A number of songs could easily end up on this list but my top three underappreciated Prince songs would include:

• "Baby" from the "For You" album. Mature lyrics, beautiful harmonies, never performed live. WTH?!? For me, this is one of the stronger tracks on the album and yet I see very little if any enthuasism for the song
• "However Much U Want" from Mayte's "Child of The Sun" album. Love the arrangement, positive/inspiring lyrics. A very tight duet between Prince and Mayte. I rarely see anything mentioned about this track. "Ain't No Place Like U", which I also enjoy is far more likely to get discussed. And of course, never performed live
• "Sexuality" from the "Controversy" album. Interesting lyrics which indicate a level of social awarness not seen in his music previously. Experimental vibe. One of my personal favorites because the video and song both scream 'rude boy". Rarely performed live. I have "almost" never heard this song on the radio at any point in time.

Honorable mention:

• "4 The Tears In Your Eyes" - "We Are The World" album version. I've seen a number of people refer to this track as weird and state that the track doesn't fit the intent/vibe of the project. Also, the more "somber"/acoustic take from Live Aid seems to get more love than the original. I find the original version to actually be more uplifting and I remember the excitment of this first post Purple Rain track release.

What would your list look like?

1. Strays of the World

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In my opinion (and in Morris Hayes´s opinion ) a very , very beautiful song with profound lyrics. People on the org often mock it for its bombastic style and over the top vocals in some parts but I love the music, love the lyrics and love the vocal delivery. This one should´ve been the closing song on the Come album like it was originally supposed to be. It would´ve been the perfect ending for that album and would´ve fit in perfectly (and would´ve made the album more of a concept album than it already is). I love the drums in it, the guitar, the keys, the bass....the NPG at their best. And miss that heavy, strong , tight original NPG sound.

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2. A 1000 Hugs and Kisses.

A song he wrote for Nona Gaye. This one kind of fell under the radar back in the early 90s but I like its breezy, airy atmosphere, the romantic lyrics and the singing.... and of course the music.

There are probably much stronger underappreciated Prince songs that I could mention but this one was one of the first that came to my mind when I read the thread title. I think Prince really came up with some good lyrics and songwriting when he wrote those songs for Nona Gaye. I also like Snowman a lot, especially after having read David Ritz´s Marvin Gaye biography "Divided Soul". Snowman shows that Prince either read it too or talked with Nona about Marvin´s time in Belgium.

Anyway, I still love 1000 Hugs and Kisses a lot and listen to it quite often.

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3. Lion of Judah

I think this song could´ve been much more popular if he had chosen a better title for it. It contains a lot of the main ingredients that most fans of Prince´s music like....the lyrics come across as very genuine, vulnerable and heartfelt, I love the interesting vocals here, the fragile sounding and unusual voice, the guitar intro that is a bit reminiscent of Purple Rain without being a rip off, and the main melody. But Lion of Judah? Really? I don´t mind his biblical references even though I´m not a Christian but Lion of Judah doesn´t really work for me in this song. And the title has been used ad nauseum in so many Reaggae songs from the 1970s until today....it´s just very, very played out and it is not really a symbol that the casual listener or average Joe is used to hearing. Could´ve been a perfect song but as it is, it is an almost great song with a not so great title. Still like it a lot though. One of his better songs of the second half of his career.

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And I totally agree with you about However Much U Want. Great , uplifting, positive lyrics, nice little duet with Mayte, and catchy music. A bit dated maybe, but I have always like that little gem and still love it and listen to it to this day. Too bad it never really made it into a concert songlist.

This is not a top 3, I couldn't rank all the songs I find underappreciated, but here are three :

The Marrying Kind

Silicon

My Medaillon

hmm, you guys are helping me. never heard of some of these titles. looks like i need to cop Child of the Sun. And what did the Nona Gaye track(s) end up on? As for me, SIGH, this is so hard but right now i'd say...

1) Here from MPLSound - Love this from day one. Got stuck in my head instantly. I might have seen some love awhile ago but overall i think it gets thrown under the bus as does this album, to me his arrangement and writing capabilities for a song that's not trying to "do to much" are evident

2) Still Waiting - Easily his most underappreci8d ballad IMO. No record of a live performance, really! I think I read somewhere that ballads like SW bog down the eponymous P album, but i beg to differ!

