Today's blog post is
brought to you by the number seven!
No, you haven't stumbled
upon an episode of “Sesame Street”, but the theme for today's
Sunday Jukebox is all about the number seven. And, it couldn't have
come at a better time.
Okay, so let's state the
obvious. Today happens to be July 7th...the seventh day
of the seventh month. It's just a shame that I couldn't go back in
time a few years so that the date could read as 07/07/07. Or, I
suppose that I could have waited until 2107 to write this entry, but
then I would be 126 years old, and I doubt that I'd even still be
alive then.
Or, at the very least,
practically none of you reading this will likely be around in 2107.
But, here's another
interesting fact regarding the number seven that you probably would
not have even realized right off the bat. This post happens to be
the 777th blog topic that I have ever done!
Okay, so if you want to
get technical, this is actually post #779. But one was a welcome
post and the second was a technical difficulties post. Neither one
of those count as far as I am concerned. So, just for the sake of
argument, this is the 777th topic!
That's a lot of sevens,
don't you think?
However, seven is one of
those numbers that has proven to be very, very significant. There
are many, many people who consider seven to be a very lucky number.
I have one friend who lives in the United States who is so in love
with the number seven that he has dozens of them posted all over his
Facebook profile. And, that's cool! I say if one has a favourite
number, one should hold it near and dear to their hearts.
CONFESSION:
I have to admit that while I like seven, my own personal lucky
number is 18. But, I suppose if you take eight away from one, you
get -7...which is still just as good as a 7 in my book!
But,
why is seven a luckier number than thirteen, or forty-two, or
7,672,771?
It's
really hard to say. I don't think that there's really any definitive
answer that can be given. But the number seven makes a lot of
appearances in world history, pop culture, and even religious
teachings, so maybe the frequent reappearance of the number makes it
luckier than others.
I
mean, think about it. Many religious people see the number 7 as a
“heavenly” or “divine” number? And, why is that? Well, it's
because many hold the belief that God created the world in seven
days.
Coincidentally,
there are seven days in a week. And as Jade will tell you down below,
the days of the week are Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Saturday,
and Sunday.
(And,
no...Jade is NOT the featured band of the day. Consider this a bonus
song.)
Earth
happens to be surrounded by seven other planets. Mercury,
Venus,
Mars,
Jupiter,
Saturn,
Uranus,
and Neptune.
It once had eight in the solar system, but Pluto decided that it
didn't want to be a planet anymore and embarked on a solo career
within the universe.
Going
back to religious views, the number seven acts as a double-edged
sword of sorts, as there happens to be seven deadly sins. If you
ever watched the movie “Se7en”, you know that the sins are
gluttony,
lust,
sloth,
envy,
pride,
wrath,
and greed.
On
a happier note, there are also the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World”. Of the seven, only one, the Great
Pyramid of Giza,
remains standing. The other six were the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon,
the Temple
of Artemis at Ephesus,
the Statue
of Zeus at Olympia,
the Mausoleum
of Halicarassus, the
Colossus
of Rhodes, and the
Lighthouse
of Alexandria.
As
you've also noticed by now, in a standard rainbow, there are seven
visible colours. You have red,
orange,
yellow,
green,
blue,
indigo,
and violet.
And,
in our world, we have seven different continents. Africa,
Asia,
Europe,
North
America, South
America, Antarctica,
and Australia.
And,
if you've been keeping count at home, I just listed seven reasons why
the number seven is so special!
From
playing the “Lucky Seven” game on “The Price is Right” with
seven dollar bills trying to win a car to spinning a slot machine
hoping to win a jackpot of silver dollars by landing all sevens, the
number seven is definitely a number that a lot of people hold dear to
their hearts.
So,
it only makes sense that today's blog topic will be all about the
number seven.
