Hear Prince’s Purple Rain before he edited it down & cut a verse

The version of “Purple Rain” that appeared on the album of the same name originally had an extra verse, that Prince cut before the song’s release.

You can hear the longer original version here at this live show in Minneapolis circa 1983. The discarded verse begins at 5:49 and ends at 6:36. The edited out verse begins with “I don’t want your money, no, no, no…”

This example from one of the greats of songwriting proves it’s never too late to change a song, and Prince continued editing this song even at this late stage. How late a stage? This vocal from this live show was simply edited and used for the album (the guitar solo is also from this show). And plenty of songwriters remove or change lyrics after the studio albums come out.