3) Sea of Everything - Yup, I said it. P's ballad collection is pretty formidable and can include your typical "baby makers" but I think when he deviates, ballads like this (or others like Te Amo Corazon or S.H.O.E, or even Walk in Sand, etc. get discarded w/o a lot of indiv. scrutiny because of the dissastisfaction with the albums they are on) but to me SofE is well sung, its not trying to be Adore or Insatiable 2.0 and lyrically its a different take on his ballads

Poplife88 said:

When the Lights Go Down from The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale. A perfect song...jazzy, smooth, cool. From an underrated album as well. When U Love Somebody from New Power Soul. There is something about this song...I know it's not one of his best but it gets stuck in my head for days. It's instantly enjoyable when I hear it. Dead On It from The Black Album. I know there is some serious hate for this track on here, but I have always thought it was fun, funky, and so not to be taken seriously. Shall we go back? Let's go...then chicken scratch. Gets me every time. [Edited 1/10/15 7:11am]

When U Love Somebody is an excellent choice - always felt that song - as well as the entire album it comes from - was unduly maligned

rusty1 said:

ANOTHERLOVERHOLENYOHEAD When u were mine Condition of the heart

I played Around The World in a Day all the way through just a few minutes ago and I was struck with how beautiful COndition of the Heart still sounnded to me - easily one of the top 5 greatest Prince ballads of all time.

Xogenous - For those who crave serious Prince guitar work from a studio recording, this is it. Of course, the majority of his audience doesnt understand jazz so they missed it.

Come On - Deep funk that can be comprehended by all. I played it on repeat for 6 weeks straight when it was released.

The Dance (from 3121) - Just about all of the things that only Prince can do are in this song - even the trademark scream at the end.

Starfish & Coffee

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Vicki Waiting

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Joint 2 Joint

GiggityGoo said:

Starfish & Coffee

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Vicki Waiting

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Joint 2 Joint

Vicki Waiting - Hearing the extended version, one of the best parts of Blast from the Past 1.0

[Edited 1/10/15 11:40am]

Only three? There's literally hundreds of Prince songs I love which I rarely see getting the proper credit on the org...

To name a few... Face Down, Sweet Baby, Courtin Time, All The Midnights In The World, Blue Light, Joint 2 Joint, Still Would Stand All Time, Rave Un2, Mind Bells, Wherever U Go Whatever U Do, Love Thy Will Be Done, The Greatest Romance, Mad Sex, New World, The Human Body, Papa, Power Fantastic, Planet Earth, Open Book, Future Soul Song, Funk N Roll (remix), In This Bed Eye Scream, Into The Light / I Will, Teacher Teacher, No More Candy 4 U, The One U Wanna C, Schoolyard, We Can Funk (GB version), Compassion, Hot Summer, RNR Love Affair, Interactive, Better With Time, Ain't Gonna Miss U When Ur Gone......

[Edited 1/10/15 11:59am]

MattyJam said:

Only three? There's literally hundreds of Prince songs I love which I rarely see getting the proper credit on the org...

To name a few... Face Down, Sweet Baby, Courtin Time, All The Midnights In The World, Blue Light, Joint 2 Joint, Still Would Stand All Time, Rave Un2, Mind Bells, Wherever U Go Whatever U Do, Love Thy Will Be Done, The Greatest Romance, Mad Sex, New World, The Human Body, Papa, Power Fantastic, Planet Earth, Open Book, Future Soul Song, Funk N Roll (remix), In This Bed Eye Scream, Into The Light / I Will, Teacher Teacher, No More Candy 4 U, The One U Wanna C, Schoolyard, We Can Funk (GB version), Compassion, Hot Summer, RNR Love Affair, Interactive, Better With Time, Ain't Gonna Miss U When Ur Gone......

[Edited 1/10/15 11:59am]

Three creates greater challenge I cheated by putting an honorable mention track so I fully understand how prioritizing to three can be a hard call

anotherloverholeinyohead

joy in repetition

a question of u

[Edited 1/10/15 17:44pm]

Joy In Repetition (personally I think it's one of the best Prince songs of all time)

Lemon Crush (love the beat, one of his best beats imo)

Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance (very unique, strange sounding song, love the lyrics)

terrig said:

anotherloverholeinyohead

joy in repetition

a question of u

[Edited 1/10/15 17:44pm]

How are these underappreciated?

nextedition said:

terrig said:

anotherloverholeinyohead

joy in repetition

a question of u

[Edited 1/10/15 17:44pm]

How are these underappreciated?

My thoughts exactly. Several of these don't qualify. Vicki Waiting, Anotherlover, When u Were Mine...REALLY these are all well loved here, almost universally by non-casual Prince fans. Ppl are being lazy methinks

THE MAX - 'when the blood of my love outraces every one of the stallions in your pack' . Always thought this was a huge single that never happened.

