Another Reading of The Beautiful Ones

Our humble gentleman narrator described the scene from Purple Rain in which The Kid performs "The Beautiful Ones" as a grand gesture. In an attempt to win Apollonia's affection, the song takes over the narrative, becoming a pivotal moment where Appollonia must choose between Morris and The Kid.

While I do not disagree with this reading, I would still like to offer up something more nuanced. Purple Rain is a tricky film, full of gaps and empty text that gets filled in by a closeness to the reality of Prince's life. The way I have found to look at it, is as the story Prince wanted to tell.

The songs however, tell their own story. They are texts within texts or hypertexts. They have their meaning within the larger narrative, but they should not be taken as linear. Therefore, the song "The Beautiful Ones" works on two levels: its place within the narrative and distinctly as a song itself.

What I've realized about "The Beautiful Ones" is that it's not as impressive in the context of the film or in the context of Prince's other work, but when it's listened to up against The Beach Boys or The Beatles, it sounds so much more powerful. While this seems irrelevant, I feel it's key to understanding the way the songs function in the film, that when you take them out you can see how they don't quite fit back in.

With the exception of "Take Me With U" and "When Doves Cry," the focus of the songs in the film are on their performance. Director Albert Magnoli really brought out the energy in Prince's music. The scenes depicting The Revolution almost contradicts the line by the club manager. As Morris and Appollonia walk into the club in the middle of The Beautiful Ones, Billy says to Morris "The Kid is in rare form tonight." But the form is never rare. Prince and The Revolution are always at 100plus percent.

My intial reaction is to not take "The Beautiful Ones" too literally. While in the scene, The Kid is speaking directly too Appollonia, he is not speaking directly in words, but in actions. The line to pay attention to is, "If we got married, would that be cool baby?" And not to what is said, but listen to the way it is delivered. What wins over Appollonia, is not the grand gesture, the rare form, it's Prince being Prince, that he is always on point.

I am reluctant to take The Beautiful Ones at face value, because it breaks out of its mold as a ballad and as a Prince song. The song comes at you in waves, first its slick and sultry, then it gets ice cold, the falsetto gives way to spoken word delivery and a nonchalant proposal. The bridge gets superintense, fiery and angry melts the ballad to its core. It becomes "Try a Little Tenderness" as performed by Bad Brains. I'm almost always out of breath after I listen it.

On the question of how to apply "The Beautiful Ones," the question needs to become how to translate "The Beautiful Ones." Experience while explainable and relatable is not often transferrable. We can look at "The Beautiful Ones" and its pure forms of expression, passion, and integrity; those are the ways to win someone's heart.