Purple Rain – I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #Prince #AdamLevine #BruceSpringsteenandtheEStreetBand

It has been almost 35 years since Prince released his pivotal ‘Purple Rain’  album and film. This album was a versatile piece and the title song was a microcosm of the whole record. It is a combination of R&B, gospel, and orchestral styles that was actually the third single released from the Purple Rain record. Prince would have turned 59 years old today, but we lost this immense talent two years ago. His career was nothing short of stellar. His releases sold well over 80 million copies worldwide and he was celebrated with seven Grammys, one Golden Globe and an Academy Award. He was revered as a singer, songwriter, producer and performer. His guitar work was absolutely jaw dropping as demonstrated in an earlier version of Ted Tocks Covers. Most of all he was just a cool guy who was widely respected in the music industry. Here are two neat stories:

‘Purple Rain’ was originally intended to be a collaboration with Stevie Nicks with a country edge. Picture a ‘Leather and Lace’ type ballad. Prince sent Nicks the music with a request to write some lyrics but very much unlike Stevie Nicks, she could come up with nothing. According to Nicks, “I just got scared. I called him back and said, I wish I could but, it’s too much for me.” Later on Prince was rehearsing with his band The Revolution and his guitarist Wendy Melvoin began to play it with more of an edge and suddenly the song shed it’s country feeling and took form as more of a power ballad. After six hours of experimenting the song was pretty much done. 

For the second story we introduce Jonathan Cain from Journey. Apparently Prince was concerned that ‘Purple Rain’ sounded too much like Journey’s ode to life on the road ‘Faithfully’ so he contacted Cain and asked for his opinion. The classy Journey member agreed that the chords were similar but Prince could rest assured that the song was a true original. 

For today’s cover we will go with a powerful rendition by Adam Levine of Maroon 5. A quick little story from Adam Levine speaking about his hatred of prescription drugs…”I tried Ambien for my insomnia and ADHD issues but I stopped using it after my first experience left me unconscious for an hour.” 

He was troubled by his immediate loss of control from the powerful drug. When you are blessed with musical talent and you were once voted ‘the sexiest man alive’ what more do you need? Here is Adam Levine doing ‘Purple Rain’. 

and The Boss because he feels the ‘Purple Rain’ as he pays tribute to a generational artist.

There is no better way to end this post.

“Such a shame our friendship had to end.”