"Old Friends For Sale" is an almost faultless jazzy R&B song in the classic tradition. From the beautiful lyrics to the synergy of the instrumentation and the pure blues sound of Prince's voice! I am so loving this song! I wish he would put out an album of tunes like this one in a classic R&B sound, with such heartfelt poetic lyrics. It would be so nice... Anyone with me on this one?

Old Friends For Sale

The sun set in my heart this evenin'
Cuz an old friend of mine got lost in the jive
Little did she know, when U're stuck in the snow
Nobody gets out alive

Tears fall gently in my garden
As I wait in vain 4 my sweet baby 2 call
I guess what my own brother told me was true
He had been with my sweet baby and she never really loved me at all

Night fell so dark this evenin'
The moon wasn't shinin' nowhere
Sometimes that old light in the alley would light up this old heart of mine
But now I'm wonderin' if there's someone up there who really cares

The night fell darkest in Persia
What used 2 flow blue is now flowin' black
Many a doctor can try, but only heaven knows why
When it comes 2 love
Why do some men, why do some men turn their backs?

Can't somebody please tell me?

Maybe the morning air will make me feel better
Oh, I hope better than I feel right now
Last night a stranger took my picture and then he, uh..
He asked if I'd buy it, huh
I said I guess I don't know how

Old, old friends 4 sale
Get'em while the gettin' is hot
But U better watch out, they'll kiss U until they get what U got
And they'll show U the friends that they're not
Old friends 4 sale

yeah , the other version

Dewrede said:

There's more than one version of this song? Tell me about it and what compilation is it on? I was listening to the version off the Deposition compilation.

yeah it has different lyrics and it's way better imo
(there a version with brass and another one with brass and strings)
they're on various outtake compilations




Old Friends 4 Sale

The sun set in the west this mornin`
4 I know, I know L.A. is callin`
Bad news, Steve said, and people are talkin`
They say your kingdom is fallin`, yeah
They say U lost your fire
When another musician U hired
Little do they know, U wouldn`t have passed go
Unless they could take U higher, yeah

The sun set in my heart this afternoon
4 2 friends of mine got stuck in the snow
In Uptown when winter`s alarmin`, oh
Cocaine becomes charmin`
But U talk about things U don`t know `bout
I know, no matter how pleasant your past was
Green and white return 2 blue
U`re happy as long as your last buzz
And then U think U want something new, yeah

The sun, the sun set in my mind this evening
4 someone who said they would die 4 me
Sold some, they sold some more pictures and all my little memories
Chump change is 2 unravel the mystery, ah ha
But life is no fun, life ain`t no fun without fantasy
Some things are better left unsaid
And some people are better left untrusted
Maybe, maybe, maybe it`ll all make sense when I`m dead
When I`m dead

Old friends 4 sale
Get`em while the gettin` is hot
Watch out, they`ll kiss U until they get what U got
And they`ll show U the friends that they`re not
Old friends 4 sale



[Edited 5/23/10 17:00pm]

Dewrede said:

No, these are not the lyrics that I'm listening to. That puts a whole different spin on the song. Then it really is more about Prince and his paranoia about people stealing his stuff--totally different from the song I just heard. What compilation are you listening to?

poetcorner61 said:

The version you're reading is the original. Prince was getting a lot of negative vibes from people, and this was his answer to it.

Steve is Steve Fargnoli.

Another musician = Wendy

Two friends in the snow = Jam and Lewis (stuck in Atlanta I believe, missing a tour date on the 1999 tour)

Cocaine reference = Big Chick

People left untrusted = Big Chick (he sold his "story" to a tabloid, and snorted the cash he received from it.

Green (money) and white (cocaine) turn to blue = addiction.

The more generic version was written to make it more appealing to the general audience with no real meaning per se. Those Clare strings are warm honey.

Dewrede said:

Yeah, this one !

What is the bootleg that contains the clearest version of the original OFFS, in your opinions?

poetcorner61 said:

Ernest explained the song pretty well
and Dewrede post the 'true' OF4S lyrics

Wendy & Lisa helped work on this song, during late 84 early 85. In an interview 'Prince talks' Interview mag Prince was playing the original OF4S & Strange Relationships in his car while driving the interviewer. Asked what they thought, was it too heavy ect. Then met with his father and passed the tape to him to check it out, saying 'the Girls' were working on them.

The original version is the 'real version' the one released in much later on the Old Friends 4 Sale cd was just wrong. Over produced lyrics changed with no depth or feeling.

I first heard this back in late 85 early 96 as a promo on a station WDKX
they played it regularly and I thought it was going to be on Prince's next album:Parade. It seems it was on the original playlist at the time and changed by the time of release(obviously)

I had this song on a Maxwell tape and taped it everytime I heard it.
I love it still. Wonderful Parade outtake
[Edited 5/23/10 21:09pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

Thanks, Oldfriendsforsale! As always you are so informative and I still encourage you to take up writing a book where Per Nilsen left off. Never having heard the original, however, I would have to say that the resulting edition of the song works every well--if the music and melody are the same. The lyrics caught me and I could certainly discern the heartfelt personal quality in Prince's voice in this version. For someone who doesn't have knowledge of the original, I find the latter version to be a very tight R&B song, both instrumentally and lyrically. Just IMO!

