Single Stories: Prince and the Revolution, “Take Me With U”

34 years ago today, Prince and the Revolution released the final single from the soundtrack to Purple Rain, a track which ultimately turned into the LP’s fifth top-40 hit.

Recorded almost exactly a year before its release (the session took place on January 27, 1984 at Los Angeles’s Sunset Sound studio), “Take Me With U” – a duet between Prince and Apollonia – was a song which had originally been planned for inclusion on the self-titled Apollonia 6 album. Instead, Prince decided to pull it from that LP in favor of adding it to PURPLE RAIN. Thankfully, he still opted to keep Apollonia involved, probably in no small part because – like Prince himself – she was in the movie, although Lisa Coleman did provide vocals on the song as well.

“Take Me With U” didn’t come anywhere near the phenomenal success of the other singles from PURPLE RAIN, but it still managed to turn into another top-40 hit for Prince and the Revolution. Actually, make that a top-30 hit, since it actually topped out at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100.