Summary
"I never meant to cause you any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain..."
True stories of what Prince's epic ballad means to different people around the world, from the very first jam in 1983 to the global hit that reigns over us today.
Bobby Z, the drummer from Prince and The Revolution, remembers the buzz of the first ever performance of Purple Rain, and how the recording from that night lives on.
Susan Rogers, Prince's recording engineer, tells stories from the Purple Rain tour, when the crew took bets on how long Prince's guitar solos would last.
Comedian Sindhu Vee first heard the song as a teenager growing up in India and was knocked sideways by it.
Weather reporter Judith Ralston describes the beautiful and rare weather phenomenon of purple rain.
Social historian Zaheer Ali sees the song as a cry out for change, bringing audiences from different backgrounds together in cross-genre harmony.
And finally, an intensive care hospital nurse played Purple Rain to Kevin Clarke while he was in a coma, because his sister knew he loved the song and hoped it might pull him through.
Producer: Becky Ripley
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2022.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Traitors is back and so is that mysterious cloaked figure with the familiar fringe. |
| 0:06.7 | Yeah, it's me. |
| 0:07.9 | And when you've watched Claudia in the castle, join me, Ed Gamble, for the official visualised companion podcast. |
| 0:13.7 | And remember, I'll be listening. |
| 0:15.9 | Okay? |
| 0:16.7 | No, seriously, I love it. |
| 0:18.5 | What a faithful. |
| 0:19.7 | We'll unpack betrayals and spill scandalous secrets with celebrity guests, traitors' legends, |
| 0:25.0 | and murdered and banished players. |
| 0:27.1 | The Traitors Uncloked. |
| 0:28.4 | Watch on EyePlayer, listen for more on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.2 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:37.9 | At the end of one long rehearsal, you know, right at the end of the day, one day, |
| 0:43.7 | Prince calls out chord changes while he's basically singing the song intact. |
| 0:50.4 | And it was one of those magic moments where the band just fell in on this very first run-through. |
| 0:59.0 | It was one of those songs that was born alive. |
| 1:03.0 | And by an hour, I mean, it was there. |
| 1:07.0 | And we kind of just unleashed it and played our hearts out on it on August 3rd, 1983, at First Avenue. |
| 1:16.6 | I never meant to call on you when you're summer. |
| 1:19.6 | I never meant to call you're laughing in the |
| 1:31.3 | My name is Robert Rivkin, professionally known as Bobby Z. |
| 1:53.1 | I was and continued to be the drummer for The Revolution, as in Prince and the Revolution. |
... |
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