I Only Want To See You Laughing in the Purple Rain

I never meant to cause you any sorrow
I never meant to cause you any pain
I only wanted to one time to see you laughing
I only wanted to see you
Laughing in the purple rain

I had meetings and lunch engagements on Thursday that kept me pretty busy. But when I returned to my desk at work and got back online, I quickly learned the very sad news of the untimely passing of the artist Prince.

Of course, as an 80s music lover, I am a fan. I saw the film Purple Rain when it first came out and became - like pretty much everyone else from my age group - obsessed with two songs, Purple Rain and When Doves Cry.

In more recent years, I began to appreciate what a marvelous guitar player Prince was. And I have learned, in these past few days, some other very interesting stories about Prince. And I bet you have too.

I wanted to do something on Friday to honor Prince, and remember him in grand purple style. For this also we have had in common: we are both lovers of purple! And I have been known (ask anyone who knows me), like The Purple One, to dress head-to-toe in my favorite funky shade. I like my purples shiny. I like textures. I like sparkle. I like shoes to match. Purple is JOY!

I have been visiting the local Arboretum's tulip show nearly every morning now. The display of 30,000+ tulips has just started to open, and the first color to begin the show in blazing glory was my favorite: purple, of course!

It was raining as I was driving to work, and I thought - how perfect, I shall get some shots of the purple tulips in the rain! It stopped raining just as I got there. A gift of sorts, I guess, as I didn't have to huddle under my umbrella to get my pictures.

And there on the grounds of the Arboretum, I kneeled down and remembered the man, the artist, the legend, as I took my pictures of hundreds of purple tulips kissed by the fresh spring rain. (I've included a second photo in the extras that includes a few additional shades - look closely so that you can see the raindrops - they look like tears.)

You knew what the song to accompany this image had to be, of course. It's the Prince classic, Purple Rain. As a bonus, I'm including links to a few more tracks below. Sir, we are sad to see you leave this earth but we are grateful you were here.

Bonus tracks:
Springsteen and crew open their Brooklyn performance with Purple Rain
 (watch Nils slay 'em on the guitar!)
Prince, Little Red Corvette
Prince, Raspberry Beret
Prince, When Doves Cry
Quindon Tarver's excellent cover, When Doves Cry, from Romeo+Juliet
Prince, Tom Petty, and friends, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Prince's guitar solo steals the show)
Sinead O'Connor, Nothing Compares 2 U (written by Prince)