Purple and gold

What the New York Times called "a fight song by Prince for his hometown team" sounds more like a spiritual to me — a church hymn. I think it's awful as a fight song for the Minnesota Vikings and I can't see people getting all revved up and rah-rahing when they hear it. I can see this song getting people to shuffle their feet though — in vicarious embarrassment.

What do you think? Check it out below:

YouTube video


New York Times reports:

Prince, whose hits have included “Little Red Corvette” and “Purple Rain,” is continuing on the color spectrum with a tribute to the Minnesota Vikings called “Purple and Gold.”

The rock star, originally from Minnesota, wrote the tune to cheer on the Vikings, who will play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday in the National Football Conference championship game, with the winner going to the Super Bowl. “Purple and Gold” had its debut this week on the 9 p.m. newscast of the Fox affiliate KMSP-TV in Minneapolis.

Prince said he was inspired to pick up his pen after watching in person as the Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys, 34-3, last weekend, after not seeing the team play in years until this season. The song (with Prince’s own brand of spelling) says in part: “as we approach the throne we won’t bow down/this time we won’t b denied/raise every voice and let it be known/in the name of the purple and gold/we come in the name of the purple and gold/all of the odds r in r favor/ no prediction 2 bold.” The Vikings wide receiver Bernard Berrian used his Twitter page to thank Prince. “He is definitely one of my favorites,” Mr. Berrian said.

Controversy

Local radio personality, Sheletta Brundidge, has an interesting observation about this song: she thinks it's a rip-off of the Negro National Anthem, aka "Lift Every Voice and Sing..."

Check out her blog post, here, where she invites you to compare Prince's song with the Negro National Anthem, side by side.

(I love the pic of Prince she used for her post.)