Some of Prince's songs have a real spiritual core and also from the music structure remind me of gospel songs - and I believe they would not be out of place in a church setting, with an organ and gospel choir.

Some of the songs which come to my mind are (and there are many more:

Love... thy will be done

Anna Stasia

The Cross

Holy River

Forever in My Life

Now - have some of his songs actually been performed in church? Not only a "Purple Rain" gospel tribute when he died, but in a regular church service?

My church band actually played 'Baby I'm A Star' one Sunday.

For the most part, in the black church culture I'm familiar with they would consider this "secular music" which is a BIG no-no.

[Edited 6/11/19 5:28am]

Krid said:

Some of Prince's songs have a real spiritual core and also from the music structure remind me of gospel songs - and I believe they would not be out of place in a church setting, with an organ and gospel choir.

Some of the songs which come to my mind are (and there are many more:

Love... thy will be done

Anna Stasia

The Cross

Holy River

Forever in My Life

Now - have some of his songs actually been performed in church? Not only a "Purple Rain" gospel tribute when he died, but in a regular church service?

All of those songs would be out of place in most church services, except maybe the Cross.

.

the closest I could see is God(the Dance Electric) or 4 the Tears In Your Eyes

.

.

But there was a straight out church choir gospel song that clearly was influenced by Purple Rain, I forget the name at this moment.

Love... Thy Will Be Done, is probabl.y not known enough(even though that might make it easier to pass off as a church song)
.
Anna Stesia is a 'rock' song, I mean that is too personal and not even close to be intergrated into a service

Holy River is 'Princereligiosity' it doesn't translate 'Gospel'

Forever In My Life is a 'proposal' song about romantic love

.

Maybe people have done it, but 'celeb tributes' in a church service would be out of place -the service/worship is directed toward God.

.

* now I will say I remember going to a 'community gospel concert' with a friend and Janet JUST came out, the musical director and his group, did 'Anytime, Anyplace' as an instrumental with some changed lyrics. LOL I could not believe it. He probably thought no one would have heard the song.

Christian artist Kevin Max, formerly of DC Talk, recorded a solo version of "The cross". I don't think any church sang it but it is known to some of the Christian community.

All of those songs would be out of place in most church services, except maybe the Cross.

.

the closest I could see is God(the Dance Electric) or 4 the Tears In Your Eyes

.

.

But there was a straight out church choir gospel song that clearly was influenced by Purple Rain, I forget the name at this moment.

Love... Thy Will Be Done, is probabl.y not known enough(even though that might make it easier to pass off as a church song)
.
Anna Stesia is a 'rock' song, I mean that is too personal and not even close to be intergrated into a service

Holy River is 'Princereligiosity' it doesn't translate 'Gospel'

Forever In My Life is a 'proposal' song about romantic love

.

Maybe people have done it, but 'celeb tributes' in a church service would be out of place -the service/worship is directed toward God.

.

* now I will say I remember going to a 'community gospel concert' with a friend and Janet JUST came out, the musical director and his group, did 'Anytime, Anyplace' as an instrumental with some changed lyrics. LOL I could not believe it. He probably thought no one would have heard the song.

"Let It Rain" - Bishop Paul S. Morton...

OldFriends4Sale said:

nothing compares to U....(kanye sunday service LOL)

roxy831 said:

All of those songs would be out of place in most church services, except maybe the Cross.

.

the closest I could see is God(the Dance Electric) or 4 the Tears In Your Eyes

.

.

But there was a straight out church choir gospel song that clearly was influenced by Purple Rain, I forget the name at this moment.

Love... Thy Will Be Done, is probabl.y not known enough(even though that might make it easier to pass off as a church song)
.
Anna Stesia is a 'rock' song, I mean that is too personal and not even close to be intergrated into a service

Holy River is 'Princereligiosity' it doesn't translate 'Gospel'

Forever In My Life is a 'proposal' song about romantic love

.

Maybe people have done it, but 'celeb tributes' in a church service would be out of place -the service/worship is directed toward God.

.

* now I will say I remember going to a 'community gospel concert' with a friend and Janet JUST came out, the musical director and his group, did 'Anytime, Anyplace' as an instrumental with some changed lyrics. LOL I could not believe it. He probably thought no one would have heard the song.

"Let It Rain" - Bishop Paul S. Morton...

Yes, thank U

...Phil Colins come to mind too(non gospel of course)

bsprout said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

😳lol. ‘The Ladder’ always struck me as a gospel/church song.

Yes, the Ladder

OldFriends4Sale said:

roxy831 said:

"Let It Rain" - Bishop Paul S. Morton...

Yes, thank U

...Phil Colins come to mind too(non gospel of course)

You're welcome . I tell ya, when I first heard Let It Rain, the first thing that came to mind was "Did Paul get permission?"

roxy831 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes, thank U

...Phil Colins come to mind too(non gospel of course)

You're welcome . I tell ya, when I first heard Let It Rain, the first thing that came to mind was "Did Paul get permission?"

