In Prince’s eyes I saw something better than myself

I realize this isn’t the only Prince tribute you’ll read today. But I want to talk about something specific, his eyes.

By Andrew J. Pridgen

After a couple beers tonight, I’ll start talking about Purple Rain; but not about the music or the motorcycle or the Oscar win from a now-defunct category because the Academy decided nobody could do Best Music Original Song Score better than Prince. I won’t even bring up what I learned did happen to Apollonia from Oprah: Where Are They Now? (because that will invariably set the conversation in a Willie Aames/Danny Bonaduce spiral—and nobody wants that.)

It’ll be something along the lines of how Purple Rain was this endless mirror reflection of Prince. The child prodigy who captured the moment in his life when he knew he was called to musical immortality but tried to jettison it—because insecurity. The man who navigated sickly childhood…