madhouseman said:

In all of my research, I have found nothing to indicate that Stevie was ever asked to write the lyrics for Purple Rain. I think that there is a little embellishment going on there, but I'd love to be proven wrong. I've seen no indication of Prince recording the song earlier in any of the studio notes I've seen or with any of the interviews from the Revolution or the others that were in the studio. There is always the possiblity that he recorded a demo in his home studio by himself and didnt document it.

I thought Prince said "I didn't write Purple Rain somebody else did in an interview"

PrettynPurple said:

I thought Prince said "I didn't write Purple Rain somebody else did in an interview"

No! He said "I don't own "Purple Rain" somebody else does" Meaning The Purple Rain Masters....

what about the Bob Seger connection? lol

Meloh9 said:

what about the Bob Seger connection? lol

Matt fink tells a story (I think it's in Posessessed, The Rise and Fall...):

"Purple Rain" was influenced by Bob Seger, "I told Prince to do a song like that. When we were out on the 1999 tour, Bob Seger was shadowing us, playing everywhere we went. Prince said, 'I don't understand the appeal of that stuff.' I go, 'It's like country-rock, it's white music. You should write a ballad like Bob Seger writes and you'll cross right over.' And he did!"

I don't believe a word

that 10-min demo could have been Lust U Always for all we know...for example

PrettynPurple said:

I thought Prince said "I didn't write Purple Rain somebody else did in an interview"

That was the interview just before the release of Under the Cherry Moon that was broadcast by MTV. He was referring to the film, not the song. More specifically, he was answering a question regarding the sexism of Purple Rain, if I'm remembering correctly.

asg said:

http://www.startribune.co...=2&c=y

This summer, Stevie Nicks was invited to sing on TV's "America's Got Talent" and "The Voice." This month, she joined Jeff Bridges and John Fogerty at a benefit for wounded soldiers in Sturgis, S.D. In May, her Fleetwood Mac songs were featured on a "Glee" episode.

Why is the witchy woman so suddenly in demand?

It probably has a lot to do with "In Your Dreams," her first solo album in 10 years and her best since 1981's "Bella Donna."

"I have to tip my top hat to Dave Stewart" of Eurythmics, she said, who produced the album. "I think the seven songs that he and I wrote together mixed in with the five songs that I wrote by myself made for a much more interesting and diversified record," said Nicks, who performs Wednesday at Mystic Lake Casino amphitheater.

As a musician, Nicks, 63, knows she's limited. She didn't expect to be writing with Stewart but she sent him 40 pages of poetry. He came to her house and said, "Let's do this one."

Recalled Nicks: "In my head, I'm like, 'You don't think we're really going to sit in this room and write a song together, 'cause I don't do that.' But he was so kind and so sweet and no ego, and we just started playing, and in 15 minutes we finished 'You May Be the One.'

"Suddenly, I had an epiphany. Wow! That worked. And this is a really great song with no grief. I don't feel punished or like something was taken away from me. I don't miss spending two months sitting at my piano in tears."

One of her own songs on "In Your Dreams" actually dates back to Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" days in the mid-1970s. She knew she had "Secret Love" on a cassette somewhere but couldn't find it. Then her assistant discovered it on YouTube. It turns out that Nicks had actually recorded it for "Bella Donna" but never released it. Keyboardist Benmont Tench, the musical director for that album, was the only person to remember it.

"Ben told me that the other day," Nicks said. "Now my whole story about having no idea [what happened to the song] has gone to hell in a handbag. I remember we recorded a lot of songs for 'Bella Donna'; I just did not remember that."

Another new song has an old connection. "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" was inspired by Nicks seeing the movie "Twilight Saga: New Moon" in 2009. When she went to make a video of it this year, she grabbed a dress out of her closet that she'd worn to the 1984 premiere of Prince's "Purple Rain" in Hollywood.

"My friend's daughter is playing violin on that [video] and I pulled that dress out for her to wear. It's been hanging in my closet. It's like a year younger than the girl who wears it in the video."

