Shades of Purple

April 30, 2016 10:12 PM

Prince's passing has inspired countless musical tributes, usually involving the title track of his magnum opus. Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and New Edition did distinct versions. So did Garth and Trisha Yearwood, Corey Taylor, the cast of The Color Purple and crowds in the streets in New Orleans. The Harlem Gospel Choir and 1,000 high school choir students made the most of the soaring chorus, and Prince protégé and backup singer Elisa Fiorillo gave an understandably emotional performance. Of course, no one can ever do it like the man himself.
posted by gottabefunky (27 comments total)

I honestly thought this was about Sign O' the Times. God, how I wanted to hear Stevie Wonder's version.
posted by flarbuse at 10:29 PM on April 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Sometimes It Snows In April - D'Angelo featuring Princess on The Tonight Show.
posted by fairmettle at 10:33 PM on April 30, 2016 [9 favorites]

Another great cover of the song by Adam Levine from Howard Stern's 60th birthday bash a couple years back.
posted by The Gooch at 10:59 PM on April 30, 2016

Jessie J did it too.

Oh man, New Edition covering Prince...that's like middle school all over again for me. : )
posted by SisterHavana at 11:01 PM on April 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

As much as I appreciate the sentiment behind covering his songs, they mostly just serve as a reminder that you aren't Prince.

No one is.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 11:01 PM on April 30, 2016 [10 favorites]

Sorry but the best Prince cover is Sandra Bernhard doing Little Red Corvette (NSFW). It is known.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:03 PM on April 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

I have to say. That Trisha Yearwood tribute was not good. I love her.... But can you say "pitchy"? Ugh. I appreciate the sentiment though... They probably had to work it up fast...
posted by pearlybob at 11:04 PM on April 30, 2016

This was just hanging off to side there on Youtube...I thought it was also pretty great.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 11:05 PM on April 30, 2016

The high school kids.... Wow! Thanks for a great post!
posted by pearlybob at 11:08 PM on April 30, 2016

Damn it, fairmettle. After a meh reaction to the few clips I checked in the OP, I wasn't prepared to ugly cry over D'Angelo on the Jimmy Fallon Show.
posted by seraphine at 11:11 PM on April 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

What is that instrument called that Stevie is playing in that news clip?
posted by cmoj at 11:15 PM on April 30, 2016

harpejji
posted by The Hamms Bear at 11:20 PM on April 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

This was prince at his funky finest- he always took such joy in his work.
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 11:58 PM on April 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

For completeness sake, The Waterboys included a version on their live album. IMO, the only non-Prince version that doesn't fall flat is Springsteen's.

Too soon.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:12 AM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

What is that instrument called that Stevie is playing in that news clip?

I think it's a harpejji
posted by thelonius at 12:36 AM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

David Gilmour also paid tribute on Comfortably Numb during a charity concert.
Previously
posted by _dario at 4:21 AM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

A glorious non-musical tribute: today's Sinfest and a couple of those from the previous days. If you want to see them all in order, start here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 5:48 AM on May 1, 2016 [3 favorites]

D'Angelo's was head and shoulders above the rest. I agree that 99% of the time, someone else covering Prince just reminds you "hey this person is not Prince."
posted by sallybrown at 6:38 AM on May 1, 2016

I worked up a version of Let's Go Crazy that I do on the 1-string guitar. Played it at two shows I've done in the last week. Doing it again tomorrow.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:44 AM on May 1, 2016

I submit Lovesexy as his magnum opus.
posted by oneironaut at 9:45 AM on May 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Old Crow Medicine Show
posted by maurice at 10:32 AM on May 1, 2016

Aretha Franklin covered "Purple Rain" as part of her set for International Jazz Day, 2016.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:18 PM on May 1, 2016

For fun, also check out Trey Songz' (Songz's?) cover of "Purple Rain" from the BET Prince tribute a few years back. Or don't, actually, it kind of sucked. But, do check out one of the many images of Prince throwing shade when Songz botched all of the high notes at the end.

Because Prince also knew your cover wasn't as good as his original. Oh you bet your ass, he knew.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:08 PM on May 1, 2016

I wish there were tributes with other songs.
posted by bendy at 2:21 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

Prince's magnum opus wasn't Purple Rain. Sacrilege, I know. If anything it's a toss-up between 1999 and Sign o' the Times, with a case to be made for Lovesexy, which is a 45-minute long magnum opus that was originally sold as a CD with no pauses between "tracks."
posted by blucevalo at 8:55 AM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'd argue that Prince's mangum opus was so magnum and prolonged it's hard to even grasp. It's pretty much everything from 1999 through Lovesexy (including all singles and b-sides and unreleased albums) ... and very possibly stuff from before 1999, that's just as far back as my knowledge goes. But the Batman soundtrack definitely marked the end of something.
posted by philip-random at 3:23 PM on May 2, 2016

Beck covered "Raspberry Beret" at Beale Street Music Festival, but I was really disappointed with it. Both by how mundane the arrangement was and by the chickenshit way he omitted the "Rain sounds so cool..." bridge, presumably because he couldn't hit the notes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:08 PM on May 3, 2016