Purple Rain

"Purple Rain"
U.S. 7" single
Single by Prince and The Revolution
from the album Purple Rain
B-side	"God" "God" (Instr.) (UK 12")
Released	September 26, 1984
Format	7" single 12" single
Recorded	Live, First Avenue, Minneapolis, August 3, 1983
Genre	Rock, pop, gospel
Length	7" edit: 4:05 Album/12": 8:45
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Prince
Producer	Prince
Certification	Gold - (December 5, 1984)
Prince and The Revolution singles chronology
"Let's Go Crazy" (1984) "Purple Rain" (1984) "I Would Die 4 U" (1984)
Purple Rain track listing "Baby I'm a Star" (8) "Purple Rain" (9)

"Purple Rain" is a power ballad by Prince and The Revolution. It is the title track from the 1984 album of the same name, which in turn is the soundtrack album for the 1984 film of the same name, and was released as the third single from that album. The song is an emotional combination of rock and roll, pop and gospel music. It reached #2 in the U.S., and is widely considered as one of Prince's signature songs.

The song was recorded live at the Minneapolis club First Avenue in 1983. The performance was the live debut of Wendy Melvoin, and also netted the final three songs of the Purple Rain album, although the songs would undergo studio overdubs later. Purple Rain's original lyrics contained an extra verse about money, which was edited out, as it diluted the emotional impact of the song.

Song structure

"Purple Rain" opens with a lone guitar quickly followed by live drumming and a prominent organ, evoking images of church gospel music. Three verses are followed by a chorus, with a building emotional delivery. After the final chorus, a guitar solo takes over the song. The song ends with a piano solo and orchestral strings.

Performances

The song is a staple of Prince's live performances. He has played it on nearly every tour since 1984, except for a period after his name change when he avoided his older hits for a few years. At Super Bowl XLI's halftime show, in which he was the featured performer, "Purple Rain" was featured as the last song of his set and was, appropriately, played during a downpour at the stadium, which combined with the purple stage lighting created the song's signature image. Prince performed the song as the opening of a medley of his hits with Beyonce at the 2004 Grammy Awards, and also at the 2006 Brit Awards.

As a single

In order to be released as a single, the song was shortened from 8:45 to 4:05.

The B-side, "God", is a much more overtly religious number (Prince's most religious to date), recalling the book of Genesis. The song also features extensive vocal experimentation. Towards the end, Prince mentions "The Dance Electric", which was a song given to former band member André Cymone. In the U.K., the 12" single also included an instrumental of "God", also known as "Love theme from Purple Rain", from which an edited portion appears in the film.

Track listing

7"

• A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02
• B. "God" – 3:59

12"

• A. "Purple Rain" – 8:45
• B. "God" – 3:59

12" (UK)

• A. "Purple Rain" (long version) – 7:05
• B1. "God (Love theme from Purple Rain)" (instrumental) – 7:54
• B2. "God" (vocal) – 3:59

Shaped picture disc (UK)

• A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02
• B. "God" – 3:59

7" promo (US)

• A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02
• B. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02

7" promo (UK)

• A. "Purple Rain" (radio edit) – 4:19
• B. "Purple Rain" (long radio edit) – 5:37

12" promo (US)

• A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02
• B. "Purple Rain" (LP version) – 8:45

Chart performance

Awards and accolades

In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 40 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Rolling Stone ranked it #143 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Notes

The earlier song "Ventura Highway" by the folk band America includes the phrase "purple rain".

