<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/664/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/556/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/600/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/664/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/700/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/07/25/0/0/2389/3600/800/0/75/0/acdd2ac_1690275833512-gettyimages-97018490.jpeg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Prince in concert at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois, on December 10, 1984, during the " purple="" rain"="" tour."="" width="100%" height="auto">
It was his "signature song," as is said of the dishes of great chefs. In the minutes, hours and days following the announcement of Prince's death on April 21, 2016, at the age of 57, of all his compositions – more than 40 albums during his lifetime, from 1978 to 2015, dozens of tracks released only as singles – it was "Purple Rain" that was played over and over again by radio stations and TV channels, quoted in newscasts. An obvious choice, certainly, but one that spoke to the general public, easily placing the title track of the album released on June 25, 1984, and its music video made with sequences from Albert Magnoli's film of the same name, which came out at the end of July 1984.
The epic, nearly nine-minute-long pop-rock ballad "Purple Rain" – recorded mainly during a concert on August 3, 1983, at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a solo guitar part that has become as famous as its melody – has been lent a partly apocalyptic meaning, associated with the depiction of relationships between characters. Prince rarely explained the meaning of his lyrics. One quotation, however, without a precise date but going back to the period when the song, the album and the film brought Prince worldwide recognition, has been regularly repeated: "Purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/God guide you through the purple rain."
In the film, with its thin storyline, Prince, who plays The Kid, struggles between conflicting family relationships, a love affair and the rivalry between his band and another, and triumphs over it all by performing "Purple Rain" at the end. The song's lyrics are a kind of summary, going from the loved one ("I only wanted to see you/Laughing in the purple rain") to betrayal ("It's such a shame our friendship had to end") and the suggestion that the purple rain can lead to renewal ("And let me guide you to the purple rain").
For the 1984-1985 tour, "Purple Rain" came at the end, its duration sometimes extended to almost 20 minutes. Prince performed it on most of his subsequent tours, but not always at the end. It is said to have been played over a thousand times, until its final performance at the second of two shows on April 14, 2016, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, during Prince's solo tour on piano and vocals.
On February 4, 2007, it was raining when Prince and his band at the time took to the stage in the center of the Dolphins Stadium field in Miami, Florida, for the 12-minute Super Bowl halftime show. After four songs, "Purple Rain" began, and the rain intensified. It is said that after the last guitar flourishes at the end of the song, the celestial deluge subsided. The coincidence, even if not quite true to life, gave the moment a fitting mythical dimension.