Composed using the same four chords as Journey's "Faithfully" (written by Jonathan Cain) which had recently been in the charts, Prince, to his credit phoned Cain asking him to hear it, worried that it might be too similar to "Faithfully", a connection that few musicians or listeners would easily make. Cain was impressed and reassured Prince, telling him the songs only shared the same chords.
The song reached #2 On the Billboard singles chart in 1984 and has become Prince's signature song. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it #143 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Prince's vocal range on the song spans from the low note of F3 to the high note of A5. I include Journey's "Faithfully" for comparison and because the power balled is about as close as Steve Perry and the boys came to Blues with it's melancholy lyric and Steve's emotional delivery.
The other two unlikely cover artists here remove all but the most cynical doubt that Prince penned a blues classic.
~ Prince ~
Faithfully
~ Journey ~
Purple Rain
~ LeAnn Rimes ~
Purple Rain
~ Tori Amos ~