LOL

What about Still Would Stand All Time?

lurker316 said:

What about Still Would Stand All Time?

Thanks 4 bringing this 1 up, I haven't heard this in a long while

It's just around the corner, it's just around the block
This love that I've been waiting for, a Love solid as rock
A Love that reaffirms that we are not alone
A Love so bright inside you it glows
And night and day would run together, and all things would be fine
Still would stand all hate around us
Still would stand all time
Still would stand all time

It's not a thousand years away, it's not that far my brother
When men will fight injustice instead of one another
Its not that far if we all say yes and only try
Then Heaven on Earth we will find

No one man will be ruler, therefore love must rule us all
Dishonesty, anger, fear, jealousy and greed will fall
Love can save us all

Oh, love, love, oh love if you would just please give us a sign
Still would...

Oh, love, love, oh love if you would just please give us a sign
Still would stand all time
Heaven, heaven on earth we all want to find (we all want 2 find it)
Still (still) would stand all time

We are not alone people (we're not alone)
Tell me can you see the light (can ya see the light)
If you just open your eyes (still would stand all time)
So much you will know, so much you will show
Love, love, its not that far away if we all say yes and give it a try
(Got ta give it, a try, yes!) still would stand all time (I say still)
(so many times) so may times, I thought I could not make it
(still would stand all time)
Life was closing in I just knew, I just knew I couldn't take it
That's when love opened it's arms, and if you don't go in child
Still would stand all time (still would stand all time)
You better run to the light, leave your past behind
All things will be fine
Still would stand all time

droppingdishes said:

For the most part, in the black church culture I'm familiar with they would consider this "secular music" which is a BIG no-no.

That depends on if they're a more traditional church or not. Like they'll consider what happened to Sam Cooke was because he left gospel to sing secular music. Sam's father is a reverend and had no problem with Sam going secular, same with Aretha Franklin's father. Some traditional church members tended to criticize gospel artists who make secular sounding music like Mighty Clouds Of Joy, Rance Allen Group, Clark Sisters, Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, etc. Which is kinda ironic since the Father Of Gospel (Thomas Dorsey) wrote blues & jazz songs too. Rhythm and blues/rock n roll/soul are offsprings of gospel. Gospel choirs have sung on secular acts records as well. Some secular singers are preachers like Little Richard, Al Green, & Johnnie Taylor. Today there are gospel rappers.

OldFriends4Sale said:

All of those songs would be out of place in most church services, except maybe the Cross.

Gospel acts sometimes remake well known secular hits but change the lyrics or interpolate part of a song into their song. The same choir who sang on I Want To Know What Love is by Foreigner recorded their own version. The Clark Sisters does the scat from Parliament's Flashlight on Pure Gold. But since none of the songs in the OP were hits other than the Martika song, those songs are not as likey to be chosen anyway.

MickyDolenz said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

All of those songs would be out of place in most church services, except maybe the Cross.

Gospel acts sometimes remake well known secular hits but change the lyrics or interpolate part of a song into their song. The same choir who sang on I Want To Know What Love is by Foreigner recorded their own version. The Clark Sisters does the scat from Parliament's Flashlight on Pure Gold. But since none of the songs in the OP were hits other than the Martika song, those songs are not as likey to be chosen anyway.

Yes I agree

But I think some of these are too detailed lyrically, you would have to change a lot

Foverever in My Life, I don't see how, because it is straightforwardly a song about loving some with matrimonial substance. Singing it/playing it at a wedding for sure

Anne Stasia is very complex lyrically and very detailed. I can see adding the God Is Love chorus to something though. Holy River too, but I can see someone taking a few verses and making something out of it.

Prince-religiosity is so uniquely his 'dogma'

Love... thy will be done

Anna Stasia

The Cross

Holy River

Forever in My Life

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes I agree

But I think some of these are too detailed lyrically, you would have to change a lot

That's what Weird Al does. He generally does not use whatever the original song was about. Al is not Living In America, but Living With A Hernia. Rance Allen Group hos a gospel version of Just My Imagination by The Temptations, but their version is not about a woman like the original. The gospel version of a secular song usually has totally different lyrics, but use the same music & vocal arrangement. Some gospel versions are a straight remake if the song lyrics fit like Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror & My Sweet Lord by George Harrison. I've heard My Sweet Lord by a gospel group, but they just left off the Hare Krishna part.

What about 'A Man Called Jesus', the song he gave to Mavis Staples?

A lot of Prince's songs have a spiritual meaning to them, but like others have said, they're too much rock to be accepted in most churches. Also, I think that because of Prince's past raunchiness, church people would not allow his music in the church. For some, the raunchiness is all they heard in his music.

tmo1965 said:

A lot of Prince's songs have a spiritual meaning to them, but like others have said, they're too much rock to be accepted in most churches.

