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Prince Called Journey Before Releasing 'Purple Rain'

By Alisha Jackson

(RADIO.COM) – This past week, the world has been saturated with Prince's "Purple Rain".

Between radio takeovers, Purple Rain screenings, and musical tributes to the artist, the anthem has pretty much been on repeat ever since the news of his untimely passing broke. With the song fresh in your mind, take a listen to Journey's song "Faithfully."

Hear the similarities between the songs? Prince did, too, which is why he called up Journey's Jonathan Cain and asked for his blessing before releasing what would become his signature song.

Cain recalled going to Columbia Records' offices in Los Angeles to take a call from Prince, who said, "I want to play something for you, and I want you to check it out. The chord changes are close to 'Faithfully' and I don't want you to sue me." "I thought it was an amazing tune," Cain said, "and I told him, 'Man, I'm just super-flattered that you even called. It shows you're that classy of a guy. Good luck with the song. I know it's gonna be a hit.'"

Journey guitarist Neal Schon recalled Prince's classy move, too. "Prince felt, I guess, it was obvious enough that he was worried we were going to sue him. I think he called our office asking about it and we all talked about it and everybody said, 'Nah, it's the highest form of flattery. Let it go.'" Schon didn't even want a co-writing credit. "No, no, that'll just bring bad juju on you, and you don't want to do that," Cain said. "I just thought it seriously showed the kind of caring, classy guy Prince was. He wanted to check in with Jonathan Cain and make sure I wasn't going to say, That sounds like "Faithfully."

Read the full story now on 100.7 WZLX and check out the two tracks below.

Journey - Faithfully (Official Video) by journeyVEVO on YouTube
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