Purple connection

Back in the early 1980s, Nicks and Prince were friends and musical collaborators. One day when she was driving in Los Angeles, she started humming along to his "Little Red Corvette" on the radio and pulled over to write down words she was composing. When she went to record the song a few hours later, she called Prince.

"Don't even ask me how I found his number but I did. I told him: 'I'm recording this song and I wrote it to "Little Red Corvette" and I'm giving you 50 percent of it and I want to know if you'd like to come play on it on one of the next three nights.' He was there in an hour, and he was there for about an hour and a half. And we became friends."

That song, "Stand Back," became a big hit in 1983. She asked Prince if they could someday write a song together. So he sent her a cassette of a long instrumental track and invited her to pen lyrics.

"It was so overwhelming, that 10-minute track, that I listened to it and I just got scared," Nicks remembered. "I called him back and said, 'I can't do it. I wish I could. It's too much for me.' I'm so glad that I didn't, because he wrote it, and it became 'Purple Rain.'"

Buckingham Nicks redux

Nicks is better known for her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, her musical and romantic partner in the duo Buckingham Nicks since their college days at San Jose State. They joined Fleetwood Mac in late 1974 but split up romantically a couple years later. Of course, they've continued to work together on-and-off in that Rock Hall of Fame band. He joined her for one tune on the new album, "Soldier's Angel."

"It was as close to the Buckingham Nicks years as we have been since Buckingham Nicks," Nicks said. "For Lindsey and I, that opened up the possibility of a new chapter. We certainly can still do it. And we did it well and it wasn't a lot of work. Lindsey and I are very happy with each other right now."

Would they do a duo tour?

"It's an absolute possibility. A lot of wounds were healed with 'Soldier's Angel.' It's about the war and these injured kids. It was a very kind of spiritual and holy thing."

What's the status of Fleetwood Mac?

[Edited 8/22/11 7:15am]

It would be not bad actually if Nicks did this song, but then we wouldn't have the BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop tripping y'all. As already stated, watch the PR DVD Special Edition: Wendy and LIsa flat out say they did NOT write Purple Rain, but they HELPED with it.

Specifically, Wendy says she suggested using the "SUSPENDED CHORD". Can't remember if she names the chord, but if you ever played the song, the first chord of the song (and the basic progression) is a Bbsus2.

OPening the song with just that chord being struck, is what makes everyone know this is Purple Rain from the opening note.

Wendy didn't invent this chord. Nor did she come up with using a Bb to open the song. But she changed it to a Bbsus2 which basically means instead of playing the "normal" middle note of major or minor chord, she played a "C" (which is the"2" of a Bb). It adds a different color to the sound.

Sus4 chords are probably more common, so using a Sus2 in a pop song really gave it a different flavor.

They might have done other stuff but from the clip it sounds like that was one of the main things W&L added that made the song what it was.

Seriously y'all..... get with it.

GaryMF said:

Stop tripping y'all. As already stated, watch the PR DVD Special Edition: Wendy and LIsa flat out say they did NOT write Purple Rain, but they HELPED with it.

Specifically, Wendy says she suggested using the "SUSPENDED CHORD". Can't remember if she names the chord, but if you ever played the song, the first chord of the song (and the basic progression) is a Bbsus2.

OPening the song with just that chord being struck, is what makes everyone know this is Purple Rain from the opening note.

Wendy didn't invent this chord. Nor did she come up with using a Bb to open the song. But she changed it to a Bbsus2 which basically means instead of playing the "normal" middle note of major or minor chord, she played a "C" (which is the"2" of a Bb). It adds a different color to the sound.

Sus4 chords are probably more common, so using a Sus2 in a pop song really gave it a different flavor.

They might have done other stuff but from the clip it sounds like that was one of the main things W&L added that made the song what it was.

Seriously y'all..... get with it.

Damn G(ary)

MickyDolenz said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

So this puts to rest, the over 25 year claim that Wendy & Lisa help write that song.

