Prince became a superstar in the 1980s. The “Purple Rain” singer was a transcendent talent who blended pop with rock ‘n’ roll. While the singer was known to keep to himself, he publicly criticized a few artists, including Keith Richards and Adam Levine. Prince once criticized The Beatles for a song they released 15 years after John Lennon’s death.
Prince said The Beatles’ ‘Free as a Bird’ was ‘demonic’
In 1995, the remaining Beatles (Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) released Anthology, a collection of behind-the-scenes stories and unreleased demos in the format of a documentary and compilation albums. Part of Anthology included a new song from The Beatles called “Free as a Bird”. The song included unfinished audio of Lennon, who could never complete this track.
McCartney, Harrison, and Starr came together to finish the song and clean up Lennon’s audio, so it sounded like The Beatles were performing together once again. In an interview with Guitar World, Prince found the whole thing eerie and called it “demonic.”
“That’s the most demonic thing imaginable,” he said. “Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing… it really is demonic. And I am not a demon.”
Paul McCartney said ‘strange’ things occurred while recording the song
Prince may have been on to something as Paul McCartney said there were “strange goings-on” while The Beatles were in the studio. According to onhike.com, McCartney said they put a spoof ending on the song, and when listening to the ending, it sounded like Lennon was calling to them from the other side.
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“We put one of those spoof backwards recordings on the end of the single for a laugh, to give all those Beatles nuts something to do,” McCartney explained. “I think it was the line of a George Formby song. Then we were listening to the finished single in the studio one night, and it gets to the end, and it goes, ‘zzzwrk nggggwaaahhh jooohn lennnnnon qwwwrk.’ I swear to God. We were like, ‘It’s John. He likes it!’”
Another weird occurrence happened when The Beatles stepped outside to take a photo. A rare white peacock entered the frame off to the side, and McCartney said he believed it was John making his presence known.
Prince was quietly a fan of the band
It’s hard to find someone who dislikes The Beatles. Even though he was critical of “Free as a Bird”, Bobby Z, drummer for The Revolution, said listening to a song from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band made Prince think about The Beatles differently.
“He said, ‘What’s that?’” Z. shared. “We said, ‘That’s Sgt. Pepper.’ He went, ‘The Beatles. Ehhh? Really?’ You know, it was just like that. He walked in [and we were like] ‘No, no, no, no, not this song. Start it over.” And, of course, he didn’t have the patience, but I know he went back and listened to that song and realized that it was much better. Not better, but ‘Good Morning Good Morning’, that’s just a novelty track on an amazing album.”
Z believed the album had an effect on Prince and influenced his 1985 album, Around the World in a Day.
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