Listening to Purple Rain for the bazillionith time on good headphones, I noticed something I've never heard before.

At around the 2:42 mark, someone provides a short, almost dog-like howl. Anyone know who it is? I love it - feels like someone just got overcome by emotion while playing.

I came across this while working on a Prince mix for my mom, an 80 year old white woman who's repeatedly asked me what I love so much about Prince. Kind of a fun challenge - she's a fairly open-minded listener, but tends to favor melody and acoustic instrumentation.

I noticed it the first time I heard the track!

Alas, the howler isn't on the album credits. Could be a band member. Could be someone in the audience. Could be a dog. We'll never know.

It's a member of the audience.

bluefish said:

It's a member of the audience.

yup, they left it in the mix, it's just a part of what we expect to hear now.

bluefish said:

It's a member of the audience.

Yeah, even more evident in the First Avenue video, too. It's a nice nuance.

MendesCity said:

FragileUndertow said:

MendesCity said:

Listening to Purple Rain for the bazillionith time on good headphones, I noticed something I've never heard before.

At around the 2:42 mark, someone provides a short, almost dog-like howl.

Crazy you never noticed it, it's one of the merable moments of the song

I think maybe it's one of those songs I've heard so often on the radio, I haven't spent enough headphone time with.

I expect the person who did the howl to cash in on it and write a book about it and their life story in 2020.

OK - how many of you, when singing along with the song, sing the howl too?

I can't be the only one that does that, LOL.

RodeoSchro said:

RodeoSchro said:

OK - how many of you, when singing along with the song, sing the howl too?

I can't be the only one that does that, LOL.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

RodeoSchro said:

MendesCity said:

Listening to Purple Rain for the bazillionith time on good headphones, I noticed something I've never heard before.

At around the 2:42 mark, someone provides a short, almost dog-like howl. Anyone know who it is? I love it - feels like someone just got overcome by emotion while playing.

I came across this while working on a Prince mix for my mom, an 80 year old white woman who's repeatedly asked me what I love so much about Prince. Kind of a fun challenge - she's a fairly open-minded listener, but tends to favor melody and acoustic instrumentation.

I never heard it before either!

RodeoSchro said:

OK - how many of you, when singing along with the song, sing the howl too?

I can't be the only one that does that, LOL.