I think is one of the finest and most heartfelt songs in his entire catalogue. I am astounded that he didn't release this song as his own. It is well written, it is honest, the vocals are stunning...vulnerable and raw. It really feels like he's pleading with someone...it's desperate, it's despondent, it feels real. The accompaniment is fantastic. And the bass makes it you realize it's not a joke.

Personally I think it's one of the best breakup songs I've ever heard, not that it'll make you feel better (which I've noticed with Prince songs...they kind of just make it worse tbh lol), might even make you do something the way it makes your heart well up.

Of all the songs to come down the pipeline the last year, year and a half, this is my favorite.

I don't know what it is. It just blows me away.

I also LOVE IT...Prefer Prince to Mavis Staples singing it too

I love it too.

Susannah claims in the recent Toure podcast it was inspired by their break-up.

.

He sings it a bit different and I wonder if he's mimicking Mavis a bit, like it's a guide demo for her. Similarly with his version of Yo Mister; sounding a bit like Patti LaBelle in parts.

dodger said:

I love it too.

Susannah claims in the recent Toure podcast it was inspired by their break-up.

.

He sings it a bit different and I wonder if he's mimicking Mavis a bit, like it's a guide demo for her. Similarly with his version of Yo Mister; sounding a bit like Patti LaBelle in parts.

I think it IS a guide Vocal FOR Mavis..she mimicks him rather than the other way around..listen to her version..same with Sheena Eastons 101..He lays down the guide vocals for them all...

I can't stop listening to it since his version surfaced !

Prince did not record Come Home or 101 with Mavis or Sheena in mind, so these are not guide vocals for them. These are his own songs (inspired by his break-up with Susannah) that he just later ended up giving to other artists and then, if anything, they imitated his vocal style.

scififilmnerd said:

I love this song. There is something about when Prince showed his vulnerability in a song that makes it special, and this song captures that beautifully.

scififilmnerd said:

dodger said:

scififilmnerd said:

Prince did not record Come Home or 101 with Mavis or Sheena in mind, so these are not guide vocals for them. These are his own songs (inspired by his break-up with Susannah) that he just later ended up giving to other artists and then, if anything, they imitated his vocal style.

I know Come Home was written and inspired by his break-up with Susannah but I think the vocals on his version sound a bit deeper and raspier than usual. I’m speculating but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility he re-recorded it in 88 (according to Pvault), just before Mavis put her vocals on it, in a different style to sound a bit like her. . Similarly could be said of Yo Mister, don’t you think

I suppose if the Prince vocal-version we have of Come Home (5:57) is a 1988 re-recording as suggested on Princevault, it could have been a guide vocal for Mavis, but when he originally recorded the song in January 1987, I doubt he'd even met Mavis, yet.

It's also possible that his vocal sounds the way it does - like he's sad and sorry and remorseful - so Susannah would really feel that he was sincere, when she heard the song, and then take pity on him and Come Home.

Anyway, I love the song. It's wonderful!

paulludvig said:

Actually Prince wrote Come Home for Meli'sa Morgan.

No, he offered it to her when Susannah wasn't coming home anyway.

[Edited 1/25/19 9:37am]

scififilmnerd said:

paulludvig said:

Actually Prince wrote Come Home for Meli'sa Morgan.

No, he offered it to her when Susannah wasn't coming home anyway.

[Edited 1/25/19 9:37am]

She should have gone.

scififilmnerd said:

paulludvig said:

scififilmnerd said:

No, he offered it to her when Susannah wasn't coming home anyway.

[Edited 1/25/19 9:37am]

How do you know? Source?

The Touré podcast just confirms what anyone could have assumed since the Per Nielsen book.

[Edited 1/25/19 12:21pm]

scififilmnerd said:

paulludvig said:

scififilmnerd said:

The Touré podcast just confirms what anyone could have assumed since the Per Nielsen book.

[Edited 1/25/19 12:21pm]

The Touré podcast? How would he know?

Duh! Read the thread. Susannah was a guest on the Touré podcast, talking about Come Home.

I think a song that is so underated is I Hear Your Voice... It's such a beautiful, simple yet haunting song.

feeluupp said:

I think a song that is so underated is I Hear Your Voice... It's such a beautiful, simple yet haunting song.

