Here are a few things I have wondered:

What songs on the album were performed with the full band? Which were Prince playing everything?

Do you really think Prince grabbed inspiration for his guitar solo from Journey's "Faithfully"? I hear similarities, but I definitely would not call it a rip.

Were the scenes in the movie based around the songs? Or where the songs written around the movie script?

Was Prince an experienced motorcyle rider before the film? Or did he pick it up for the film?


Will we ever get to see the deleted scenes?

gantonio said:

Read the liner notes in the cd. Most of the trax were recorded with the band live in 83 in a warehouse in MPLS. If I'm not mistaken, all of the "live" movie songs were recorded in the warehouse sessions.

Not sure about the others.

gantonio said:

I think he already had the songs written (he gave Albert Magnoli around 100), and more or less the screenplay written, although it was changed around quite a lot from Prince's original conception, which had nearly everyone dead at the end apparently The only song that was written especially for the film as far as I know was When Doves Cry, the director wanted something for the montage part, that summed up everything that was happening in the movie so Prince went off and wrote WDC and brought it back the next day!! They talk about it on the 20th Anniversary disc. Oh, so to answer the question, I think it was just a case of putting the two things together...

gantonio said:

The final 3 tracks are based on the recording of the 03/08/83 Benefit show at First Avenue, so they're full band recordings (with overdubs). Let's Go Crazy is also a band recording, recorded live at the St Louis Park warehouse. Computer Blue also features Wendy & Lisa, also they, Matt Fink and John L. Nelson are also given writing input credits for Computer Blue.

Take Me With U, Baby I'm A Star and the title track feature string arrangements by Lisa and Prince, conducted by W&L.

The other tracks are essentially solo performances. Take Me With U features Apollonia on vocals of course.

Jeffiner said:

I know that WDC was the last song written for the album/film. From what I've read, I believe that the film was complete and they added the song in during the editing process.

multiple choice please...

Interesting questions. I'm curious how long the screenplay took 2 write and if Prince wrote all of the lines or if everyone sat around trying to come up with their own lines.
I also wonder when Prince began riding a motorcycle and if he was trained by a friend or a relative. Some schools teach u how.

From Wikipedia :


When Doves Cry


The song

[edit] History

According to the Purple Rain DVD, Prince was asked by the director to write a song to match the theme of a particular segment of the film - one which involved intermingled parental difficulties and a love affair. The next morning, Prince had reportedly composed two songs, one of which was "When Doves Cry."

[edit] Impact

The song was #1 in the US for five weeks; July 7-August 4, 1984. It kept the other big hit of that summer, Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark," from reaching the top spot. "When Doves Cry" was voted as the best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll.

The B-side was the cult fan favourite "17 Days," which was originally intended for the Apollonia 6 album. A 12-inch single issued in the UK included the album track, "17 Days," and two tracks from Prince's previous album, 1999, namely the title track and "D.M.S.R."

[edit] Song structure

Prince wrote and composed "When Doves Cry" after all the other tracks on Purple Rain were complete. In addition to vocals, he also played all instruments on the track. The song's texture is remarkably stark. There is no bass line at all, which is very unusual for a dance song; Prince has said that there originally was a bass line, but decided that the song was too conventional with it intact. During live performances of the song on the Purple Rain Tour, Brown Mark, Prince's then-bass player, added bass lines in this song and other songs without a bass line. [1] The song features an intro of a guitar solo and drum machine, followed by a looped guttural vocal. After the lyrics, there is another, much longer guitar and a synthesizer solo. The song ends on a classical music-inspired keyboard piece backed by another synthesizer solo.

Tame said:

Apparently Prince had a purple notebook, that he used to write down ideas and make notes for 'a movie', he did that for a long time before the movie was ever given the go ahead. Then when Albert Magnoli agreed to direct it, he spoke to Prince privately and quite intimately (in his car I think ) came up with the final 'story' and wrote the screenplay!
[Edited 10/14/08 9:30am]