I've seen it quoted several times Susan Rogers talking about Prince writing an incredibly beautiful song, then layering instrument after instrument on top of it, completely ruining the whole piece, and then wiping the tapes.

Yes, I know she said the tapes were wiped, but does anyone know if this song ever surfaced in any form?

that sounds like the Wally story and I believe the answer is no.

paisley16 said:

The Wally story?

peterfalconer said:

That's the "name" of the song. I believe she said there was a spoken piece addressed to Wally.

Recorded then erased one of the best songs ever.

realm said:

does this mean you actually heard it somehow?? are you Susan Rogers???
if so, we've got plenty more questions!!!

Who's Wally?

Cataclizm1 said:

Wally Safford.

The song's lyric is reportedly an imaginary dialogue between Prince and Safford, Prince lamenting his loneliness.
.

Susan Rogers raved about the original song simply because it was Prince really opening up in an unusually honest way, not so much the quality of the song itself. Like any song the beauty is in the eye of the beholder; we might have all thought it was a crap song if we'd ever been allowed to hear it, who knows...

metalorange said:

Ha! You may be right, Metalorange! Still curious, though...

Written about Sussanah (like many of his best songs) after they split, I think.

"I thought it was the greatest thing he had done", is Susan Rogers' assessment of 'Wally', a heartfelt song which ostensibly dealt with Prince's breakup with Susannah Melvoin.

It was recorded in Prince's home studio on December 28th 1986, after he had returned from an almost three-month stay in LA. The song features a monologue by Prince, who is talking to Wally Safford. He asks to try on Wally's new glasses as he is planning to go out for the evening and he wants to look good for someone special. However, he changes his mind and decides to stay home instead. He returns the $50 Wally has leant him, saying that, sicne he is alone now, he no longer has anyone to spend it on. Sounding empty and lost, Prince speaks the words with a soft, vulnerable voice. He is accompanied only by a piano, but guitar, bass, and drums enter as the song explodes into the chorus. Prince sings a simple phrase of "o-mala-di-da" evoking a feeling of wistful resignation. The songs ends with him thanking Wally for being his friend.

Although the lyric of 'Wally' does not refer directly to the breakup, the emotional statement of the music leaves no doubt as to the sincerity of Prince's pain. "There was so much pain that came out in that song", says Rogers who is one of the few people who has heard the original recording. "It was heartrending. He was getting all this poison out of his system, all this pain. I has waited years to hear a Prince song like this. I ached to hear him be this honest. He said 'Do you know that 'Maladi' means sickness...illness in French? It's almost like the word melody, isn't it?' It was just the two of us and I felt so privileged. I just couldn't wait for people to hear this. Then he began to change it! All of a sudden, he put on this weird percussion stuff and began to make it funky. I said 'Don't you think it was better before, Prince? Maybe we should stop?' I knew he was destroying it deliberately. It was just too honest. At some point, he said 'Now put all 24 channels on record and erase it.' I said 'No, you can't do this!' He said 'If you don't, I will.' And he did erase it. That recording will never get heard. He was feeling deep pain and allowed it to show, but he didn't want anybody to hear that."

Eric Leeds believes 'Wally' was "the only time that he completely erased a song that he had just done. The only time. That was a very, very personal song to Prince, and I don't think he had any intention in the world of ever releasing it." Prince did in fact re-record 'Wally' from scratch the next day, making it a less personal song by changing some of the lyrics and recording a new vocal. Eric and Matt Blistan added horns to the altered version. "I was called back from my Christmas vacation a day early to come in the studio to put horns on the second version of 'Wally'," Eric recalls. "The first version was even too honest for him. He wiped it immediately, re-recorded it in a different form, and then had me and Blistan come in and do horns on it."
[Turn It Up 2.0]