Purple Rain (song)

Composition

Origins

"Purple Rain" was originally written as a country song and intended to be a collaboration with Stevie Nicks. According to Nicks, she received a ten-minute instrumental version of the song from Prince with a request to write the lyrics, but felt overwhelmed. She said: "I listened to it and I just got scared. I called him back and said, 'I can't do it. I wish I could. It's too much for me. At a rehearsal, Prince then asked his backing band to try the song: "I want to try something before we go home. It's mellow." According to Lisa Coleman, Prince then changed the song after Wendy Melvoin started playing guitar chords to accompany the song: "He 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's explanation of meaning

Prince explained the meaning of the song as follows: "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." The title track of Prince's preceding album, 1999, included similar references to a doomed ending under a purple sky ("...could have sworn it was Judgment Day, the sky was all purple..."). The name for the song originated from the lyrics to the 1972 song "Ventura Highway" by the band America.

Song structure

According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Purple Rain" is written in the key of B-flat major, with a vocal range of F4 to A5.

Background and recording

The song was recorded during a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis on August 3, 1983. The performance was guitarist Wendy Melvoin's live debut with the Revolution, at the age of 19. City Pages described the 70-minute performance as Prince's "sweatiest and most soulful hometown concert yet", and drummer Bobby Z stated, "it certainly was one of the best concerts we ever did".

The concert was recorded by David Rivkin (also known as David Z, brother of Bobby Z) using a mobile recording unit brought in from the Record Plant in New York City, staffed by engineers Dave Hewitt and Koster McAllister. David's older brother Cliff Rifkin was the regional promotion executive for Warners in Minneapolis, who also expedited Prince's label signing. David Z's younger brother, Bobby Z, would then become Prince's drummer in the Revolution. David Z was not surprised when he was requested to set up the live recording on August 3, 1983, "With Prince, you never knew," he declared. "I thought we were recording a concert, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be a record, too. I knew they were working on the movie as, as well. You just had to go in prepared to record whatever it was going to be as well as you could." The basic tracks for three songs were used on the Purple Rain soundtrack: "Purple Rain", "I Would Die 4 U", and "Baby I'm a Star". Prince performed overdubs while working at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles from August to September 1983. A solo and a verse from the original recording were edited out, changing the length from eleven to eight minutes. The extra verse was about money but was removed because it diluted the emotional impact of the song.

After recording the song, Prince phoned Jonathan Cain from Journey to ask him to listen to it, as he was worried that it might be too similar to "Faithfully", a Journey single composed by Cain which had recently been in the charts. Cain reassured Prince by telling him that the songs only shared the same four chords. Lisa Coleman created the string arrangement, played by her brother and friends, that was overdubbed into the song in a studio in Los Angeles.

Release

For release as a single, the song was edited down from 8:41 to 4:05. The B-side, "God", is a much more overtly religious number (Prince's most religious), 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 UK, the 12-inch single also included an instrumental of "God", also known as "Love Theme from "Purple Rain", an edited portion of which appears in the film.

Performances

The song was a staple of Prince's live performances. He played it on nearly every tour after 1984, except for a period after his name change when he avoided his older hits for a few years.

At the Super Bowl XLI halftime show, in which he was the featured performer, "Purple Rain" was featured as the last song of Prince's set and was, appropriately, played during a downpour at the stadium; when combined with the purple stage lighting, this created the song's signature image.

Prince performed the song as the opening of a medley of his hits with Beyoncé at the 2004 Grammy Awards, and also at the 2006 Brit Awards.

"Purple Rain" ended up being the final song Prince performed live during his final concert in Atlanta, Georgia on April 14, 2016.

Reception and legacy

In a contemporary review of the single release, Billboard called it "pretty majestic," stating, "captured in four minutes, the song and the emotion that make the pivotal moment of a remarkable film."

The song ranked number 18 in Rolling Stone‘s 2021 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Q magazine placed it at number 40 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and Pitchfork named it the best song of the 1980s. Paste and American Songwriter both ranked it as Prince's greatest song. The song is also included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

In popular culture

"Purple Rain" was one of several Prince songs used in the one-hundredth episode of the ABC sitcom Black-ish, which was also named after the song, and first aired on November 13, 2018. The episode was a tribute to Prince's music and cultural legacy.

In 2025, "Purple Rain" was used to soundtrack a climactic sequence in "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up", the series finale of the Netflix series Stranger Things. Series co-creator Matt Duffer attributed the Prince Estate's willingness to allow the song's use to the success enjoyed by Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", following that song's inclusion in the series.

Track listing

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

• 12-inch single :A. "Purple Rain" – 8:45 :B. "God" – 3:59

• 12-inch (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-inch promo (US) :A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02 :B. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02

• 7-inch promo (UK) :A. "Purple Rain" (radio edit) – 4:19 :B. "Purple Rain" (long radio edit) – 5:37

• 12-inch promo (US) :A. "Purple Rain" (edit) – 4:02 :B. "Purple Rain" (LP version) – 8:45

Personnel

Credits sourced from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc, and Guitarcloud

• Prince – lead and backing vocals, electric lead guitar, synthesizers, string arrangement
• Wendy Melvoin – electric rhythm guitar, backing vocals, string conductor
• Lisa Coleman – synthesizers, backing vocals, string arrangement, string conductor
• Matt Fink – Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano, backing vocals
• Brown Mark – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Bobby Z. – Simmons SDS-V, Linn LM-1, cymbals
• Novi Novog – violin, viola
• David Coleman – cello
• Suzie Katayama – cello

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

References

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