Well, hello there and welcome to the penultimate #PrinceTwitterThread in the #SOTTDELUXE series. @deejayUMB and myself have been hosting these since September and it’s been a blast to see so many people following and commenting on these threads.

Today I will be talking about the gospel infused Walkin’ In Glory, to be found on CD6 (or LP9) of the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Editionas part of ‘Vault Tracks part 3’. Or you can stream it of course. Right here:

As you can hear, musically this song has quite a jubilant feel to it. Kinda like Eye No from the Lovesexy album (yes, there is another as well, I will get to that). But if you take a close look at the lyrics, these are somewhat weird. Let’s break them down.

Walkin’ In Glory starts like this:
“Woke up this morning
Looked all around
Couldn't find my baby
She was no where to be found”

Well, any normal person would think she has probably gone to the store, or to work, or for a walk… whatever. Not Prince though!

“I think the Lord, He took her,” Prince sings.
Wait, what?
“In the middle of the night
Took her up to heaven
But people, that's alright”

So he wakes up, looks around, can’t find his loved one and he automatically assumes the Lord came and took her to heaven? Again… what? I mean… the Lord actually took her completely? Mortal body and all?

Now Prince has woken up quite a few times in his lyrics and he often sees some strange stuff in the haze of waking up. Mostly apocalyptic stuff (1999, The Dance Electric), but never something as outrageous as this.

Normal people would call 911 when a loved one goes missing. Not Prince. He just assumes she’s taken to heaven and instead of mourning the loss of a loved one he is ecstatic!
“'Cause she walkin' in glory
Her soul is saved”

And of course we all want the latter. But the way Prince sets it up is just plain weird. But with her soul saved, we are entering familiar Prince territory. In The Ladder on Around The World In A Day he already sang ‘everybody wants salvation of the soul’.

The word glory is derived from the Latin word gloria, meaning ‘both ‘fame’ and ‘honor’ and in a biblical sense is used to describe the manifestation of God's presence as perceived by us humans. “She walkin' with the Lord,” Prince sings, emphasizing what ‘glory’ means.

“Whose Son He gave,” he continues. “To save us all from damnation. This world is fading fast.” Again familiar territory, the fading world can be found in Prince’s work multiple times, as well as the sacrifice of the Christ. The latter most notable in SOTT’s The Cross.

“It's all in Revelation
The truth has come to past”

Ah, Revelation! We are home… We should do a series of threads on that one day as that bible book has been a big influence in Prince’s songwriting. Anyway, from this point on Walkin’ In Glory goes into full gospel mode.

It truly seems that this is where Prince intended to end up with the song and the first part was just a shortcut to get there. The continuous ‘glory’ chants are really taking the listener to church. I can totally see this done by a church choir!

Can you imagine how this would have sounded had the powerful gospel voice of Boni Boyer been part of Prince’s entourage at this point in time?

This isn’t the first time (nor he last) that Prince gives us his take on gospel, make sure you check out the Play In The Sunshine #PrinceTwitterThread by @RhondaNicole_ about ‘a joyful noise without reason to be’. https://twitter.com/RhondaNicole_/status/1315732658261946368?s=20

Although Prince is basically playing the entire song alone (with a little help of Sheila E.) it sure feels like there is a full band playing, foreshadowing Lovesexy in a way. And Lovesexy was a direct response on The Black Album. Walkin’ in Glory might be just that as well.

Walkin’ In Glory was recorded on December 7, 1986. The exact same day that Prince recorded The Black Album’s Bob George. Without a doubt Bob George is one of the darkest songs in Prince’s body of work.

Walkin’ In Glory literally is the total opposite.

It is astonishing to realize that these two songs with such different mindsets were recorded within a few hours of each other. It’s almost like he wanted to cleanse himself musically. Susan Rogers says she thinks he recorded this plea for redemption ‘to compensate’.

That seems plausible. But let’s look at it in a different way. Prince has always been one to take on multiple personas and alter ego’s. Two versions of himself. Sometimes he put others in that role, sometimes he just became two personalities at once.

