a lot. About nothing. But I mean heavy. They get into it like you wouldn’t believe. I mean, we could get into an hour-long conversation about my pants. You know, why they’re so tight, or something, do you know what I mean?

(certo che sì: in questo momento è tutto diverso per me “provo rabbia a volte, mentre canto e posso sentire la differenza, ora urlo più di prima, cose così, questo sono io”)

(probabilmente è l’ambiente di NY ad influenzarlo: dark, carico di inquietudini, di suoni di sirene, tutto il contrario, rispetto a MPLS)

(“conosco un sacco di ragazze mezze bacate, okay? ‘bacate’ per me vuol dire che vedono le cose da come le vedrei io, immagino, parlano un sacco, parlano un sacco, di nulla, ma intendo in senso pesante, entrano in questa cosa in un modo incredibile, voglio dire, possiamo infilarci in una conversazione di un’ora sui miei pantaloni, perché sono così attillati o cose del genere, capisci?”

MUSICIAN: Well, why are they tight?

(…e perché sono così attillati?”)

PRINCE: I don’t know (laughs). I don’t know. Because I want them to be. I just like the way they look.

(non lo so! (ride))

MUSICIAN: Did Warner Bros. flinch when you put “Head” on the third record?

PRINCE: They flinched at just about everything (laughs ).

MUSICIAN: I wanted to ask you about the cover of Dirty Mind. How was that done?

PRINCE: We were just fooling around, and we were jamming at the time. It was summertime, and we were having fun. And that’s what I had on. But my coat was closed, so the photographer didn’t know. I was with some friends and…

(Dirty Mind e l’abbigliamento scelto per la copertina: qual è stato il criterio?)

(“Stavamo solo facendo gli scemi e nel frattempo suonavamo, era estate e ci stavamo divertendo, quello era tutto quello che avevo addosso, ma il trench era chiuso, all’inizio, il fotografo non sapeva cosa ci fosse sotto”)

MUSICIAN: Does everyone in Minneapolis just walk around with bikini underpants?

“…a Minneapolis le persone se ne vanno in giro con addosso un pezzo del bikini?)

PRINCE: (laughs ) No. But, see…I don’t know. I mean…once…I mean, if you’ve got a big coat on. I mean, who knows what he has on? I mean, it was hot out. Everybody was saying, ‘why you got that hot coat on?’ ‘I’d say, I’m really not that hot’. (laughs) And they ’d say, ‘you gotta be’.

(segue spiegazione comica del perché e del percome abbia prima tenuto chiuso e poi tenuto aperto il trench)

MUSICIAN: I bet you flash.

PRINCE: No. Not in…it depends on who it is. But, we were just jamming and stuff like that, and he didn’t know that’s what I had on. And so, he was taking pictures and I happened to open my coat for one, just as a joke, you know? He said, ‘wow’. Like that. And, well see: I used to wear that onstage.

(è venuto fuori tutto da un pomeriggio di cazzeggio, quindi)

MUSICIAN: How’d you pick that image of yourself? Where did it come from?

PRINCE: Well, I used to wear leotards and Danskins and stuff, because our stage show is really athletic and I wanted something comfortable. And my management said, ‘You have to at least start wearing underwear, because…’

(…e dalle cose comode che indossa normalmente, con l’aggiunta di biancheria, possibilmente, come gli aveva consigliato il suo manager)

MUSICIAN: You weren’t wearing any underwear?

PRINCE: No. Kind of gross. So I said, ‘okay, and started wearing underwear’

(ah, non usava la biancheria, dunque, prima? ‘kind of gross’, pacchianeria, avere sotto la biancheria, ma poi si è adeguato)

MUSICIAN: What kind of friends were you hanging with?

PRINCE: Prostitutes. Pimps. Drug dealers. Really bad people and preacher’s daughters, you know? Which is strange, because they were the total opposite of their fathers.

(come creare un po’ di finta leggenda intorno a sé: chi ti gravitava intorno, in quel momento? ‘Prostitute, magnaccia, spacciatori, gente poco raccomandabile e figlie di predicatori, una roba strana, dal momento che esse erano l’esatto opposto dei loro padri’)

(stava ovviamente parlando di se stesso, in quest’ultimo passaggio, di suo padre, per l’esattezza)

MUSICIAN: How did you meet them? At gigs?

