Prince - The Beautiful Ones

Thats the 1st thing can remember. U know how U can tell when someone is smiling just by looking in their eyes? That was my mothers eyes. Sometimes she would squint them like she was about 2 tell U a secret. found out later my mother had a lot of secrets.

My fathers piano. Thats the 1st thing remember hearing. As a younger man his playing was very busy but fluid. It was a joyous sound.

The eyes & the ears of a songwriter can never get enough praise. The way things look & the way things sound, when conveyed lyrically, can give a song space & gravity.

Of course 2 this writer there was nothing more beautiful than His Mothers Eyes, but Y? One of the reasons is how playful they were. The fun & mischief they promised.

There were 2 Princes in the house where we lived. The older one with all the responsibilities of heading a household & the younger one whose only modus operandi was fun. Not just any run-of-the-mill childhood board-game fun, but fun with a wink attached. My mother liked 2 wink at Me. knew what a wink meant b4 knew how 2 spell my name. A wink meant something covert was going on. Something special that only those who were in on it could attest [2]. Sometimes when my father wasnt playing piano hed say something 2 my mother & she would wink at me.

She never told me what it meant and sometimes it would b accompanied by a gentle caress of her hand 2 my face. But am quite sure now this is the birth of my physical imagination.

An entire world of secrets & intrigue, puzzles 2 solve & good ol fashioned make-believe. A place where everything 4 a change goes ur way. One could get used 2 this. Many artists fall down the rabbit holes of their own imaginations & never return. There have been many who decry this as self-destruction, but prefer the term FREE WILL. Life is better lived. What path one takes is what sets us apart from the rest.

Those considered different R the ones most interesting 2 us.

A vibrant imagination is where the best songs R found. Make-believe characters wearing make-believe clothes all 2gether creating memories & calling it Life.

My parents were beautiful. 2 watch them leave the crib dressed up 4 a night on the town was one of my favorite things 2 do. Even tho my mother was walking funny when she came home it was all worth [it] 2 me just 2 c them happy.

Whenever they were happy with one another all was right [in] the world.

Thinking back, my fathers mood used 2 change instantly whenever my mother was dressed up.

She craved attention & He gave her plenty of it when she was sharp. Of all the family friends & relatives my parents were the sharpest! No one could accessorize like they could. My mothers jewelry, gloves & hats all had 2 match. My fathers cuff linx, tie-pins & rings all sparkled within the sharkskin frame of his suit. My fathers suits were immaculate. There were so many of them.Every shirt had a corresponding tie 2 go with it. My favorite were the arrowhead style that rested just under the collar.

Matter of fact, my father always outdressed my mother. Maybe there was a secret contest going on that we werent aware of. She never gave me the wink on that.

My houseit was pink. Its since been knocked down. It looked like Mad Men, but not as nice. Simple furniture. I remember this funky energy about it. People, voices, energy. Like the Kennedys, but black. Women had hatslike Jackie. Look up black bourgeois Midwest style. Right after Ellington. Not Ellington, but the time after him. My dads hero was Ellington. He patterned himself on him. Ellington was on top of everyone.

Only thing better than watching Mother [and] Father getting dressed up 4 a night on the town was watching them leave.

Thats where the Imagined Life began. A place where could pretend dress-up & enter a fantasy of my own direction. A different storyline every time, but always with similar outcomes am always sharp & always get the girl. In my fantasy world, always live far away from the public at large, usually on a mountain, sometimes a cloud, & even in an underwater cave. (How that was accomplished was never divulged but somehow it worked out.)

Superpowers optional but always with secret flying abilities 2 enter & exit a location anytime