The 5th Single from Purple Rain Should Have Been ... ?


a) Take Me With U (they got it right)
b) The Beautiful Ones
c) Computer Blue
d) Baby Im A Star


discuss...


(Im disqualifing Darling Nikki because of its adult content which would have been radio suicide in 1985)

Beautiful Ones, all the way!

tossup between TBO and Baby I'm a Star. I consider TBO to be a much better jam, but for "radio" airplay, Baby is very upbeat.
[Edited 3/5/07 12:52pm]

[b]Beautiful ones

The Beautiful Ones!

txladykat said:

Agreed - I prefer TBO, but you're right that Baby I'm A Star would have been a more successful single.

I always thought Baby Im A Star would have torn it up on the radio. It was the big finalle in the movie and its just a great feel good radio song.

The Beautful Ones is classic but maybe too Purple Rainish (the song) sounding to be a hit.

I dunno .

I think Take Me with U was the most radio friendly.

But maybe the fith single should have demonstrated the depth of the album and they should have released it's finest song Computer Blue.

There actually was a fifth single. "Take Me With U" was the A side and "Baby I'm A Star" was the B Side.

A fifth single really wasn't necessary though because the album and movie had been out of style for months when it came out.

vainandy said:

Yep, I think most of us are aware the 5th single was in fact Take Me With U . The idea of the thread (with i guess isnt clear) is: was that the right choice or should someting different been released?

Yeah , you are probably right at that point , after 4 singles Purple Rain had already earned its place in the music history books. I dont know if any single would have gotten any higher than #24 (TMWU's peak)

Baby I'm a star would have been a great 5th single choice,he played it a lot live,even at a time when he only played a few PR songs.

Take me with U the 6th and finale single.

Computer Blue

17 Days

dammme said:

No... this song is better the way it is... not like Purple Rain - which sometimes I feel that is overrated

Baby, I'm a Star

My favorite of those is the Beautiful Ones.


But I would say they got it right with "Take Me with U"

For the charts: Baby I'm a Star

For me : The Beautiful Ones

I always thought that "The Beautiful Ones" should have been the fifth single.I was never that crazy about "Take Me With U".

TBO would've probably had a better impact, but if Computer Blue had been chosen, we mighta got the longer version on the 12".

i love every song on this album, my least favorite was take me with you.
however i think with its intoxicating beat, the 5th single should have been baby im a star, with a non album b-side.

okay, here's the way it shoulda went down...

since "Take Me With U" (album arrangement) is the weakest song on the album
release "The Beautiful Ones" as 5th single -- [i kept waiting for this one to be released!]
add "Computer Blue" (album) as the b-side [will get some radio play]
release 12-inch vinyl featuring the so-called "hallway speech" long version of "Computer Blue"
release a compilation of videos from Purple Rain (Prince, Apollonia, The Time) before the movie's VHS release
and include the very trippy "never-before-seen" "Computer Blue" (extended / hallway speech) video!!

Release no video for "The Beautiful Ones" (everyone's seen the movie by now anyway)
and give the video channels "Take Me With U" (Live) to play with, as it was

"Baby I'm a Star" got plenty of radio airplay anyway
"I Would Die 4 U / Baby I'm a Star" (Live) video got plenty of airplay too

I think "they" got it about right, from a commercial viewpoint. I'm not saying "Take Me With U" is the best song of these choices though...

Baby I'm a Star definitely. Consider how much it is the cultural lexicon now. Every time I turn on a cheerleading contest on ESPN, they play this song and I think the majority of the public knows the song from its opening chords. Yet it was only an album track while TMWU has probably been lost in time for most except for current and former fans. BIAS has stood the test of time, TMWU has not. BIAS would have sounded much better blasting from radios than the weakly sung TMWU. It would have made Top 10 while TMWU pooped out in the 20s. TBO is a Prince classic but it just doesn't sound like a radio song to me.

Well like VainAndy already said, Take Me With U was the 5th single. I never liked "Take Me" to begin with and I wish Apple6 would have kept it. But as far as singles went, I feel it should have gone down this way:

1)When Doves Cry
2)Let's Go Crazy
3)The Beautiful Ones
4)I Would Die 4 U

And that's it. No "Purple Rain" as a single. It's not a "single" song. It has to be played in it's entirety. I KNOW they felt obligated to release it as a single cuz it was the title track. And the long version of "I Would Die" kills the album version. I would have loved to see P edited down THAT version to a single and released that version. Lisa's and Matt's strings are killin' on that song.

Defintly Take me with U.

A-side - Wednesday, B-side - Fathers Song