On Episode 103 of the Press Rewind – Prince Lyrics Podcast, Micah Simpson from the Purple Underground YouTube channel joins me in talking about “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night,” the funky 9-minute jam performed live on stage during the Parade tour. Was this performance a tryout for The Revolution? What is Sheila E. talking about during the trans-Mississippi rap? We discuss all of this and more.
“They say that there’s nothing’s better than sleeping on a rainy day.”
The gang’s all here, one last time (on record at least) for the recorded live party anthem, “It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night.” Recorded towards the tail end of the Parade tour in Paris. Like other live recordings used for Purple Rain, the officially released album version included additional overdubs later. In this case, Jill Jones vocals and Sheila E’s “transmississippirap.” Despite its joyful noise, the song is also a bit of a coda for The Revolution since it ended up being the last song where their involvement was included on a Prince album. Most of the Revolution’s other musical contributions to Sign o’ the Times were removed or buried, but Prince couldn’t do that for a live recording. So here we are. Enjoy the moment.
The goal of each episode of Press Rewind is to:
- Take a track by track look at the lyrical content of Prince’s discography
- Discuss my own interpretation of each song’s lyrics along with any guest I may have
- If submitted, discuss listener’s interpretations of each song’s lyrics
Thank you for joining me on this journey through Prince’s catalog!