I don't know who wrote what. But Stevie just says Prince gave her a tape with an instrumental. That doesn't prove anything either way. She doesn't say the music was written solo or in a collaboration and Stevie wouldn't know unless she was told.

Agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the Original post... I've heard this Story for years.. Hearing that Stevie was asked to pen the lyrics to "Purple Rain" is definetly news to me. I guess it was destined that Prince write those lyrics.

IshmaelB said:

early Nicks:

early Prince:

Best post of entire thread!!

Mars23 said:

TheFreakerFantastic said:

This thread title is inaccurate. She didn't say he wrote Purple Rain for her, he just offered her an instrumental which, after she rejected, he later did more work on to become 'Purple Rain', that's different in my book.

Also, this doesn't disprove that W&L had input either, Stevie is talking about what sounds like an early instrumental/demo.

Both good points. A far as the thread title, well, that was what the poster chose and it did spark some discussion.

^

Incredible, why is this misleading thread title still up, even on the frontpage at prince.org!!...

Prince did not write Purple Rain for Stevie Nicks.

It Kinda works, if U think about it...

[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/LakerFanIam/snicks-purple-rain.jpg[/img:$uid]

DaveG said:

It Kinda works, if U think about it...

[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/LakerFanIam/snicks-purple-rain.jpg[/img:$uid]

Wrong on so many levels...

Zannaloaf said:

"So he sent her a cassette of a long instrumental track and invited her to pen lyrics."

How close to the final was it? And he hadn't written the lyrics so who contributed to that?We have no idea what the thing sounded like but jump to all kinds of conclusions.

"Kiss" started as a short acoustic demo, about a minute in length, with one verse and the chorus. Mazarati and produceDavid Z. drastically reworked the song, giving it its stripped-down sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he decided to take back the song for himself. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form."

Sounds like David Z. and Mazarati should have gotten writing credit too. Thats right- David Z and Mazarati fans comin' out tha woodwork...

David Z has said that P made that song and deserved the credit. If you had a chance to hear the Mazarati version you would understand why P s version is better.

laurarichardson said:

Zannaloaf said:

"So he sent her a cassette of a long instrumental track and invited her to pen lyrics."

How close to the final was it? And he hadn't written the lyrics so who contributed to that?We have no idea what the thing sounded like but jump to all kinds of conclusions.

"Kiss" started as a short acoustic demo, about a minute in length, with one verse and the chorus. Mazarati and produceDavid Z. drastically reworked the song, giving it its stripped-down sound. When Mazarati delivered the song to Prince, he decided to take back the song for himself. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and edited the song to its present form."

Sounds like David Z. and Mazarati should have gotten writing credit too. Thats right- David Z and Mazarati fans comin' out tha woodwork...

David Z has said that P made that song and deserved the credit. If you had a chance to hear the Mazarati version you would understand why P s version is better.

Yeah- i heard it around 1989. I heard the original too. It is CLEAR that what Mazarati and David Z. brought to the song changed the entire direction of it. Just because David Z. is humble doesn't mean he didn't have a hand in making it the song the hit we all know.

Zannaloaf said:

laurarichardson said:

David Z has said that P made that song and deserved the credit. If you had a chance to hear the Mazarati version you would understand why P s version is better.

Yeah- i heard it around 1989. I heard the original too. It is CLEAR that what Mazarati and David Z. brought to the song changed the entire direction of it. Just because David Z. is humble doesn't mean he didn't have a hand in making it the song the hit we all know.

Mazariti & David Z was still given credit on the finished song "Kiss". Mazarati's background vocals was even left on the song. Plus Mazarti went on tour which I attended around that time. Prince gave them a hot track in return "100mph". David Z got other work from it. So it all worked out for all of them in the end. Prince turned the song in2 a masterpiece. Which really was still his son

1. David Z gave it the signature drum machine beat and layered the instrumentation which you recognize from the first bar

2. Prince took that to another level adding the James Brown rhythm guitar which also is a key signature of the song.

Without these elements it's a just a standard 1 IV I V ! blues.