I think whether rock is accepted or not has to do with the generation. I mean like somebody was buying the records of Stryper, DC Talk, BarlowGirl, Michael W. Smith, etc. If you listen to the music on Joel Osteen's show, there's some rock based Christian music on that and Lakewood is a mega church watched by millions of people although the music is not generally shown on the main TV broadcast. Jimmy Swaggart has spoken out against contemporary Christian rock. His cousins are Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the original rock n' rollers, and country singer Mickey Gilley. Mickey had a well known country club/bar called Gilley's that burned down years ago. It was used in the John Travolta movie Urban Cowboy. Swaggart himself has songs with guitar solos that sound like rock (or at least country rock) to me, so for him to speak negatively about it is ironic.

OldFriends4Sale said:

I live in the Midwest (the Bible Belt) and have never heard a Prince song played in church, not even just the tune without lyrics, OR in the nontraditional service either. I do believe that some of his music would be just fine, but I am such a fan, and most people of faith will not admit they like his music. (I obviously am not one of them.....) Probably due to his erotic lyrics in some songs.

The song I always think I would love to hear a full gospel choir do is "I Would Die 4 U". Talk about some deep meaning to that one. Amazes me most of the time I read over the lyrics to his songs.

Just wow.

Seahorsie said:

I do believe that some of his music would be just fine, but I am such a fan, and most people of faith will not admit they like his music. (I obviously am not one of them.....) Probably due to his erotic lyrics in some songs.

People don't sing the songs in church services, but where I'm from a lot of church people listen to secular music, including some preachers. This is the black Baptist church though, I don't know about other types of churches. You haven't heard of the people who go to the juke joint on Saturday, but go to church on Sunday morning, there's even songs that mention it. There's many who do not though and some call any non-church music "the blues". Others consider it the devil's music, that seems to be less common now. I had older relatives who did not allow secular music to be played in their home and a few did not want a TV either.

MickyDolenz said:

tmo1965 said:

A lot of Prince's songs have a spiritual meaning to them, but like others have said, they're too much rock to be accepted in most churches.

I think whether rock is accepted or not has to do with the generation. I mean like somebody was buying the records of Stryper, DC Talk, BarlowGirl, Michael W. Smith, etc. If you listen to the music on Joel Osteen's show, there's some rock based Christian music on that and Lakewood is a mega church watched by millions of people although the music is not generally shown on the main TV broadcast. Jimmy Swaggart has spoken out against contemporary Christian rock. His cousins are Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the original rock n' rollers, and country singer Mickey Gilley. Mickey had a well known country club/bar called Gilley's that burned down years ago. It was used in the John Travolta movie Urban Cowboy. Swaggart himself has songs with guitar solos that sound like rock (or at least country rock) to me, so for him to speak negatively about it is ironic.

I attend Lakewood Church weekly and can testify that the music is VERY much rock and roll, with some funk and gospel thown in every now and then. They've even mixed in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to their performance.

The bands at both Lakewood Church and T. D. Jakes' The Potters House are both incredible. I very much recommend tuning in online to watch a full service and hear those bands.

Before I moved to Lakewood Church, I spent a couple years running the intermediate school praise band at our local Baptist church. My approach was to take classic rock songs and change the lyrics to praise lyrics. We did some Prince:

"Guitar" (which I changed to "Our God")

"If God Was One of Us" (I know it's technically a Prince cover, but that's the version I taught the kids)

I think that was it, but if I remember any other Prince stuff, I'll add it.

RodeoSchro said:

I attend Lakewood Church weekly and can testify that the music is VERY much rock and roll, with some funk and gospel thown in every now and then. They've even mixed in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to their performance.

The bands at both Lakewood Church and T. D. Jakes' The Potters House are both incredible. I very much recommend tuning in online to watch a full service and hear those bands.

There was funky gospel in the 1970s and even gospel songs with disco elements. I've been to a church with step dancers wearing matching outfits and doing the type of step show you might see a college fraternity doing. More recently there's gospel songs with trap beats.

MickyDolenz said:

RodeoSchro said:

I attend Lakewood Church weekly and can testify that the music is VERY much rock and roll, with some funk and gospel thown in every now and then. They've even mixed in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to their performance.

The bands at both Lakewood Church and T. D. Jakes' The Potters House are both incredible. I very much recommend tuning in online to watch a full service and hear those bands.

There was funky gospel in the 1970s and even gospel songs with disco elements. I've been to a church with step dancers wearing matching outfits and doing the type of step show you might see a college fraternity doing. More recently there's gospel songs with trap beats.

Love it!

RodeoSchro said:

Love it!

I was watching reruns of Hee Haw a couple of years ago on RFD and I like the quartet gospel songs they sometimes did on the show. Usually it was Roy Clark & Grandpa Jones as part of the 4.

RodeoSchro said:

Before I moved to Lakewood Church, I spent a couple years running the intermediate school praise band at our local Baptist church. My approach was to take classic rock songs and change the lyrics to praise lyrics. We did some Prince:

"Guitar" (which I changed to "Our God")

"If God Was One of Us" (I know it's technically a Prince cover, but that's the version I taught the kids)

I think that was it, but if I remember any other Prince stuff, I'll add it.

What about Pray by MC Hammer?