The Color Purple (Reprise) Lyrics
The Color Purple (Reprise)
CelieNow who that comin'?
Nettie
Hey, sista, whatcha gon' do?
Goin' down by the river,
Gonna play with you.
Nettie
Celie!
Celie
Nettie!
My nettie home.
Dear god, dear stars, dear trees, dear sky,
Dear peoples, dear everything, dear god,
God is inside me and everyone else
That was or ever will be.
I came into this world with god
And when i finally looked inside, i found it,
Just as close as my breath is to me.
Celie/nettie/sofia
Rising . . . . . . . . .
Adam/olivia
Rising . . . . . . . . .
Shug/mister
Rising . . . . . . . . .
Celie/nettie/sofia/shug/mister/adam/olivia
Like the sun
Is the hope that sets us free
Celie
Your heart beat
Make my heart beat
Celie/nettie/sofia/shug/mister/adam/olivia
When we
Share love.
Full company
Like a blade of corn,
Like a honeybee,
Like a waterfall,
All a part of me.
Like the color purple,
Where do it come from?
Now my eyes are open,
Look what god has done.
Ensemble 1 ensemble 2 ensemble 3
It take a grain of love be dee da do ba do bop
To make a mighty tree. Be dee da do ba do bop
To make a mighty tree.
Even the smallest voice be dee da do ba do bop
Can make a harmony. There's something for me.
Like a drop of water be dee da do ba do bop
Keep the river high, be dee da do ba do bop
There are miracles be dee da do ba do bop
For you and i. There's something for me.
Ensemble 1 ensemble 2 ensemble 3
Like a blade of corn, be dee da do ba do bop god is inside you
Like a honeybee, be dee da do ba do bop and everyone else.
Like a waterfall, be dee da do ba do bop
All a part of me. There's something for me.
Like the color purple, be dee da do ba do bop god is the flowers
Where do it come from? Be dee da do ba do bop and everything else.
Now my eyes are open, be dee da do ba do bop
Look what god has done.
Celie
I don't think us feel old at all.
I think this is the youngest us ever felt.
Celie & ensemble
Acelie
-men! Company
-men!
Song Overview
Song Credits
- Featured: Cynthia Erivo
- Composers & Lyricists: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray
- Producers (cast album): Scott Sanders, Roy Furman, Oprah Winfrey
- Release Date: February 19 2016
- Genre: Gospel-soul, R&B-inflected Broadway
- Instrumentation: Hammond organ, upright bass, hand-claps, brass flourishes, choral ensemble
- Label: Broadway Records
- Runtime: 2 minutes 46 seconds
- Language: English
- Album: The Color Purple (2015 Broadway Cast Recording)
- Mood: Exultant, reflective, communally uplifting
- Copyright © 2015 – 2016 Purple Music LLC / WB Music Corp.
Song Meaning and Annotations
“The Color Purple (Reprise)” feels like dawn cracking over rural Georgia: first a prayer-whisper from Celie, then full choir sunshine. The groove is Sunday-morning gospel in dialogue with supple R&B, a sonic handshake between church pews and soul clubs. Director John Doyle’s stripped-back revival staging put every ounce of spotlight on human voices; Cynthia Erivo answers by sending hers straight through the rafters.
Dramatically, this is liberation in real time. Throughout the musical Celie has searched for worth outside herself; here she turns inward, locating the divine “just as close as my breath is to me.” That single revelation flips the entire company from call-and-response into call-and-celebration. Everyday objects—corn, honeybees, waterfalls—become communion wafers of wonder, embodying Alice Walker’s insistence that holiness hides in plain sight.
Opening Invocation
Dear God, dear stars, dear trees, dear sky…
The litany begins cosmic, grows personal. Like a child’s nightly roll-call it names everything alive, hinting that nothing lies outside grace.
Choral Lift
Rising, rising, rising like the sun / Is the hope that sets us free
A triple echo forms a round that mirrors sunrise: each repetition adds light, widening harmonic color.
Everyday Miracles Bridge
Like a plate of corn / Like a honeybee / Like a waterfall
Food, insect, torrent—mundane yet elemental. The lyric collapses the sacred/secular divide by putting farm supper and river roar on equal spiritual footing.
The Purple Question
Like the color purple / Where do it come from?
Purple, blended of red courage and blue serenity, stands in for beauty that requires looking twice. Shug’s line from the novel—“It pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it”—hovers between the notes.
Similar Songs
- “I’m Here” — The Color Purple Broadway Cast
Celie’s earlier solo is the seed; the reprise shows the garden. Same writers, same gospel DNA, but “I’m Here” is solitary affirmation while “The Color Purple (Reprise)” grows into communal hallelujah. - “Seasons of Love” — RENT Ensemble
Both anthems count life’s worth in small units—cups of coffee, grains of love—and rely on choir-style stacking to enlarge simple melodies. - “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” — The Sound of Music Revival Cast
Maria’s mountaintop gospel shares the same upward harmonic journey and message of internal compass meeting external promise.
Questions and Answers
- Why does the reprise run under three minutes?
- The writers boiled hours of narrative growth into a concentrated praise break—short on exposition, heavy on catharsis.
- How does the piece echo Alice Walker’s novel?
- Lines about God inside everything and noticing purple flowers lift Walker’s theology directly, translating prose into song.
- Is the arrangement difficult for amateur choirs?
- The melody sits comfortably, but the gospel call-and-response and modulation ask for confident altos and tenors; many groups thin the harmonies to suit their roster.
- Did Cynthia Erivo win awards tied to this performance?
- Her portrayal of Celie, anchored by this reprise, earned the 2016 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical.
- What makes the finale feel larger than its length?
- Layered rounds, hand-clap syncopation, and a key change lift the sonic ceiling, while the entire company belts in unison on the climactic “Amen.”
Fan and Media Reactions
Scroll through YouTube and you’ll find a congregation of listeners testifying. One commenter calls it “three minutes of pure sunrise,” another admits to cueing the track before job interviews “for armor.” Theater reviewers praised the 2015 revival’s minimalism, pointing to this reprise as proof you can rip an audience’s heart out with nothing but wooden chairs and unamplified voices.
“Those final ‘Amen’s gave me goosebumps the size of grapes.” — @StageDoorDreamer
“Erivo turns a whisper into a hurricane of faith.” — Jesse Green, NYT
“Tears, mascara, rebirth—on repeat.” — @BroadwayBinge
“Our choir is begging to sing this next Easter.” — @ChoirMama77
“Proof that less set equals more soul.” — Michael Riedel, radio host