Heartwarming / Prince

• One day in The '80s, Susannah Melvoin, backup singer and then-girlfriend of Prince, told him a story about a little girl she and Wendy (her twin sister of Wendy & Lisa fame) went to school with. As the story goes, that little girl was kind of an odd duck named Cynthia Rose, she had autism, and ate starfish for breakfast. Prince was so enchanted by this strange little girl that he turned it into a song, on which Susannah got a writing credit: "Starfish & Coffee." It's one of the most joyous songs in his catalogue, a celebration of the "weird kid" at school and a nice reminder for listeners that it's totally okay to be different. If any 80s pop musician would know that, it's Prince.
  • Adding onto the heartwarming is that Prince personally re-recorded it for the Muppets! ^note This was in advance of a children's album Prince was planning to celebrate the birth of his son, an album that was sadly abandoned when that son died of a rare skull disease after a week.
• "Raspberry Beret" tells the tale of Prince, working at a 5¢ store, meeting a woman whom he falls in love with, gets to know during his off time, and ultimately loses his virginity to, which he's happy with because she was such a wonderful girl.
  Listen, they say the first time ain't the greatest,
  But I tell you, if I had the chance to do it all again, ooo
  I wouldn't change a stroke, 'cause, baby, I'm the most
  With a girl as fine as she was then.
• "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is a really sweet song. Coming from Prince, an artist best known for his sex jams, it's nice to see him so sincere (if hyperbolic) about the girl he loves.
  And if the stars ever fell one by one from the sky
  I know Mars could not be, uh, too far behind
  'Cause baby, this kind of beauty has got no reason to ever be shy
  'Cause honey, this kind of beauty is the kind that comes from inside.
• "The Arms Of Orion," a duet with Sheena Easton and one of the lesser-remembered songs off of his Batman (1989) soundtrack album. It's an appropriately ethereal ballad which sounds just as beautiful as the name would suggest.
• "Beautiful, Loved And Blessed," another gorgeous duet, this time with his protegé Támar, about The Power of Friendship.
• When the producers of Happy Feet asked Prince to let them use "Kiss," he originally turned them down. But then they showed him footage and he not only changed his mind, but wrote a new song for the soundtrack, "The Song Of The Heart," which is basically the cutest thing ever.
• The amount of tributes from music luminaries past and present following the Purple One's death. Everyone from Paul McCartney to Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, to The Smashing Pumpkins, to David Gilmour — no matter how different their styles of music, they all united to pay tribute to a legend.
  • Most of them picked "Purple Rain" as the tribute song, which is already a pretty powerful song without the absence of its creator. Bruce even performed it twice!
  • Love it or hate it, Madonna was a pretty good choice to pay tribute to him at the Billboard Music Awards, what with her also being an '80s icon.
  • Even "Weird Al" Yankovic, who had spent most of his career ribbing him for not letting him parody any of his songs, paid his respects, saying he would honor The Purple One's wishes and never release any future song parodies.
  • Billy Joel opted to perform "1999," and a bunch of other artists (such as McCartney and the cast of Hamilton) did "Let's Go Crazy." Because in the end, wouldn't Prince want to be remembered as the partier to end all partiers?
  And if the elevator tries to bring you down
  Go crazy - punch a higher floor!
• After his death was announced, comedian Jake Fogelnest, who was behind the parody Twitter account Prince Tweets 2 U, said that he had seen the account and thought it was Actually Pretty Funny.
• In the Fatman On Batman episode following his death that week, fan Kevin Smith basically gave an hour-long eulogy of Prince, gushing about how he was the truest artist ever, with the skills and the business savvy to literally do whatever he wanted, until he's a crying mess. It also features the single most sincere use of the word "fuck" from a man who regularly uses it as punctuation.
  "That man had the ability to manifest the present and the future. Do you know how many people could fucking pull that off? Like, very few!"
  • He also mentioned that his one regret was not getting to bury the hatchet with Prince after The Purple One took umbrage with Smith's unflattering standup story about him.
• Shortly after his passing, it was revealed that Prince had donated thousands of dollars to schools in predominantly black neighborhoods to fund computer coding programs, hoping that it would help young black people become successful entrepreneurs (being a Jehovah's Witness, he couldn't disclose his charitable donations).
• After Prince's death, Fellow Minneapolis musician Paul Westerberg of The Replacements recalled their casual acquaintance for Rolling Stone. Along with other anecdotes, Westerberg remembered a time when he was recording at Paisley Park and had heard that a friend of his had died. Westerberg left the studio after receiving the news, and when he came back, Prince had filled the place with balloons to cheer him up.
• Though sadly released after the death of his son with his then-wife Mayte Garcia, his cover of The Stylistics' "Betcha by Golly, Wow" definitely counts.