I could never steal you from another

I habitually hummed to whatever the café’s radio blared while standing line waiting to pay for my bagels. Others in line whispered the lyrics, whistled the melody, and tapped their hands to thighs and feet to floor. It’s just what you do in line to let loose a bit before work.

The dramatic coda to Journey’s power ballad “Faithfully” had the man in front of me stealthily soloing on his imaginary guitar, but he kept his chord-forming left hand in his pocket.

I thought, “This sounds a lot like ‘Purple Rain.’” In fact, I hummed a signature run from Prince’s solo on top of the melody of the Journey song; it fit perfectly. It sounds like someone borrowed from someone else. The main chord progressions of the first four bars are very similar, but compare “Faithfully” at 3:36 to “Purple Rain” at 3:47.†

Sure, the songs are in different keys, but the similarity is uncanny. Now, Prince could still rip Journey’s Neil Schon a few new ones any day on guitar, but I’ll try not to compare Minnesota apples to California oranges.††

So whose song was released first?

Journey released “Faithfully” on its 1983 album Frontiers on February 22 and as a single on April 16. Prince recorded “Purple Rain” on August 3, 1983. So the timing is right; Prince had his ears open to new musical directions in ’83.

I’d read somewhere that between 1999 and Purple Rain, one of Prince’s band members explained that the Midwest loved Bob Seger’s powerful anthems. Supposedly, he wrote “Purple Rain” shortly after that conversation. So it makes sense that Prince might have taken a little Journey when composing his most famous song.

Well, we may never know for sure if Journey’s ballad actually inspired Prince, but I found proof that Journey—well Neil Schon & Friends—has performed “Purple Rain.” According to an  online guitar community forum, Schon, along with Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain and others played “Purple Rain,” which segued into “Faithfully,” at a 2007 concert in Walnut Creek, California.

†Prince has taken down “Purple Rain” from Youtube, so you’ll have to break out your own CDs or MP3s to compare.

††Hal can’t front because when it was first released, “Separate Ways” from Frontiers was his favorite song for a minute.