The Ultimate Running Prince Playlist
Oh, Prince. I don’t normally wax poetic when celebrities die, but this one hits close to home.
I’m a bona fide Prince fanatic. Apparently, I’m the first person my friends and family think of when they think of Prince, as I learned upon the news of his death. His music is the soundtrack to my life. I’ve followed him through vinyl, cassette, CDs and digital downloads, often rebuying his music in each new format. I still own Purple Rain, 1999, and Parade in vinyl. I could never bring myself to part with them.
Prince first came on my radar in 1982 with “Little Red Corvette.” I loved the song for one simple reason: I was a kid and my dad happened to have a red Corvette. Listening to the song in his red Corvette? I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
Of course, I had no idea what the song was really about, but it was the beginning of a love affair that would last my entire life. 25 years later as an adult in an ’80s cover band, I insisted we cover The Purple One, adding “Kiss,” “Raspberry Beret,” and “Let’s Go Crazy” to the set-list.
Prince was my first crush, the first man I wanted to marry. I was 6 when Purple Rain came out and I thought we were MFEO because we both loved purple. Purple Rain was the first album I picked out for myself. I even got in trouble in Catholic school for adding “When Doves Cry” to a picture of the dove of peace that I printed on a school dot-matrix printer. It’s still my favorite color and Prince is still my favorite artist.
Purple Rain still holds a special place in my heart, but my favorite Prince album is probably Sign ‘O’ The Times. Every song just crushes it.
I saw Prince in concert twice, and wore purple each time. He remains the most electrifying performer I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of the legends—Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Robert Plant, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Whitney Houston, George Michael, and more—and contemporary artists like Lady Gaga, Beck, Wilco, and more.
So in honor of His Royal Badness, here is my Prince playlist for running in the Purple Rain. I’ve also included a Warm-Up and Cool-Down set to sneak in all of my faves.
So slap on some purple and hit the road with Prince. After all, he did sing: “I wanna be the only one that makes you come running.”
The Ultimate Running Prince Playlist
- Soft and Wet, For You, 1978
- I Wanna Be Your Lover, Prince, 1979
- When You Were Mine, Dirty Mind, 1980
- Uptown, Dirty Mind, 1980
- Controversy, Controversy, 1981
- Little Red Corvette, 1999, 1982
- 1999, 1999, 1982
- Delirious, 1999, 1982
- When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, 1984
- Let’s Go Crazy, Purple Rain, 1984
- I Would Die 4 You, Purple Rain, 1984
- Raspberry Beret, Around The World In A Day, 1985
- Kiss, Parade, 1986
- Girls & Boys, Parade, 1986
- New Position, Parade, 1986
- I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man, Sign ‘O” The Times, 1987
- U Got The Look, Sign ‘O’ The Times, 1987
- Housequake, Sign ‘O’ The Times, 1987
- Alphabet St., Lovesexy, 1988
- Batdance, Batman, 1989
- Thieves in the Temple, Graffiti Bridge, 1990
- Get Off, Diamonds and Pearls, 1991
- Sexy M.F.,
, 1992
- Pope, The Hits/The B-Sides, 1993
- Hot Wit U, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, 1999
- Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance, Musicology, 2004
- Musicology, Musicology, 2004
- Chelsea Rodgers, Planet Earth, 2007
- Art Official Cage, Art Official Age, 2014
- Funknroll, Plectrumelectrum, 2014
- Stare, HITNRUN Phase Two, 2015