Explore the Lyrics of Purple Rain by Prince

When you look at Prince’s original 1984 studio cut, the one that stayed locked in the vault while the rest of the world moved on, you’re seeing the blueprint of a master. It’s got that Minneapolis DNA: the spooky, undulating keyboards and a raw, almost garage-band grit that he eventually polished away for his proteges, The Family. This isn't the stadium ballad he’d later perform as a duet; it’s a lonely man in an Eden Prairie warehouse, working through the gears of a heartbreak so specific it fe