"Can you make it rain harder?"

Christine Hauser

It was relentlessly raining in Miami on Feb. 4, 2007, and organizers of the Super Bowl XLI halftime show were concerned that Prince, who was scheduled to perform, might have a problem with that.

But when someone called him to ask, this was Prince’s response:

“Can you make it rain harder?”

In an online tribute, the National Football League published those memories and the video of Prince’s performance that night.

The New York Times review said Prince’s performance “will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best.”

Prince kicked it off with a whisper — “Dearly beloved” — intoning the famous first words of “Let’s Go Crazy.” Soon came “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. That gave way to a piece of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” which melted into “Best of You,” the 2005 hit by the Foo Fighters.

As Kelefa Sanneh reported, the heavy rain made the smoke and lights seem mysterious, instead of ridiculous. “And there was a sneaky thrill in watching Prince steal the field from guys three times his size, if only for a few moments.”