I knew this song well when I was a teenager and I always imagined it was a story from Prince's own childhood and because I dont totally trust him as a narrator I always thought he had embellished it in some way. It seemed to have too much whimsy in it. e.g. maybe there was a quirky girl in his school but 'Cynthia Rose' was probably a made up name to rhyme with something. So its really quite startling to hear it was someone elses story and a real name.
I never really could make sense of this verse?
Cynthia wore the prettiest dress
With different color socks
Sometimes, I wondered
If the mates were in her lunch box
Me and Lucy opened it
When Cynthia wasn't around
Lucy cried, I almost died
You know what we found?
'mates' in her lunch box? What does that even mean?
I used to assume that the suprise in the lunch box was that it was empty. And the song was about a whimsical girl in difficult circumstances using her imagination to get around a shitty home life and not enough food.
But now I know its about a neurodivergent child. But in that case, what was in the lunch box?
“Mates” as in the other socks. Cynthia presumably has a pair of red socks and a pair of yellow socks or something, but instead of wearing two reds or two yellows, she is wearing one red and one yellow. Lucy and the narrator wonder if the other red and/or the other yellow are in the lunch box.
Ah that must be an American term, in the UK we would say 'matching sock' or similar.
Still it doesn't make much sense. If someone's wearing odd socks they obviously put them on at home. Why would they be in the lunchbox. And what was in the lunchbox that made Lucy cry?
Also thinking about it, coffee is a weird thing for a kid at school to wish for. I think that was another reason I suspected Prince had embellished it. Kids will make up yummy or fantastic things to eat but coffee is unlikely to be one.
Obviously if it was called Starfish and Pee Pee it would have been unlikely to be regarded as such a classic song. Prince knew what he was doing in the poetry sense but not in the 'realistic things for kids to talk about' sense.
I never really could make sense of this verse?
Cynthia wore the prettiest dress
With different color socks
Sometimes, I wondered
If the mates were in her lunch box
Me and Lucy opened it
When Cynthia wasn't around
Lucy cried, I almost died
You know what we found?
'mates' in her lunch box? What does that even mean?
I used to assume that the suprise in the lunch box was that it was empty. And the song was about a whimsical girl in difficult circumstances using her imagination to get around a shitty home life and not enough food.
But now I know its about a neurodivergent child. But in that case, what was in the lunch box?