The Emperor "Purple Rain" Is Revealed to Have Had No Clothes Until Covered by Ray Brown

Seriously, I know Prince means a lot to people, but my only exposure to him has been what I heard on the radio all those years ago, and I found it singularly uninteresting although possibly cute and fun. The top 40 stuff always revealed kind of sort of all right (maybe) lyrics. Here Ray Brown actually shows that "Purple Rain", had it been by an unsigned unknown, singing at an open mike might get as good a round of applause as any pretty decent song. I doubt however that it, as song, would get the gig. Although who knows. Mr. Krieger after all has been known to favor Prince. Luckily for Prince, it is Ray Brown covering the song. That gives it some cachet. Brown does for "Purple Rain" something akin to what Richard Thompson did for "Oops I Did It Again"

As I said, my exposure to Prince is limited. From a songwriting perspective what I have been exposed to (on the radio over the years) does not, in my estimation come anywhere close to this or indeed most any other song by Ray Brown: