The Lovesexy tour was part pop spectacle, part evangelical fervor. Prince would beseech the crowds to love God, over and over. I mention that people thought in his more recent work he'd backed off from his evangelical position. It's something he jumps on.

"People got that wrong," he insists. "Batman was all about that same feeling. Graffiti Bridge was probably more about that feeling than Lovesexy was. Lovesexy was a state of mind I've come to, and I know it is still there." He gets increasingly impassioned. "If I didn't have it, I wouldn't make records anymore. When you have that...you know who you are, and you know what your name is. I didn't know that before. I thought there were places I had to get to. I thought there were things I had to do. I was a lot more competitive because of it. Now I realize that's not what's important."