This week we’re featuring songs about rain, and today’s classic rain-themed song of the day is Prince’s “Purple Rain.” It was the lead song and theme of his debut movie, Purple Rain, and its accompanying soundtrack album. Released as a single in September of 1984, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #3 on Billboard’s R&B chart. It was also a top ten hit in Australia, Austria, Belgium (#1), Canada, Finland (#1), France (#1), Guatemala, Ireland, the Netherlands (#1), New Zealand, Norway, Scotland (#1), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany—well, pretty much everywhere in the world.
Prince originally wrote “Purple Rain” as a country song in anticipation of a duet with Stevie Nicks. That duet never transpired and, when Prince played first played the song for his band, it evolved from its original country feel to the current power ballad with which we’re all familiar. Here’s what keyboardist Lisa Coleman remembers:
“[Prince] was excited to hear it voiced differently. It took it out of that country feeling. Then we all started playing it a bit harder and taking it more seriously. We played it for six hours straight and by the end of that day we had it mostly written and arranged.”
Prince had this explanation of what “Purple Rain” was about:
“When there’s blood in the sky… red and blue = purple. Purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/God guide you through the purple rain.”
All I know is that “Purple Rain” is one hell of a song with a killer guitar solo. The track was recorded live by Prince and the Revolution at Minneapolis’ First Avenue nightclub on August 3, 1983. Prince later did some overdubs and editing at Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound studio, taking out a verse and a solo to get the song to under nine minutes for the album. (The single version received additional editing to come in at a relatively concise 4:05.)
Prince was a local Minneapolis boy who made good, to say the least. He and I were the same age but grew up in different cities. I like to think that if I were born in Minneapolis rather than Indianapolis we may have run into each other at some point, although that’s probably unlikely. The man was a musical genius who left us way too soon, dying of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park complex on April 21, 2016. He was just 57 years old.
Many people know “Purple Rain” from Prince’s dynamic performance at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in 2007, where he kicked into the tune during an apt and atmospheric heavy rainstorm. I would include that performance here, but the NFL blocks it from being embedded on other websites, those greedy, possessive bastards. So here’s a link to the full performance on YouTube, which you can watch in your own browser:
Click to watch Prince’s entire 2007 Super Bowl halftime show