PRINCE: Yeah. I talk to people. and if they’re real and sincere about what they’re doing, and they don’t really want anything out of me except to be my friends, then, you know, I go for that.

(si tratta di persone sincere, che stanno con me solo per amicizia, non per tornaconto personale)

MUSICIAN: The people who you were friendly with back then… that group…did they influence your style?

PRINCE: Well, I think to some degree. They’re really rebellious. They cut themselves off from the world, as I did. The band’s attitude is, they don’t listen to a lot of music and stuff like that. And the band is funny, the only time they’ll go to see someone else is if they’re going to talk about them or heckle. It’s really sick. They’re like critics.

(questo tipo di persone ha influenza su quello che scrivi?)

(attenzione, anche quello che segue va riferito a lui: ‘sono davvero ribelli, si sono tagliati via dal mondo, come ho fatto io’)

MUSICIAN: Are they all close friends?

PRINCE: I don’t know anymore. It’s hard to say. When we first started I think we were. That’s how they got in the group. Some of them I didn’t find out if they could play until later.

(quelli della tua band sono tutti tuoi amici stretti? ‘non lo so più, difficile a dirsi, quando all’inizio siamo partiti, pensavo che lo fossimo, è così che sono entrati nel gruppo, non sono sicuro che piacesse loro suonare fino a tardi)

(allusione ad Andre?)

MUSICIAN: Are they concerned, now, about not being on the road? Do they feel that they’d like to be touring?

PRINCE: Yeah. We all do. Once I stop, then I start writing again, or whatever, or start playing…fooling around, then I don’t want to play out in public so much. I guess I write letters better than I talk, basically. I can write really good letters. And that’s where the records come from. I can sit down and say exactly what I want. I don’t have to worry about someone else next to me doing their job.

(tipica risposta-non risposta di Prince: svicola, divaga, allude, sposta il discorso sul suo modo di lavorare, di comporre)

(‘I guess I write letters better than I talk, basically’: un’affermazione decisamente vera, sempre)

MUSICIAN: It’s funny, because you’re a very imaginative guy. I would think for someone who draws on fantasies and wrote about dreams, fantasy would be important.

PRINCE: Well, it is. But it’s not so much when you’re writing a letter. Do you know what I mean? If I were to write a letter to a friend, and tell them about an experience, I wouldn’t say how it made me feel; I would say exactly what I did, so that they could experience it, too, rather than the intellectual point of view. If you give them a situation, maybe that you’ve encountered, or whatever, give them the basis of it, let them take it to the next stage, they make the picture in their own mind. I know I am happiest making records like this, making records that tell the truth and don’t beat around the bush. Maybe I’m wrong for it, but I know the people at the concerts know exactly what the songs are about, sing right along, and are really into it. We have their attention. They understand, I think, and they’re getting the message. I don’t know. It seems real o me because…well, it is, because I’m saying exactly what’s going around me. I say everything exactly the way it is.

(passaggio molto importante, questo:)

MUSICIAN: Do you think people think that you’re gay?

PRINCE: Well, there’s something about me, I know, that makes people think that. It must stem from the fact that I spent a lot of time around women. Maybe they see things I don’t.

(la gente pensa che tu sia gay? lasciamo pure che lo pensino, forse deriva dal fatto che ho intorno sempre tante donne, forse queste persone vedono cose che io non vedo)

MUSICIAN: People always speak about a feminine sensibility as if it’s something negative in a man. But it’s usually very attractive for most women. Like a sensitiveness.

PRINCE: I don’t know. It’s attractive for me. I mean, I would like to be a more loving person, and be able to deal with other people’s problems a little bit better. Men are really closed and cold together, I think. They don’t like to cry, in other words. And I think that’s wrong, because that ’s not true.

(una sensibilità spinta in un uomo attira molto le donne: ‘non lo so, è attraente per me, voglio dire che essere una persona amorevole, in grado di affrontare meglio i problemi altrui; gli uomini sono chiusi e freddi, non amano piangere e penso che questo sia un errore, perché questo non è vero’)

MUSICIAN: Is there anything that you want me to mention that we haven’t talked about?

