https://faroutmagazine.co...M8dRvbAwpQ

Stevie Nicks is full of it when she says : “The olive branch of him giving me that cassette was huge, but I think he would have liked a romance with me, too.”

She is ten years older than Prince, plus Peggy McCreary, Prince's Engineer, made it clear Stevie was the one chasing Prince.

Besides that, I believe the song was inspired by Seger...full stop. He offered her to cowrite but she didn't deliver....nuff said.

I said it before on here, but check Christopher Cross's "Words of wisdom".The intro riff and guitar solo are similar

thesexofit said:

I said it before on here, but check Christopher Cross's "Words of wisdom".The intro riff and guitar solo are similar

I hear it in the intro, but also know that is a blindingly common chrod progression and there are only so many ways to play it. It's also very common on such a progrssion to have the bass move eith the chords and the other instruments play a repetitive figure that works over all the chords. Arranging 101. Having said all that, Christpher Cross had the monster of all singles in sailing and it is inconceiveable that Prince didn't check him out. That guiotar solo is VERY reminiscent of the Purple Rain solo. I'm a believer. Thanks for pointing this out.

I simply love Christopher Cross' music. I think these were all power ballads, listening to it with 2021 ears..they all kinda sound the same.

PJMcGee said:

Interesting about Cross, but I think Faithfully is closer to Purple Rain. Maybe not the notes, I'm not a musician, but the entire sound of it.

Journey's keyboardist Jonathan Cain tells the story about how he was asked to listen to Purple Rain because Prince was concerned by some similarities. When Jonathan spoke to Prince he was cool with it, and reassured Prince that they were two different songs. The interview is out there, I'm a huge Journey fan as well

thesexofit said:

I said it before on here, but check Christopher Cross's "Words of wisdom".The intro riff and guitar solo are similar

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Not really.

After the first three equal chords (differently played too), Prince's version goes instantly in a completley other direction. Adnd it's that what makes PR so unique.

These first three chord's are often played together in so many other songs.

And that's just the only comparisson to be found in this Christopher Cross song imho.

Cross's guitar solo is completely different from Prince's masterful solo. Not one note is equal.

Peace though.

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DonRants said:

Stevie Nicks is full of it when she says : “The olive branch of him giving me that cassette was huge, but I think he would have liked a romance with me, too.”

She is ten years older than Prince, plus Peggy McCreary, Prince's Engineer, made it clear Stevie was the one chasing Prince.

Besides that, I believe the song was inspired by Seger...full stop. He offered her to cowrite but she didn't deliver....nuff said.

I remember hearing something about Prince's fascination with Bob Seger. Not musically, but Prince was quoted as asking his manager (Alan Leeds?) "why is Bob Seger so popular?". The answer was that Bob Seger had the epic, stadium-filling anthems that people loved.

Prince went and made Purple Rain so that he had is own stadium anthem.

Side note: I love Rock & Roll Love Affair, but it screams of Hollywood Nights to me.

Stevie was fine as shit.

Vannormal said:

thesexofit said:

I said it before on here, but check Christopher Cross's "Words of wisdom".The intro riff and guitar solo are similar

-

Not really.

After the first three equal chords (differently played too), Prince's version goes instantly in a completley other direction. Adnd it's that what makes PR so unique.

These first three chord's are often played together in so many other songs.

And that's just the only comparisson to be found in this Christopher Cross song imho.

Cross's guitar solo is completely different from Prince's masterful solo. Not one note is equal.

Peace though.

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Peace, indeed. As an educated musician that has played the song Purple Rain about a million times I can tell you without a doubt that Words of Wisdom influenced Purple Rain. The chords are similar (no one said exact because Prince wasn't stupid), and the way the chords are played/arpeggiated on guitar is exact the way they're presented when Prince or one of his keyboard players played it on the piano in live versions. Maybe Wendy was influenced in her guitar part since she came up with the intro (which is also what the guitar does throughout). The guitar solo is very similar in construction. Again, no one said exact. Purple Rain is closer to Words of Wisdom than Blurred Lines is to any Marvin Gaye song. Where do you stand on Blurred Lines? The chords and vocal melody are completely different than the Marvin Gaye song, yet everyone thinks Blurred Lines is ripping off a specific Marvin Gaye songs when it isn't.