JudasLChrist said:

Meloh9 said:

what about the Bob Seger connection? lol

Matt fink tells a story (I think it's in Posessessed, The Rise and Fall...):

"Purple Rain" was influenced by Bob Seger, "I told Prince to do a song like that. When we were out on the 1999 tour, Bob Seger was shadowing us, playing everywhere we went. Prince said, 'I don't understand the appeal of that stuff.' I go, 'It's like country-rock, it's white music. You should write a ballad like Bob Seger writes and you'll cross right over.' And he did!"

If you analyzed the chord progression he used on it...

its in thousands of country songs...

so it makes sense...

HermesReborn said:

JudasLChrist said:

If you analyzed the chord progression he used on it...

its in thousands of country songs...

so it makes sense...

Really? It's kind of a weird fingering. Really open and moody. are you able to explain this any more?

You can watch Stevie NIcks tell the story herself in video form here:

http://www.mtv.com/news/a...ince.jhtml

JudasLChrist said:

HermesReborn said:

If you analyzed the chord progression he used on it...

its in thousands of country songs...

so it makes sense...

Really? It's kind of a weird fingering. Really open and moody. are you able to explain this any more?

Never mind the qualities of the chords

it's a basic I-vi-V-IV chord progression.

Descending diatonic progression

Common in a lot of James Taylor, Folk music. country

Bob Segar used it a few times.

It's one of those tried and true chord progression that never fails.

Prince pretty much just messed with the harmonic rhythm and replaced some major chords with suspendeds.

HermesReborn said:

Never mind the qualities of the chords

it's a basic I-vi-V-IV chord progression.

Descending diatonic progression

Common in a lot of James Taylor, Folk music. country

Bob Segar used it a few times.

It's one of those tried and true chord progression that never fails.

Prince pretty much just messed with the harmonic rhythm and replaced some major chords with suspendeds.

Yes..... very true. Though as been discussd an doumented, Wendy is the one who put in the suspended chords, at least the first Bbsus2 one which is kind of the song's sonic signature.

GaryMF said:

HermesReborn said:

Never mind the qualities of the chords

it's a basic I-vi-V-IV chord progression.

Descending diatonic progression

Common in a lot of James Taylor, Folk music. country

Bob Segar used it a few times.

It's one of those tried and true chord progression that never fails.

Prince pretty much just messed with the harmonic rhythm and replaced some major chords with suspendeds.

Yes..... very true. Though as been discussd an doumented, Wendy is the one who put in the suspended chords, at least the first Bbsus2 one which is kind of the song's sonic signature.

Sus chords are always more fun then major or minor chords, least in my opinon.

But does the sus chord give it its signature stamp?

I dunno about that

I think it'd work well if it was just a Bb major chord.

I think purple rains signature is the IV, I6, ii breakdown at the end of the progression.

You can only really hear the sus acutely when Prince plays the piano reduction of Purple Rain in the movie, he's just arpeggiating the sus2 chord and giving the C more emphasis.

im confused..its about stand back and rain...i think he and the rev worked on rain instrumental and gave it..BUT...prince had rain in the pocket first because i have Eavesdropping In Intimate Moments bootleg with Prince alone at piano playing it and other songs in a row as demo ideas such as 17 days too etc

http://www.guardian.co.uk...CMP=twt_fd

BartVanHemelen said:

http://www.guardian.co.uk...CMP=twt_fd

yeah it says she was too scared to contribute lyrics etc..and?

and it says she wrote staqnd back as a rip of lrc where she did write the lyrics

so?

so prince had the melody and some lyrics to purple rain already..eavesdropping..and he ended up letting the other band members help in fleshing it out more

ufoclub said:

Did people think Wendy and Lisa helped write the song because of the script of the movie?

lol. of course they did. people thought everything in Purple Rain was true....WRONG.

like the legend says "Prince was known to give credit to others to keep the spotlight off of himself."

it would seem akward to have a full band and all the liner notes say "Prince"