Recorded sometime in 1988 and filed for copyright registration at the Library of Congress on October 12th 1988. The track was submitted to Madonna for possible inclusion on Like A Prayer, but was turned down.

"By Alien Means" is an intriguing and highly ambitious song, featuring a slightly bombastic Lovesexy-era production in parts. The song alternates between two disparate themes, one segment focusing on a slow, wistful melody and the other being more of a monotonous vamp. The latter segment contains a wild blend of synth stabs, guitar and organ interjections, percussion, crowd noise, and eccentricl vocals that are spoken, shouted and sung. Like some other Lovesexy-era songs, such as Dance On, Positivity and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, the song has a serious message rooted in reality, with Prince asking young people not to commi suicide, pleading, "Don't go out by alien means".

ITEM 120. PA-617-843: Prince of Darkness / w & m Antonio Hardy. CLNA: Saja Music Company, Troutman's Music Company, Controversy Music & AZ Music

Might be worth a travel.

Here's what the Vault have to say about the track:

I just downloaded Tip O My Tongue. Song is a lame jam.

I just downloaded Tip O My Tongue. Song is a lame jam.

I found this. I posted here before long time ago.



1988 BY ALIEN MEANS Confirmed as written by Prince Rogers Nelson),
published by Controversy Music. Supposedly sent to Madonna after
Blonde Ambition Tour. May or may not have been recorded by Madonna.
Prince demo cassette on file Library Of Congress PAU-1-152-963. Bruce
Baron recently listened to this track at the Washington DC Library Of
Congress, and he writes:

This is actually an unreleased Prince (The Artist) tune supposedly sent to Madonna for recording consideration. I
do not recall the exact source of this rumour, but it has been around
for years, and was supposedly inspired by the 1990 Blonde Ambition
Tour. It has never been established that Madonna actually recorded it
with Prince or on her own. The Prince collectors usually have lots of
bootleg unreleased tracks, but this one had never surfaced in the
collectors market. Many are the demos he had sent to other female
vocalists which he did quite often. Therefore I decided to request a
listen at the copyright office to check it out. If this demo had been
sent to me for consideration, it would be like the same feeling as
receiving a totally "WRONG" piece of clothing as a birthday gift from
a relative. "Thanks, it's - neat". The song appears to be about asking
young people not to commit suicide: "Explore the interplanetary space
between your mind. Don't go out by alien means". The instrumentation
is a wild blend of guitars and percussion. Not much of a melody, but
Prince in full form. His vocals are just as insane with multi-layered
falsettos and voices. The date of creation on the registration is
actually 1988, so this could not have been inspired by the 1990 BAT.
It could be possible that it originates circa the Prince/Madonna duet
"Love Song" and was then sent to her later? How much truth there is to
this story we may never know, but this song did not make me think of
Madonna when I heard it.

1988 UNCONFIRMED TITLE (S) Portions of 2-3 other collaborations
rumored to be unfinished with Prince from "Love Song" sessions. There
may also be others that were from the abandoned "From Dusk To Dawn"
Prince Soundtrack (unconfirmed)
[Edited 5/17/06 16:08pm]