PRINCE: Well, I don’t know, it’s…I don’t want people to get the impression that sex is all I write about. Because it’s not, and the reason why it’s so abundant in my writing is mainly because of my age and the things that are around me. Until you can go to college or get a nine-to-five job, then there’s going to be a bunch of free time around you. And free time can only be spent in certain ways. But if people don’t dig my music, then stay away from it, that’s all. It’s not for everybody, I don’t believe. I do know that there are a lot of people wanting to be themselves out there.

(una situazione che non si ripeterà mai più: Graustark che propone a Prince di aggiungere temi all’intervista, negli anni successivi avrebbe dettato lui il menù, sempre più corto, degli argomenti possibili)

(‘c’è qualcos’altro di cui vorresti parlare?’)

(‘non voglio che le persone abbiano l’impressione che il sesso sia tutto quello su cui scrivo: non è così ed il motivo per cui scrivo così tanto è legato alla realtà che mi circonda’)

(‘la mia musica non è per tutti, non lo credo’)

MUSICIAN: Will you always try to be controversial?

PRINCE: That’s really a strange question, because if I’m that way, then I will be forever writing that way. I don’t particularly think it’s so controversial. I mean, when a girl can get birth control pills at age twelve, then I know she knows just about as much as I do, or at least will be there in a short time. I think people are pretty blind to it. Pretty blind to life, and taking for granted what really goes on.

(‘sarai sempre una persona controversa?’ ‘strana domanda, dal momento che se sono così, questo vorrà dire che scriverò sempre  in questo modo, non si tratta di qualcosa di particolarmente controverso, voglio dire che quando una ragazza di dodici anni prende la pillola, allora so che ne sa quanto ne so io, o, almeno, ci arriverà presto; penso che la gente non si renda conto di questo, che sia piuttosto cieca riguardo alla vita e che dia per scontato quello che accade davvero’)

MUSICIAN: Do you think that older people don’t give the twelve-and thirteen-year-olds enough credit for knowing as much as they know?

PRINCE: I’m sure they don’t. I’m absolutely sure they don’t, I mean, when my mom had stuff in her room that I could sneak in and get. Books, vibrators, all kinds of things. I did it. I’m sure everybody else does. And if I can go in there and do all that, I don’t see how she figures I won’t know. And the way she figures I don’t know is, she doesn’t sit down and tell me exactly what’s going on. I never got a rap like that, and I don’t know how many kids do.

(i ragazzini, anche piccoli, si trovano a volte a fronteggiare situazioni che non possono capire, come è capitato a lui, quando entrava di nascosto in camera di sua madre e trovava libri per adulti e vibratori)

(senza che nessuno gli spiegasse come stessero davvero le cose)

MUSICIAN: I think that a lot of kids would like to feel that there’s somebody who’s capturing that experience for them. And I don’t think anybody really has done it before.

PRINCE: Yeah. At the same time, you’re telling them about wanting to be loved or whatever…accepted. In time you can tell them about contraception and things like that, which need to be said. No one else is going to say it. I know I have view points on a lot of different things: the school system, the way the government’s run, and things like that. And I’ll say them, in time. And I think they’ll be accepted for what they are.

(bisognerebbe parlare con chiarezza ai ragazzi: lui lo fa e lo farà)

MUSICIAN: So is that really you up there onstage?

PRINCE: What? The way I act? Oh, yeah, without a doubt.

MUSICIAN: In other words, when you go back to Minneapolis, and you go to parties, is that you?

PRINCE: Oh, yeah. And when I’m with my friends, I’m more like that than anything. A lot of times, when I got out to clubs, if I go, I just go to observe, and I watch people. I like to watch people. They way they act and things like that.

(quando torni a Minneapolis e vai alle feste, sei tu, quello? ‘quando vado nei clubs, se vado, vado solo per guardare ed io osservo le persone, mi piace guardare le persone, il modo in cui si muovono e roba del genere’)

(tutto vero)

MUSICIAN: So what will be the first thing you do when you get back to Minneapolis?

PRINCE: Probably take a long bath. I haven’t had one in a long time. I’m scared of hotel bathtubs.

(‘quale sarà la prima cosa che farai, quando tornerai a Minneapolis?’)

(‘con ogni probabilità, un lungo bagno, non ne ho fatto uno per parecchio tempo, mi spaventano le vasche da bagno degli hotel’)

MUSICIAN: What do you fear?

PRINCE: They just…a maid could walk in and see me.

(una cameriera potrebbe entrare e vedermi)

– Fonte: Barbara Graustark, Musician, settembre 1983