One of the album’s most enduring moments is the
spoken-word introduction to “Computer Blue,”
featuring Coleman and Melvoin.

COLEMAN I have a Facebook page and I can’t tell you how many people post “Is the water warm enough?” on there. I don’t know what it means. Prince handed us a piece of paper and said, “Will you guys go out there and say this?” I didn’t think twice. Honestly, I hate to say that it doesn’t mean anything. Is it tea? Is it a bathtub? Whatever you want to think. It was just us being cheeky.

MELVOIN We had no idea that it had some weird psychosexual connotations. Now it’s like some odd tagline for us. I roll my eyes, because some people say it like I’ve never heard it before. COLEMAN [Our relationship] was never meant to be a secret. We were just who we were. She was my girlfriend, and that lasted until just about six years ago. We were married for 20 years. I mean, not married, but together. MELVOIN We were very quiet with the press. You could call it closeted, but we didn’t want to put our relationship at risk. And everybody loved the mystery: “I bet they are. I bet they’re not.”

With a final budget of just over $7 million, Purple
Rain commenced shooting on November 1, 1983.

MAGNO LI We had over 900 extras who came to the set every day excited. They gave the whole scene a tremendous amount of realism. And we didn’t know it at the time, but those images had a tremendous amount of influence on the direction that MTV took.

COLEMAN When it came to shooting, Prince was very focused and specific about the way he wanted things to look. He got very involved. He made you feel safe and proud. JONES He would just let you be who you were and try to help bring it out. When you’re in his company, you’re like, “Yeah, we can do this.” That’s a great quality, even with all the sociopathic behavior that he can exhibit. KO TERO One minute we’re hanging out, playing basketball like two buddies, and then the big kiss scene. It was in the barn and I had to be topless. He was really a gentleman—he looked straight in my eyes. We have great chemistry. But the whole world has this idea we dated. At the time, I was seeing David Lee Roth. MAGNOLI I didn’t find it very difficult to direct them. Because they were already performers and because the story was organic to them, all they had to do was be themselves. But I feel that Prince, Morris Day, Jerome Benton, Apollonia—they were who they needed to be in those roles. There was no embellishment, there was no flourish. They stayed true to their characters. LEEDS No one was going to win any awards for acting. No one had any illusions that they were. The majority of the music-buying public hadn’t seen what a remarkable performer Prince was. Whatever success the movie was going to have depended entirely upon how well the performance scenes came off.

THE TOUR
Clockwise from top: Prince at the tour’s kickoff in Detroit,
November 1984; Prince and Sheila E. in Illinois, December 1984;
celebrating his birthday with Melvoin in Minneapolis, June 7, 1984

Paul natKin/Photo reserve, inC. (tour Photos)

58 july 2009 / everyone wins at sPin.CoM