He even acknowledged that there were multiple people living inside him in his interview with Oprah Winfrey. Here he is, explaining that ‘Symbol’ was a different person (or character) than ‘Prince’.

So what if… Bob George and Walkin’ In Glory are actually continuations of the same story, through the perspective of a person suffering from a multiple personality disorder? Far fetched? Maybe, but look at some other lyrics.

“My baby was a sinner
She knew the meaning of love”

We know the girl in Bob George has sinned. Or at least, the protagonist thinks she has been cheating. So eventually he kills her.

“Now she walkin', she walkin' - With that Man up above, ow”

So let’s assume that the protagonist proceeds to get rid of the body, goes home, goes to sleep, wakes up a different person, can’t remember a thing and hey… his baby is missing? Where can she be? That’s where Walkin’ In Glory comes in.

During the 1988 Lovesexy tour Bob George was performed every night, but the ending of the song has changed. The studio version sees the police run off once he starts firing at them. During the live show they corner him and he does not survive.

At the end of Walkin’ In Glory we hear this:
“Pray up on the hill
I'm gonna ask Him to forgive me
Something tells me He will”

Which sort of lines up with the Bob George concert finale, in which The Lord’s Prayer is recited right before dying.

By the way, if you have listened to Walkin' In Glory, did you notice how throughout all those ‘glory’ chants the narrative has changed? It’s not about ‘his baby’ anymore, it eventually becomes all about his own soul being saved. So what does he need forgiveness for?

So that concert incarnation of the character turns out to be the ‘Spooky Electric manifestation of Camille’. He says so in the telephone scene. Basically we get to see an alter ego of an alter ego. And once those personas get killed off, Prince re-emerges, playing Anna Stesia.

Anna Stesia is also a plea for saving his soul. “Help me, Lord, don't you let me lose my way,” Prince sings in Walkin’ In Glory. In Anna Stesia he exclaims: “Save me Jesus, I've been a fool, how could I forget that you are the rule.”

Also these lines are pretty similar:
“I'll tell Your story, no matter how long” (Anna Stesia)
“I only wanna tell Your story and be with U every day” (Walkin’ In Glory)

During the Lovesexy tour after a brief intermission Eye No follows, which (to me) has the same vibe as Walkin’ In Glory. This time including Boni Boyer’s mighty vocals. As Walkin’ In Glory was not recorded for a specific project, he might just have stripped it for ideas.

For instance, these lines from Walkin’ In Glory seem familiar as well:
“It's alright, y'all
We're gonna walk
(…)
Save your soul tonight”

And there is more familiar ground to be found, musically this time. Also recorded on December 7, 1986 was a jam session with Sheila E., that eventually would be merged with Walkin’ In Glory. You can hear it as the song progresses. Sounds familiar?

That’s because the recording of that jam session was also used on The Black Album’s instrumental track 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton. Oddly enough the liner-notes in the SOTT Super Deluxe Edition don’t mention that.

The jam that would become 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton was recorded for use during Sheila E.’s birthday party four days later. Bob George and Le Grind also made their debut during that birthday party at club Vertigo in Los Angeles.

To be honest, I never cared much for 2 Nigs United 4 West Compton. But I love how that familiar sound fits like a glove with Walkin’ In Glory. Also check that awesome guitar solo Prince throws in on top of it from about 3 minutes onwards.

Musically Walkin’ In Glory is not really a highlight on the SOTT SDE, but it is a fun listen. It does not really belong on the set in my humble opinion as it was never considered for the album, nor for the albums that eventually morphed into SOTT.

If anything, this is a proto-Lovesexy song, perfectly capturing the light he wanted his audience to experience.

Not much more to say about Walkin' In Glory, so I'll wrap it up here.

Thanks for reading and sticking with us for all these months. The honor is @PressRewindPod’s to close the series next Thursday. His #PrinceTwitterThread will be about Wally.

Thanks to all the people that have contributed to the series, lovingly dubbed ‘Purple Avengers’ by @TrickyKid2. And as it goes with superhero teams… The Purple Avengers will be back! Until we meet again!