Thieves In The Temple

Album: Graffiti Bridge (1990)
Charted: 7 6
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Songfacts®:

  • Aside from a harmonica solo sampled from the soul group The Chambers Brothers, Prince played all the instruments and performed all the vocals on this track. The sample comes from a 1967 Chambers Brothers track called "I Can't Stand It."
  • This was a last minute addition to the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack. In the film, it accompanies a pseudo-music video sequence.
  • In this song, Prince accuses his lover of lying to him about their relationship. The thieves represent the deceit.
  • Prince said in a 1990 issue of Rolling Stone magazine: "I feel good most of the time, and I like to express that by writing from joy. I still do write from anger sometimes, like 'Thieves in the Temple.' But I don't like to. It's not a place to live."
  • This was redone by Herbie Hancock as a bluesy funk number on his 1995 album The New Standard.

Comments: 1

  • Mykl from Baltimore, MdThe maxi-CD of this song contains an "Extended Version," a "House" dance version and a "Dub" instrumental version. The "House" version thumps loud!
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