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Prince · S5 E4
Let's Go Crazy
A sermon, a scream, and a guitar solo that could power a city. The opening track that sets the tone for a generation
July 1984. The Purple Rain album opens not with a chord or a beat, but with a man speaking from a pulpit: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life."
"Anotherloverholenyohead" (Prince and the Revolution, 1986). A single from Parade that carries the same explosive live energy as "Let's Go Crazy." The Revolution at full force: Prince's guitar tearing through the mix, the band locked in at maximum velocity.
Anotherloverholenyohead, Prince and the Revolution (1986)
"Anotherloverholenyohead" runs the title into one breathless word because the song itself never stops for air. The tempo is relentless, the horn section punches through the groove, and Prince's vocal ricochets between desperation and defiance. Listen for how the band builds intensity without ever speeding up: the tempo stays locked while the energy climbs. This is what "Let's Go Crazy" taught Prince to do, taken even further.
Sources
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
The Sermon
"Let's Go Crazy" opens with Prince speaking as a preacher, delivering a sermon about life, death, and the "afterworld." No other pop song in 1984 begins this way. The spoken intro is a full minute of Prince addressing the audience like a congregation before the band erupts into one of the hardest rock riffs he's ever written.
Sources
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
TAP TO REVEAL: What is the "de-elevator" Prince mentions in "Let's Go Crazy"?
The Opening Act
"Let's Go Crazy" is the first song on the Purple Rain album and the first song performed in the Purple Rain movie. Prince understood that whoever controlled the opening controlled the audience. By starting with a sermon, he set the terms: this isn't just music. This is a spiritual experience with a guitar solo.
Sources
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Rock and Roll Church
The sermon in "Let's Go Crazy" isn't just a gimmick. Prince grew up between his father's jazz and his mother's faith, and he never stopped mixing the sacred with the secular. The opening of Purple Rain's first track is Prince declaring that music is his religion, the stage is his church, and the guitar is how he prays.
Sources
Thorne, Matt. "Prince: The Man and His Music." Faber & Faber, 2012.
Hahn, Alex. "Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince." Billboard Books, 2003.
Let's Go Crazy: The File
The Ladder, Prince and the Revolution (1985)
From Around the World in a Day, "The Ladder" carries the spiritual thread that "Let's Go Crazy" introduced. Where the Purple Rain opener delivered a sermon disguised as rock and roll, this track goes deeper: a meditation on salvation set to a slow, building groove. Prince takes the pulpit energy of "Let's Go Crazy" and turns it inward.
The Ladder, Prince and the Revolution (1985)
The lyrics wrestle with faith, temptation, and the search for higher meaning. Prince asks questions here that the sermon in "Let's Go Crazy" only hinted at. The title is an image of ascent: climbing toward something better, rung by rung, with no guarantee of reaching the top. It's Prince at his most openly spiritual.
What made-up word does Prince use in the sermon opening of "Let's Go Crazy"?
The sermon is delivered, the guitar solo is scorching, and the album is #1. But there's one more song that will define this era more than any other. Next episode: the title track, "Purple Rain," recorded live at First Avenue in a single take that still makes grown adults cry.
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