"Computer Blue" by Prince

Another prophetic song from "Purple Rain" and Prince:

Wendy?
Yes Lisa
Is the water warm enough?
Yes Lisa
Shall we begin?
Yes Lisa

Where is my love life?
Where can it be?
There must be something wrong with the machinery

Where is my love life?
Tell me, tell me
Where has it gone?
Somebody please please tell me what the hell is wrong

Until I find the righteous 1
Computer blue
Until I find the righteous 1
Computer blue

[following is not lyrics in the song but is included with lyrics on the liner notes]

The Righteous 1:

"poor lonely computer
it's time someone programmed u
it's time u learned love and lust
the both have 4 letters
but they r entirely different words
poor lonely computer
poor poor lonely computer
do u really know what love is?"


It's kind of funny that when this song came out in 1984 there were very few personal computers and no Internet to speak of. Of course, in this song the "computer" was thought of in the sense of Star Trek style "androids" because probably no one really anticipated the arrival of the Internet and all its computerized relationships, online dating, cybersex, etc. In this brave new world it's very easy to lose your love life and to believe that there is something wrong with the machinery. Can we really manufacture love? Well, I don't know. In this day and age it seems that the artificial is becoming so difficult to distinguish from the authentic. I can't say that I'm a big fan of that new world of electronic, 'virtual' emotions. I guess I'm just an old fashioned girl who likes the sense-able world more than the imaginary. I don't disappear or become static when the computer is turned off, and neither do my emotions. "Until I find the righteous 1... Computer blue."