This past Saturday–the 40th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release–I watched Purple Rain for the first time in about two years. Between the years of 2020 and 2022, I must have watched it at least 12 times: one each for every other track on Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain, plus the four other songs from the movie by the Time, Apollonia 6, and Dez Dickerson. During this period, my now-wife (oh yeah, that’s another thing: I’ve been working on Purple Rain for so long that some of you might not know I got married in the middle of it!) would walk into the room and say, “You’re watching Purple Rain again?” It was for “research,” of course, but somehow it never got old.

On this viewing, I was of course blown away by the new 4K transfer, which absolutely lived up to the hype; I noticed details I didn’t even remember from when I saw it on the big screen in 2016. Mostly, though, I was struck by how innocent it was–a strange choice of words, I realize, for a very R-rated movie that famously features numerous scenes of violence against women, but hear me out. It’s a studio film Prince made in his hometown, with his friends, and what seems like a minimum of oversight from the “grown-ups” in Hollywood; the number of scenes with more than one professional actor on the screen at the same time can be counted on one hand. What’s more, everyone looks (and is!) impossibly young: Morris Day in particular may have had the moustache of a man well into middle age, but it couldn’t disguise his 26-year-old baby face.

In these past four years of writing about Purple Rain (okay, fine, two years of writing about Purple Rain and two years of writer’s block and playing Elden Ring), I’ve tried my best to bring something of this perspective to a project that, let’s face it, can start to feel like wallpaper to diehard fans like us. Purple Rain–both the movie and the album–was of course the phenomenon that made Prince into a global superstar, putting him within spitting distance of Michael Jackson and Thriller. But nothing about it was inevitable, and at its core was something significantly more scrappy, rough around the edges, and charmingly homegrown than its glittering reputation suggests.

So, did I do justice to Purple Rain? I certainly did in terms of volume: These last 11 posts added up to a total of 43,860 words–around 100 pages, according to this random website I just looked up. That’s an average of 3,987 words per post, continuing the upward trend we’ve seen from album to album (my 1999 posts averaged 1,964 words, Controversy averaged 1,758, Dirty Mind averaged 1,653, Prince averaged 1,383, and For You averaged 1,379). If those numbers scare you after this week’s epic “When Doves Cry” post, don’t worry too much: I suspect the ballooning length had more to do with the need to weave together the threads of the movie and the album than anything else.

Matters of quantity aside (including the quantity of months you had to wait for me to finish, har har), I hope you enjoyed this latest and most difficult chapter of what, I am slowly coming around to accept, is probably my life’s work. I won’t make any promises about when to expect the next post, but I feel energized and ready to finally move on. But first, the ranking:

9. “Take Me with U” To begin, let me offer my customary caveat that these rankings are not to be taken seriously: Purple Rain is the definition of “all killer, no filler,” and there isn’t a single song (not even this relatively low-hanging fruit) that I feel good about putting on the bottom. Then, let me introduce a new wrinkle to this ranking specifically: In the spirit of Purple Rain as a multimedia project (and in tribute to the delightful film I just rewatched), I’m going to take each song’s sequence from the movie into account when deciding their ranking. And that, I’m afraid, is why “Take Me with U” is bringing up the rear: As iconic as those shots of Prince and Apollonia on the Hondamatic are–and as beloved a line as “purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka” is–they’re just no match for the performances later on this list.

8. “Baby I’m a Star” Another low-hanging fruit, I suppose, but I still feel a little guilty because I’m usually a “Baby I’m a Star” apologist. So, in the spirit of Purple Rain being all killer, no filler, let me use this space to advocate for the song and, especially, its movie sequence. “Baby” may be a little lightweight–especially in its context on the album, where it’s sandwiched between “I Would Die 4 U” and the title track–but I dare you to listen to it and not have a good time; and I double dog dare you to do the same while watching Prince mime the hell out of it in the film’s closing scene before scaling the speakers, ejaculating all over the audience from a hose built into his guitar neck, and ending on a freeze frame. Just like The 400 Blows!

7. “Purple Rain” (Parts 1, 2, & 3) Now here’s one that should be a controversially low ranking, but I suspect I’ll get away with it because hardcore Prince fans are the only people in the world who are tired of “Purple Rain.” As you can tell from the fact that I wrote three posts on it, I’m not tired of “Purple Rain”–but I will admit that if there’s any song on the album I’m going to skip, it’s probably going to be the eight-minute-long power ballad.

6. “Let’s Go Crazy” If you ask me, this and not the title track is actually the Purple Rain song most in danger of being overplayed; but I gave it the edge because it’s such an effective intro for the movie and album alike.

5. “Darling Nikki” As always, it’s the top five when things get really tricky. I’d actually rank “Nikki” in the bottom half of the album if we’re going purely by musical preferences–though writing about it did give me more of an appreciation for the song as Purple Rain’s most secretly rock and roll moment, right down to the LM-1 programming that uncannily evokes a heavy metal-style double bass pedal. It’s the movie performance that really wins me over, though; what can I say, I love a good speaker-humping routine.

4. “Computer Blue” Much as I love the “Nikki” scene, however, it’s the accompanying performance of “Computer Blue” that really has my heart: When that LM-1 beat kicks in and we hear Wendy and Lisa checking the water temperature, then cut to Prince and Brown Mark shirtless, oiled up, and ready to rock, you know shit’s about to get real.

3. “The Beautiful Ones” A perfect song and a perfect performance–both are absolutely spine-chilling. That I’m putting it at Number 3 should only emphasize the incredible company it’s in.

2. “I Would Die 4 U” A classic, obviously, but I’m not sure I would have ranked it quite so high if I’d written this post, say, five years ago; this song has really grown on me in the last few years, a perfectly crafted three-minute shot of pure joy–or, if you’re listening to the extended soundcheck version, 10-30 minutes of delirious ecstasy. And of course, Prince’s climactic dance moves (you know the ones I’m talking about) are the stuff of legend.

1. “When Doves Cry” Obligatory. This is actually my least favorite musical sequence from the movie, probably because it’s overshadowed by the music video in every way; but the song is so revolutionary (er, no pun intended), I couldn’t bring myself to rank it lower.

And with that, I’m officially done writing about Purple Rain–sort of. We’re still very much in the Purple Rain era, so I’ll be tying up loose ends here and there as the blog progresses. It’s going to be especially interesting to navigate the transition from Purple Rain to Around the World in a Day: As anyone who’s read Duane’s 1983-84 Studio Sessions book will know, the boundaries between those two albums were a lot fuzzier than advertised. I’ve long since learned my lesson about projecting writing timelines, but I will tell you three things: 1.) The next song I’m writing about is “Possessed.” 2.) I now have to turn my attention to my presentation at next weekend’s (!) #Come30 virtual symposium, so I won’t start writing the “Possessed” post until August 12 at the earliest (which reminds me… sign up for the #Come30 virtual symposium!). 3.) The length of time between now and the “Possessed” post will hopefully not be measured in months, and will definitely not be measured in years.

Okay, that’s all from me for a little bit. I will be posting one other, housekeeping-type thing in the near future for those who have signed up for emails–just something I’m trying out. So if you haven’t signed up and want to keep in the loop, now’s the time! Otherwise, I’ll be on this Saturday’s What Did Prince Do This Week? to talk about “Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian” by Apollonia 6–maybe I’ll see you there!

(Featured Image: Preliminary sketches for the Purple Rain logo by graphic designer Jay Vigon; photo stolen from Gotta Have Rock & Roll.)