"Sometimes It Snows in April" is a song by American musician Prince. It was included on his eighth studio albumParade, which was also the soundtrack to his film Under the Cherry Moon. Prince wrote, performed, and produced the song alongside Wendy & Lisa, who co-wrote the music. The song's narrator recounts memories of Christopher Tracy, Prince's character from Under the Cherry Moon, and how Tracy's death affected the narrator; it also expresses their desire to hopefully rejoin Tracy in heaven. Prince performed the song live fairly often over the years, sometimes using it as a final encore to wind down the show. "Sometimes It Snows in April" received significant attention after Prince's death on April 21, 2016, exactly 31 years after its recording date, and it went on to re-enter several record charts worldwide.
Commercial performance
After the initial release of Parade, "Sometimes It Snows in April" was not released as a single, which made it ineligible to chart. However, after Prince's death on April 21, 2016, sales of the song increased heavily, allowing it to peak on several charts. The song was most successful in Europe; in France, it peaked at number 14, lasting a total of three weeks on the chart. It fared well in the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland, where it peaked at numbers 63, 69, and 64, respectively. It charted the lowest in the United Kingdom, where it lasted for one week on the chart, peaking at number 193.
British Indian singer Amar recorded a cover version of the song for her album Outside. It was released as a single on 12 June 2000, and peaked at No. 48 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 6 on the UK Dance Chart. Mixmag included "Sometimes It Snows in April" in their list of "40 of the bestUK garage tracks released from 1995 to 2005".
Chart
Peak position
Other cover versions
French R&B duo Native recorded a cover version of the song for their self-titled debut album, released in 1995. Australian musician Gotye recorded a vocals-only cover version of the song that was uploaded to his YouTube channel on April 21, 2016. American musician D'Angelo performed the song as a tribute to Prince, accompanied by Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum of the Prince cover band Princess, on April 26, 2016 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. British band Coldplay performed a live cover of the song, accompanied by fellow British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas, on July 6, 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark while on tour for their album A Head Full of Dreams. Barry Hyde, the former frontman of the Futureheads, recorded a cover version of the song for his solo albumMalody, released in June 2016. American musician Meshell Ndegeocello recorded a cover version of the song for her album Ventriloquism, released on March 16, 2018. In 2019, Sandra Bernhard performed the song in character as Judy in the episode "Love's in Need of Love Today" on the FX series Pose. This version was released as a single on the episode's airdate of July 23, 2019.
