This ballad is great; classic intro, classic chorus, fragile lyrics, great vocal performance; one of the highlights of Prince 1979 and easily his best ballad of the 1978-1982 era (yeah, even better than Do Me Baby, at least for me).

It's sad how it was ignored by the man himself during the 80s, and it's less than likely that he's gonna play it now, 30 years after its original release Hell, it's a song that's even forgotten by many hardcore fans

Do you love this ballad as much as I do?
[Edited 4/24/10 18:58pm]

LOVE this song. Probably my 3rd favorite song off of the Prince album and definitely is wayyyyy underrated. Although, I prefer Do Me, Baby, but that's not what this thread is about! Great great song.

Great song, one of my favorite ballads period, not just by Prince.

I usually play this song more than once when I play it.

MikeyB71 said:

GREAT tune.

such an awesome song . some of the lyrics are a little corny, but the music is extra tight and when it gets going it kicks much ass

I agree. always liked this one a lot.

Considering that it is THEE song that made ME a Prince fan, to begin with! At the tender young age of eight years old. I have to say that IT is the very best and yes...MOST...underrated SONG...period...of his ENTIRE...30+ year...repertoire!

The thread inspired me to tidy up my itunes and I've made a playlistof 60 tracks of just chill Prince music and ballads, which I normally leave aside.
Had another listen to this one and it's beauuuuutiful.. We often overlook the savvy chill stuff he does.

I love this song, but I hate the production on it.

It was one of THE tracks that I think would have benefited from the re recordings in the late 90's. Sung in his deep voice with instrumentation similar to "shhh" it would have been a classic.

For me there is no way this is his best ballad of the 1978-1982 era. "International Lover" kills "It's Gonna Be Lonely." The scream alone makes "International Lover" a much better song. However, I do agree that "It's Gonna Be Lonely" is a fantastic song and it is unfairly underrated. If you look at the other ballads on Prince ("With You," "When We're Dancing Close And Slow") they are fairly average, formulaic '70s R & B ballads. I think a good case can be made that "It's Gonna Be Lonely" was the prototype for the classic Prince ballad. You can draw a fairly straight line from "It's Gonna Be Lonely" to songs like "Do Me, Baby," "International Lover," "Scandalous" and "Insatiable."
[Edited 4/25/10 13:26pm]

rialb said:

I was wonderin' when someone was gonna be acknowledge this song. How's that for underrated? One of my favorites.

I say it´s one of the ten best Prince songs.

Yes, and MUCH better than Do Me, Baby.
[Edited 4/26/10 2:38am]

Piiijiii said:

I wouldn't go that far but it is definitely a Prince classic. His harmonies are mind boggling.

Great song and yes it's very underrated.

Just played this on the record player the other day...love the hell out of this song.

Under-rated, surely. Fabulous, even more surely.

Huh! This is why i don't spend too much time on the ballads!
Listened only to them the last while and then I had my first dream about Prince! That stuff is too deep man.

Love this jam!
Especially the jamming from the middle to the end.

without u by my side, dont you know that i would die baby....