DESIRE - another massive hit in another time and place

BOOM - the magic is still there

Papa: "Everybody's crazy...deep down we're going insane...every single one of us...knows some kind of pain..." --the funk blues to psychedelic guitar transition gets me every time.

Money Don't Matter 2 Night: simply deep plus great music equals great song. I don't see any threads about this song, on here.

Da Bang: I've mentioned this song before. One of his greatest songs of the 90's. Absolutely intense music plus great delivery plus killer guitar. Not many people talk about this song, either.

datdude said:

hmm, you guys are helping me. never heard of some of these titles. looks like i need to cop Child of the Sun. And what did the Nona Gaye track(s) end up on? As for me, SIGH, this is so hard but right now i'd say...

1) Here from MPLSound - Love this from day one. Got stuck in my head instantly. I might have seen some love awhile ago but overall i think it gets thrown under the bus as does this album, to me his arrangement and writing capabilities for a song that's not trying to "do to much" are evident

2) Still Waiting - Easily his most underappreci8d ballad IMO. No record of a live performance, really! I think I read somewhere that ballads like SW bog down the eponymous P album, but i beg to differ!

3) Sea of Everything - Yup, I said it. P's ballad collection is pretty formidable and can include your typical "baby makers" but I think when he deviates, ballads like this (or others like Te Amo Corazon or S.H.O.E, or even Walk in Sand, etc. get discarded w/o a lot of indiv. scrutiny because of the dissastisfaction with the albums they are on) but to me SofE is well sung, its not trying to be Adore or Insatiable 2.0 and lyrically its a different take on his ballads

1. What did you mean by 'no record of a live performance, really'?

My choices:

Bob George- spell that shit backwards what's it say? Same mother-f'n shit!

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Pheromone- was brought up in a thread recently and I think it's one of his most creative.

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Crazy You- luv the lyrics.

One for each "major" decade:

New Position
She Spoke 2 Me

Planet Earth

I don't get the hate for PE here. I love the way the entire track changes in the middle of it. The first part reminds me of something like Moonbeam Levels and when it changes it becomes a lot like All My Dreams or In A Large Room With No Light. My guess is just that people who don't like environmental politics being channelled in that manner have a big problem with the lyrics

datdude said:

nextedition said:

How are these underappreciated?

My thoughts exactly. Several of these don't qualify. Vicki Waiting, Anotherlover, When u Were Mine...REALLY these are all well loved here, almost universally by non-casual Prince fans. Ppl are being lazy methinks

My interpretation of underappreciated was releated to the general public at large...your rando average person who may have purple rain in their collection, but may never have heard these before....i dont see them discussed as much here as some others....

Heh, because I don't often stray into the more obscure releases in the Prince discography I'm actually unaware of quite a few of the tracks posted here. I probably don't have the in depth knowledge to post three tracks given that I mostly adhere to the 80-88 "golden age", but I'll definitely check out a few of these, thanks for the recommendations people.

Although actually one did just come to me, I find Solo to be quite a powerful and moving number. Not admittedly a good party track, but I find the raw vulnerability of the track quite engaging. I'll post more if I think of any. Oh, and OP, you're right, Baby is great as well

"Free"---I love everything on the 1999 album,including this song,which many fans are not too crazy about.Can't figure out why.

"Strollin"

"It"

SoulAlive said:

"Free"---I love everything on the 1999 album,including this song,which many fans are not too crazy about.Can't figure out why.

Whenever he has played this live, it puts a smile on my face. Love this track

SoulAlive said:

"Free"---I love everything on the 1999 album,including this song,which many fans are not too crazy about.Can't figure out why.

"Strollin"

"It"

'Free' and 'It' for sure. A lot of fans consider them the lesser songs on their albums, but they've always been two of my favourites. 'Free' was actually the song that got me into Prince.

Third option - 'Family Name'

SoulAlive said:

"Free"---I love everything on the 1999 album,including this song,which many fans are not too crazy about.Can't figure out why.

"Strollin"

"It"

Strollin, Free, and It...all day baby!

3 more...Can't Stop This Feeling I Got, And God Created Woman, and any of the guitar heavy tracks Prince was on from 94 East/Minneapolis Genius!

Hmmmmm, here are three songs I like that don't seem to ever make the tops of anyone's lists:

1. "Everybody Loves Me" - It has its place. For instance, when this song comes on during a workout, I get a super great shot of adreniline

2. "Dolphin" - Pepole make fun of the David Letterman performance of this song, and they should. It was cringeworthy. But it's a great song, and the solo is one of my favorites

3. "Now" - It never gets any love that I can see, but I think it's catchy. And Jim Rome used a loop of it as bumper music on his nationally-syndicated radio show for five or six years, so there's that!