Prince has never claimed to be normal. He's a massively talented, tremendously eccentric man. He's also very short. But that probably has nothing to do with his wild ideas, and his latest quietly revealing/disturbing/fascinating interview.

Appearing on PBS' Tavis Smiley show, the Purple One discussed Lotusflow3r, his newest album. At first, it all seemed perfectly normal. Prince looked dapper in a crisp white shirt and dark jacket. A pair of smart glasses lent a scholarly look. And so his well-known, soft-spoken interview style began to weave its charm.

Then it all got a little weird. While discussing "Dreamer," a track from Lotusflow3r, Prince started to get deep, man.

Here are some of the more intriguing revelations (Revelations?):

1. As a child, Prince had epilepsy. He suffered seizures regularly.

2. His parents didn't know what to do.

3. One day, Prince announced that he "would no longer be sick."

4. Lil' Prince reported that an angel told him this.

 

According to Prince, he doesn't remember the angel incident, or even telling his mom of the meeting, which seems normal for this kind of youth/supernatural being encounter (that is, if late night infomercials touting books of the supernatural are to be believed). The incident also casts a revealing new light on the spiritual songs in the Prince catalog. And if a physical ailment was cured divinely, what does this say about the duality of the body and the spirit, a ubiquitous theme in the Prince oeuvre? Likely a lot.

 

Another compelling tidbit from the mind of Prince? He believes that the contrails from commercial airliners are not water vapor-based, but rather comprised of chemical solutions that are used to manipulate the public:

 

"When I was a kid, I used to see these trails in the sky all the time and I'd say, 'Oh, that's cool – a jet just went over.' And then you started to see a whole bunch of them and the next you know, everybody in your neighborhood was fighting and arguing and you didn't know why."

 

Wow - that's actually pretty cool. Also in the interview, Prince details his drive to prove his musical worth to his father. Prince's childhood could be a Greek tragedy, albeit one costumed in garters and platform boots. You can watch the whole interview here, and peep the angel clip below.