[Blogger's note: Once again, we have a Friday Night Jukebox post on an actual Friday...but only because I'm a week late. On the bright side, we have back-to-back days of FNJ posts, which should bring plenty of joy to my loyal readers (all three of them)....]
I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray, but when I woke up this morning, could have sworn...I was (lucky seven? days) late again....
Surprisingly enough, my introduction to this week's tune, as with my introduction to the previous tune of his I wrote about, came when the soundtrack to the film that drove his stardom into the stratosphere was released. I will say, though, the first time I heard this week's song was one of the few times when I thought "This is destined for greatness" (or some such phrasing) and was actually correct....
I wrote about Prince in Vol. DLXI (and in a bit of kismet, last week as well), and the only new news in the last year and a half is that his estate is releasing another compilation, on of all days, today (kismet strikes yet again). Pretty certain it will not be the last. On a side note, it is very hard to believe that it has been ten years since his death, though at my age and with my gained knowledge of the passing of time, it probably shouldn't be.
"Purple Rain" was the third single released from his 1984 masterpiece, the rather floridly entitled Purple Rain (for those playing at home, I figured some synonym of cleverly which I usually use for songs and albums with the same name just would not fly for Prince, and yes, I did have to look up floridly as a synonym for purple). The single would reach #2, being kept from the top spot by Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (gag me with a motherfucking spoon). The album reached number one. Rolling Stone ranked the song #18 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" while the album is ranked #8 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." That's some serious greatness....
Fun Fact: "Purple Rain" was originally written to be a country duet with Stevie Nicks. Prince sent her a ten-minute instrumental and asked her to write lyrics for it. Nicks felt overwhelmed and turned him down. Such is destiny!
While I was doing my half-assed research for "Purple Rain," I came across a quote where someone said that it could be the greatest song ever written. And instead of wrinkling my nose and thinking, "Are you fucking serious?' I thought, "It very well could be." And I literally thought of writing that and leaving it at that. Alas, I listened and listened and came across a couple of aspects that I'd like to highlight. One is the majesty of the song--if he'd mentioned God a few times this could have been a hymn sang in any number of churches. Second, the song really highlights what an incredible guitarist Prince was--the work is at once stunning and revolutionary (play on words there...). Finally, roughly five minutes in, when Prince begins his otherworldly ooooooh oooh ooohing, I literally get chills and almost choke up--he reaches that place that fills all the holes in your soul. Amazing. Superlative. Incredible. An eight-minute lesson in all that's good in the greatest of the great in popular music.
Lyric Sheet: "If you know what I'm singin' about up here/Come on, raise your hand..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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