Cover versions

• Country music singer LeAnn Rimes included a cover of the song on her 1998 album Sittin' on Top of the World.
• Swedish performer Stina Nordenstam recorded a reworked rendition for her 1998 cover song album, People Are Strange.
• Serbian punk rock band KBO! covered the song on their 2001 cover album (Ne) Menjajte Stanicu ((Do Not) Change the Station).
• A jazz cover by Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole and saxophonist Bob Belden was included on the 2005 compilation Blue Note Plays Prince. It was also later included on the European import edition of Cole's 2005 album Holly Cole Collection Vol.1.
• Danish a cappella group baSix covered the song with the Herning Boys Choir, produced by Deke Sharon for the 2005 compilation Cosmosonica - Tom Middleton Presents Crazy Covers, Volume 1.^[2]
• A jazz cover by Urselle was included on the compilation Jazz & '80s: The Coolest and Sexiest Songbook of the Eighties from 2005.
• Brazilian singer Danni Carlos recorded a cover for her 2005 album Rock 'n' Road All Night.^[3]
• Etta James on her 2006 release All the Way
• Country/roots rock band Leroy Justice covered the song on their 2007 album Revolution's Son.^[4]
• Norwegian group The White Birch recorded a cover of the song for the 2008 tribute album Shockadelica - 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Artist Known as Prince.^[5]
• Indie artist Valdez recorded a slow acoustic cover of the song, which was available for download on the Internet.
• Southern rock artist Jimmy Winchell recorded an acoustic cover of the song. An audio sample can be heard on his official MySpace page.^[6]
• Indie artist James Eric recorded a cover for his album We Got This Far: The Best of James Eric. An audio sample can be heard on his official website.
• A cover by folk music group Lavender Diamond was included on the 2009 tribute compilation Purplish Rain. A free download of the song was offered by Spin magazine.^[7]
• Ben Harper and Relentless 7 recorded the song but never released it. It can be found on his website as well as MySpace.
• Chris Brown has a song titled Glow in the Dark which is reminiscent of Purple Rain.
• Trey Songz has a song titled Yo Side Of The Bed which is very similar in sound to Purple Rain.

Live cover performances

• Country singer Darius Rucker covered the song as his encore performance on 8/24/09 at the AT&T Summer Krush event at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. He is currently closing with this on the American Living Unstoppable Tour.
• Tori Amos has covered the song live in various concerts.
• Singer Kate Nash has performed an acoustic cover of the song in various performances.
• Folk singer-songwriter Martin Sexton has performed the song live.
• Singer Peter Murphy has covered "Purple Rain" live, including a version on the bootleg disc "Exotic" recorded in Milan in 1988.
• The band Phish did a rendition of "Purple Rain" with drummer Jon Fishman's mom Marian Fishman playing a vacuum cleaner. Phish also played the song with guitarist Trey Anastasio taking over on drums for Fishman as he played the vacuum cleaner solo at the end.^[8]
• The Hollies performed the song live during a concert at Harrogate International Centre on November 29, 1991.
• The Waterboys' live concert album The Live Adventures of the Waterboys from 1998 included a cover of the song.
• Foo Fighters covered the song at a live concert as well as "Darling Nikki", which some speculate led Prince to sing the Foo Fighters' song "Best of You" at an NFL halftime show.
• Singer/comedian Stephen Lynch has covered "Purple Rain" as the closing song of his recent concert tour.
• Maroon 5 has used "Purple Rain" to close their setlist in live concerts on their Asian tour in Korea.
• In 2008, on the fifth series of UK singing contest The X Factor, Spanish contestant Ruth Lorenzo performed a version of the song when it was revealed she was in the bottom two of the viewers' votes results table. Her version of the song was praised by judges Dannii Minogue, Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh, and has since been credited as the best performance of the series by Minogue. As a result of the performance, the original single by Prince re-entered the UK Singles Chart at #76.
• In 2009 Danyl Johnson performed the song on the sixth series of The X Factor.
• In 2009, Stan Walker, winner of Australian Idol, performed the song and was praised very highly on the performance

Sampling

• The Bizzy Bone song "Murdah Me" heavily samples "Purple Rain".
• The backing track of the 2007 Alicia Keys song "Like You'll Never See Me Again" is based on the final section of "Purple Rain".
• Rapper Yo Gotti sampled the chorus of "Purple Rain" for his song "Pure Cocaine'.

Parodies

• One parody cover was "Coleman's Train", played by a Detroit radio station just after "Purple Rain" was released. It referred to the controversy over Mayor Coleman Young's plan for the Detroit People Mover.
• Comedian Rodney Carrington performed his rendition of the chorus of "Purple Rain" on his live CD Hangin' With Rodney.

References in other media

• In the Mortal Kombat video game series, the character Rain wears a purple outfit; Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon is a known Prince fan. Rain is also referred to as the "Prince" of Edenia.
• In Digimon, the Digimon Prince Mamemon has a special move called 'Purple Rain'.
• A traffic sign featured in National Lampoon's "True Facts" column and compilations thereof (e.g., appearing on Page 107 of National Lampoon Presents True Facts: The Big Book) points to the locales of Princeton and Prince—the caption for this photograph is "Beware of Purple Rain".
• BMX company Odyssey BMX manufactured limited edition parts called 'Purple Rain'. These parts had a purple a black splatter paint.

References