Song 100: The Purple Rain

I keep on giving myself the opportunity to say that I prefer other things to Prince. 

This song, called 'The Purple Rain', is neither by Prince or about Prince. It's got nothing to do with Prince.

It's from this year, 2024, it's by my old favourites The Pernice Brothers, and it's a tribute to singer-songwriter David Berman. In fact, Joe Pernice says it's a tribute both to Berman and two other friends of Pernice who have died, but because of the title and the lyrics, and because Berman is a renowned figure, Berman is the figure who dominates it.

Berman and Pernice were friends - I hadn't known that. It slightly took me aback, as, although they were the same age, I got into their music a long time apart and hadn't associated them with the same kind of thing... though they were both literate, mournful country-tinged Americana writers.

Berman, especially since his death in 2019, has become a significant cult figure, perhaps the most revered of that generation of songwriters, whereas Joe Pernice is, has always been, very marginal. I may be among Joe Pernice's biggest 100 fans in the world! He keeps on keeping on. Little else he's done have I loved as much as the album 'The World Won't End' from 2001, but there'll always be well-crafted, poignant songs on an album Joe Pernice is involved with.

I do really love this song, 'The Purple Rain', though. I love that it does something very obvious, and stately, on the chorus. A slow refrain to remember. Too obvious, perhaps, for a pop classicist to usually employ. 

"Purple mountains in the purple rain" ... ah right, I remember when I heard it, without knowing the background, I thought, of course, this must be about David Berman. David Berman who, as Purple Mountains, released the album 'Purple Mountains' in the summer of 2019 and took his life weeks later.

Berman's lyrics are so good it blows your mind. Both in Purple Mountains and in his previous band, Silver Jews. His voice was limited and he was a rudimentary musician - not a fan of playing live, apparently. Joe Pernice is much more of an all-round songwriter than a musical poet. He started out alt-country but was capable of Beatles-esque, and Smiths-esque pop.

They became friends in the 90s, apparently, taking a writer's course at the University of Massachusetts, and also teaching there. Pernice's band of the time, the Scud Mountain Boys, were involved in recordings for a Silver Jews album, though those recordings weren't used.

Anyway, that's all the trivia. This is a lovely song, about someone you know is living close to the edge. Here's a compilation of the combined works of Berman and Pernice:

Dave and Joe

• Random Rules - Silver Jews
• Overcome by Happiness - Pernice Brothers
• All My Happiness is Gone - Purple Mountains
• Prince Valium - Joe Pernice
• Punks in the Beerlight - Silver Jews
• Grudge F*** - Pernice Brothers
• She's Making Friends, I'm Turning Stranger - Purple Mountains
• She Heightened Everything - Pernice Brothers
• Trains Across the Sea - Silver Jews
• Judy - Pernice Brothers
• Bum Leg - Pernice Brothers
• Margaritas at the Mall - Purple Mountains
• Somerville - Pernice Brothers
• Suffering Jukebox - Silver Jews
• 7.30 - Pernice Brothers
• I Loved Being My Mother's Son - Purple Mountains
• Massachusetts - Scud Mountain Boys
• Nights That Won't Happen - Purple Mountains
• The Purple Rain - Pernice Brothers
• The Wild Kindness - Silver Jews