OldFriends4Sale said:

Very interesting OldFriends4Sale! I haven't been on this site in awhile and after lurking here a few days, I have to say your posts are, without fail, always great and loaded with fascinating stuff, written and visual. I'm in Rochester, NY so I'm definitely familiar with WDKX (unless there's another one..?). I can remember having a blank tape ready to go at all times in 1984-85 because they'd play the 12' inch versions (Let's Go Crazy, Raspberry Beret, Pop Life) as well as this MegaMix that was about 12 minutes long. Good times!

OldFriends4Sale said:

The original version is the 'real version' the one released in much later on the Old Friends 4 Sale cd was just wrong. Over produced lyrics changed with no depth or feeling.


I agree that the original is better, lyrically and very much evidence of less is more. However I can't agree with the idea that it is WRONG. I remember first hearing this version on The Vault and thinking it was fantastic. Wether this is a more "Friendly" version is not the point. My take is that again prince does a multitude of versions of the same song and it always reminds me of the stature of this artist-doing "Interpretations" of his own music. Love both!

jcurley said:

I guess 4 me after hearing the original, I just can't accept the later release. If felt like a compromise. My opinion is just don't rerelease it, if anything put the original on the Crystal Ball, because those songs weren't redone.

chaos96 said:

Thank U.
Yeah still in the Roc, yes the same WDKX, they played everything Prince. Just yesterday they did a 'Battle of the Artists: Marvin Gaye vs Prince'

lol my 1st Purple Rain tape was homemade, then my father finally took pity on me after seeing the movie PR and bought the tape for me. To listen to on my walk-man. Then I bought the album.

I love the song, I wished the original saw the light of day. That version is great 2 hear.

ernestsewell said:

Ernest, hasn't there been some speculation that the "two friends in the snow" lyric might be a reference to Morris' and Vanity's snorting habits? Thought I remember seeing that somewhere. The Jam/Lewis is obviously the first thing that comes to mind when I see it, but the cocaine metaphor would make sense too. The reference to Uptown in the winter would support the Morris/Vanity story, as well (prior to both of them leaving for LA).

pzlyprk said:

Nah, it's definitely about Jam and Lewis. It was a big deal, and they of course got let go because of it. However, the next two lines are about Big Chick's cocaine habit, and I think the "in Uptown winter's alarming" line might be more about Morris in some regards, because he's from Minneapolis (ie: Uptown). People will always interpret things their own way, and perhaps some do with Morris and Vanity and the "snow" line. But again - the Jam and Lewis incident was so specific, that the line about being stuck in the snow is definitely about them. It was a freak snow storm, and they got caught because of the whole thing.

OldFriends4Sale said:

agree.

Yeah I heard the original on ivaults, its one of those prince songs that grew on me got betta everytime I heard it

ernestsewell said:

I don't really agree with that interpretation. The whole verse is about cocaine in my view and is most likely about Morris and Vanity. It just doesn't fit with the rest of the structure of the song - each verse is specific about one subject - first verse, rightly, Steve Fargnoli and reporting the negative reactions to Prince. Second verse is about Morris and Vanity getting lost in their coke habits. Third verse is about Big Chick and anyone else who had "sold-out" on Prince.

I know about Jam and Lewis missing a gig because of a freak snowstorm, but I've always highly doubted that this was the sole reason they were let go - things were brewing in that department anyway and that may have been a cheap excuse to bring all the other niggles to a head. Of course, its entirely unfair if that was the reason, because how were they supposed to overcome that? It would have been a petty reason and far too petty to include in such a serious and weighty song.

You have your view of course, but to say it is "definitely" about the Jam & Lewis incident is standing on shakey ground. I can't accept that he would say something so literal (as they literally did get stuck in the snow) in a song that is so full of metaphor and implication - as I said, it doesn't fit with the rest of the song's structure or this particular verse's subject and imagery. Snow is a common term for coke and "getting stuck in the snow" is an artistic expression to imply a coke habit.

For what it's worth, the original of OFFS is far superior to the vault version - like others here, I was highly disappointed that one of my favourite Prince tunes and such and obviously personal track, was diluted and altered for a re-release. It, reportedly, wasn't really done to make it more "accessible" but was more because Prince didn't want to be seen to holding on to grudges from the past. When it came to this release a lot of time had passed since Prince originally wrote this song and it obviously isn't appropriate for him still to be airing past grudges and accusations at people years after the fact, especially as he had now re-kindled relationships with the likes of Morris. So, I understand the reasons, but I'd have much rather had a nice clean version of the original track (although, my copy is not too shabby, it has to be said).
[Edited 5/25/10 1:59am]