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I know that in the movie the song purple rain was made by W&L, but i read in an interview that wendy said that they (W&L) actually wrote the song, i don't know about lyrics, but they wrote the vocal melody i believe and the other music.
she said its just that prince is a control freak and decided to only give them Computer Blue credit but they didn't complain cause they knew they were apart of something special (the revolution)
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BorisFishpaw said:

I never thought of "Mountains" being a W&L idea. I dunno, just sounds all the way Princy to me!

cborgman said:

Why? You don't believe in God or Jesus Christ? Just curious. Don't mean to get all up in your business or whatnot.

Jem said:

Uh-oh. Please people, i hope i don't sense another "did Wendy and Lisa really contribute to Prince's output in the 80's" debate comin' on again!

I love these ladies, if they said they did it, then i believe them.

okaypimpn said:

i believe jesus existed, but i don't think he was the son of god , just a tremendous humanitarian and philosopher, much like Ghandi, MLK, etc.

but no, i don't believe in god, and the second most people at my funeral heard that song, they would think i had embraced christianity in my life, and i don't want that. the cross is a beautiful song, and aside from the slight mentions of religion in it, it would be perfect.

Prince did write most of the material recorded with the
Revolution himself, with Wendy & Lisa just contributing
a few embellishments and ideas to some of the tracks.

However, there are a few tracks where their input was
much more than just 'contribution'. In fact it would be
far more acurate to say that they were Wendy & Lisa
tracks that Prince contributed to. These were:
Sometimes It Snows In April, Mountains & Power Fantastic.
They also had a great deal to do with Computer Blue
(particularly the second half) and Lisa wrote Visions
on her own. Purple Rain was written by Prince, but
Wendy came up with the strummed chord intro.

okaypimpn said:

Then you must not have heard any of Wendy and Lisa's solo albums. That "Princy" sound you refer to is not just HIS sound. That's why they have it and he does not.

LadyCabDriver said:

I don't think he ever said he "hates" them, he just doesn't give them as much credit as others do.

Wow! How did you get that ASCAP info? Can you post the link if there is one???

And how does that work? If ASCAP lists someone do they get royalties? In other words, despite Prince not crediting them on the album liner notes, are they still getting paid for their work?

Cuz I just read "Possessed" and was shocked at how all these people (W&L, Morris, etc.) allowed Prince to deny their contributions which in effect would affect them financially.

It's ironic too cuz in many other cases he credited people on the album but ASCAP lists him, Prince as the true composer (Vanity 6, much of Sheila E, Jill Jones etc.).

BTW, I belive W&L perform Mountains in concert which would suggest (not prove, mind you) they wrote it. Cuz I was surprised that they would play that.

I believe he might have written the song not just for the movie but maybe it was written for Big Chick, the big body guard that was in purple rain. I had forgotten when Big Chick died. I know he definitely had written the song Friends 4 Sale about him.

meow85 said:

same here. People are very quick to pass it off as a fictional song for the film but the only relation to the film in the song is the name of the main character. I didnt see no civil war in UTCM

okaypimpn said:

i read somewhere that s i s i april was about the original break up of the time as prince sacked jimmy jam and terry lewis because they missed rehearsals, stuck in snow and missed their plane. i'm sure theres a line relating to this in old friends 4 sale as well .

wendy and lisa definetly have that revolution sound from a t w i a day and parade in their first two albums.

Excellent song.

lovebizzare said:

trust me darling, he can't stand them.

LadyCabDriver said:

According 2 Possessed! When Bobby Z visited him last year, he(P) told him that W&L should apoligize about their lifesyle. Bobby was this close from throwing up

kimmie687 said:

Big Chick died in 1990,which is four years after "Sometimes It Snows In April" came out.

DavidEye said:

Was he a big chick? You know, like a mutant hen or something?

Cloudbuster said:

dude,you're crazy...lol

cborgman said:

Oh, okay.

danielboon said:

If this is true, poor Prince...he must've really been hurt to dedicate two songs to Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Oh, well.

Harlepolis said:

Maybe Bobby's got a little sugar in his tank, too!

danielboon said:

The "when you're stuck in the snow" line from "Old Friends 4 Sale" refers to cocaine addiction, not being literally stuck in the snow.

FunkMistress said:

Really?! Was Prince implying that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were on that stuff? Seems to me that Prince never hesitates to air dirty laundry about ex-assocites of his, but my whole thing is, I'm sure The Purple One has some skeletons in his closet, too.

When I listen to songs like "There's Others Here With Us" or "Elephants and Flowers" I often wonder if Prince was on tootin' some powder at one point as well.

okaypimpn said:

Nah, he was talking about Chic who talked about him in some magazine just 2 buy him some cocaine!

okaypimpn said:

Once again I'm going to make a comment based on nothing but just my imagination but I always thought that the song was about sudden death. Because in April it's Spring and things are budding so if it snows they would be killed. Well some things anyway. I get the feeling he sings it now because of someone that he has lost recently. Like his pops, or mom or maybe even his infant son. Who knows?

I still don't know what Purple Rain is about...

FunkMistress said:

the stuck in the snow line is about jimmy and terry who were literally stuck in the snow ! fact. they have spoken about this many times !

FunkMistress said:

my apoligies there area 2 vesions of old friends, the original bootleg version says "2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow" and the vault version says "little did she know when u get stuck in the snow"

dearlybeloved said:

Wow someone who actually has a lick of sense.