Unfortunately,
this is where my good luck ends. While I am able to find a clip to
today's song, I am unable to embed it into this blog entry. You see,
today's featured artist is one that doesn't exactly like to promote
his stuff on video sharing sites like YouTube. In fact, he doesn't
particularly like it when other people post his songs on YouTube
either. Therefore, finding the actual music video of this song was
next to impossible.
In
fact, it was so tough of a challenge that the video of this singer,
(who appropriately enough was born on the seventh of June, 1958) will
have to be one that you have to click the link of in order to hear
the song in its entirety.
I'll
post a picture of the video though to make it appear as though there
IS one there...just click below the picture to listen to the song.
(Yes,
you're reading that correctly. “7” peaked at #7. How perfect is
that? Granted, I'm sure Prince was probably wishing for another #1
hit...however, seven is still pretty good.)
Oh,
and if you really want to watch the full music video, I actually
found it on – of all places – Perez Hilton's official blog! Just
click HERE to watch it.
And,
I bet you're also wondering what the heck kind of title “Love
Symbol Album” is. Well...it's actually not the real title of the
album. Here's the album cover.
Okay,
so you know that infamous symbol right? The one that looks like
? It
was the symbol that Prince started calling himself shortly after this
single was released? The one that got him mocked for pretty much the
entire decade known as the 1990s? Well, there's really no way to
know what the pronunciation of
really is. I know Prince never revealed the real way to say
, nor do I remember hearing anything about how to pronounce
myself.
? It
was the symbol that Prince started calling himself shortly after this
single was released? The one that got him mocked for pretty much the
entire decade known as the 1990s? Well, there's really no way to
know what the pronunciation of
really is. I know Prince never revealed the real way to say
, nor do I remember hearing anything about how to pronounce
myself.
Wow...all
of a sudden, I feel like typing
in every single sentence.
in every single sentence.
Okay,
that's seven of those symbols. I'll quit now.
The single was the third one released from the album, and it was the only one from the...um...symbol album...that reached the Top 10.
There's really not a whole lot to say about the music video except that I am absolutely impressed by the impressive sword dancing performed by the lady in gold. As it so happens, the lady doing the dancing is Mayte Garcia, a woman that was romantically linked to Prince for several years. They married in 1996, but divorced three years later in 1999 (ironically another numeric Prince song title).
And, the single has quite a few more "sevens" linked to it...
The single was released on a 7" single. The single was released on November 17. The video was filmed on February 27, 1992. The song samples the song "Tramp" by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, which was released in 1967! And, as mentioned before, it peaked at #7!
And, just to really mess with your minds here...Prince was 34 when this video was released...and 3+4=7!
I tell you...freaky, no?
As for what the song is really all about...well, I think that it's one of those videos and songs in which you can use your own imagination and make your own deductions over what the theme of the song is all about. Obviously, the song makes reference to the number 7, and the lyrics of the chorus go as such...
All 7 and we'll watch them fall
They stand in the way of love
And we will smoke them all
With an intellect and a savoir-faire
No one in the universe
Will ever compare
I am yours now and you are mine
And together we'll love through
All space and time, so don't worry
One day all 7 will die
But is Prince talking about the Seven Deadly Sins? The Seven Headed Beast that appears in the Book of Revelations? Just surviving all seven days of the week so that you can end the whole shebang with the one you love?
Well, I remember seeing this video a long time ago on Pop-Up Video, and in one of the pop-ups, it revealed that the song was about a woman who he loved, but was not able to be with her because she had seven guardians preventing him from getting to her. In order to free her, he had to slay all seven guardians - one day all seven will die.
Now, I know that Pop-Up Video can be quite goofy and in some cases, tasteless...but in this case, I think that it's the best explanation that I can think of that seems to fit both the song and video. But really, only Prince knows the truth. And, I don't think that he's telling...
At any rate, that's all that I really have to say about the number seven, and the song seven.
And since I have some time left...and since I want to continue on with the seven theme...I think I want to post seven Sesame Street clips that feature the number seven.
You can never have enough sevens, right?
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