I agree...

add it to a long list

scififilmnerd said:

scififilmnerd said:

dodger said:

scififilmnerd said: I know Come Home was written and inspired by his break-up with Susannah but I think the vocals on his version sound a bit deeper and raspier than usual. I’m speculating but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility he re-recorded it in 88 (according to Pvault), just before Mavis put her vocals on it, in a different style to sound a bit like her. . Similarly could be said of Yo Mister, don’t you think

I suppose if the Prince vocal-version we have of Come Home (5:57) is a 1988 re-recording as suggested on Princevault, it could have been a guide vocal for Mavis, but when he originally recorded the song in January 1987, I doubt he'd even met Mavis, yet.

It's also possible that his vocal sounds the way it does - like he's sad and sorry and remorseful - so Susannah would really feel that he was sincere, when she heard the song, and then take pity on him and Come Home.

Anyway, I love the song. It's wonderful!

Right. The song was recorded almost 2 yrs prior to giving it to Mavis Staples, and two months after Susannah left MN. Same with the song 101. Prince gave many of his "I miss you, I want you back" songs away to other artists, or left them unreleased.

*

Prince usually wanted the other artists to use his vocal as a guide. Here is Sheena Easton discussing covering his song 101:

*

In a 2012 interview, Sheena Easton discussed the song's recording:
"When you work with Prince, he's one of those kind of guys that likes to keep you off guard. You'd get the phone call saying 'Hey, come down to the studio. There's something I'd want you to hear.' Then you'd get down there, like with 101 and he'd play it and I'd be like, 'I don't know' and he'd say, 'Well, just go and sit and listen to it a little bit.' I'd go and he'd come right in and say, 'Let's go.' 'But I don't know it completely,' [I'd say]. 'Well just sing what you know, then,' [he'd say]. There's this part in there where I kinda go off-melody and I just start taking higher and higher and he says, 'Well, that's not the right melody but we're keeping that and we're gonna work with that.' And so it's one of those things that's really organic - just a great moment in the studio. Plus I like the production. I love the subway doors opening and closing. He wanted it to be very haunting, and to just be about the desperation in the voice - [and] about the concept of you being away from this person for forever, it seems, and you just can't bear it for one more night."

In the same interview, she declared that: "of all my songs I've ever done, that's my favorite."

violetcrush said:

dodger said:

violetcrush said:

Right. The song was recorded almost 2 yrs prior to giving it to Mavis Staples, and two months after Susannah left MN. Same with the song 101. Prince gave many of his "I miss you, I want you back" songs away to other artists, or left them unreleased.

*

Prince usually wanted the other artists to use his vocal as a guide. Here is Sheena Easton discussing covering his song 101:

*

In a 2012 interview, Sheena Easton discussed the song's recording:
"When you work with Prince, he's one of those kind of guys that likes to keep you off guard. You'd get the phone call saying 'Hey, come down to the studio. There's something I'd want you to hear.' Then you'd get down there, like with 101 and he'd play it and I'd be like, 'I don't know' and he'd say, 'Well, just go and sit and listen to it a little bit.' I'd go and he'd come right in and say, 'Let's go.' 'But I don't know it completely,' [I'd say]. 'Well just sing what you know, then,' [he'd say]. There's this part in there where I kinda go off-melody and I just start taking higher and higher and he says, 'Well, that's not the right melody but we're keeping that and we're gonna work with that.' And so it's one of those things that's really organic - just a great moment in the studio. Plus I like the production. I love the subway doors opening and closing. He wanted it to be very haunting, and to just be about the desperation in the voice - [and] about the concept of you being away from this person for forever, it seems, and you just can't bear it for one more night."

In the same interview, she declared that: "of all my songs I've ever done, that's my favorite."

As per PVault and as scifi says; it was re-recorded in summer 88 just before Mavis recorded her version so we don't know which version we have.

He didn’t re-recorded it though, he just revised it (in June ‘88) with “I Guess I’m Crazy” and “Train” for Mavis. And the version we have is from January ‘87, the original version before the ‘88 overdubs.

[Edited 1/26/19 2:45am]

TheSilentMikey said:

dodger said:

violetcrush said: As per PVault and as scifi says; it was re-recorded in summer 88 just before Mavis recorded her version so we don't know which version we have.

He didn’t re-recorded it though, he just revised it (in June ‘88) with “I Guess I’m Crazy” and “Train” for Mavis. And the version we have is from January ‘87, the original version before the ‘88 overdubs.

[Edited 1/26/19 2:45am]

Right. This one, I Guess I'm Crazy, and 101 are all out there in their original form. They've been bootlegged for years, but now just more accessible to the general public.

TheSilentMikey said:

dodger said:

TheSilentMikey said:

He didn’t re-recorded it though, he just revised it (in June ‘88) with “I Guess I’m Crazy” and “Train” for Mavis. And the version we have is from January ‘87, the original version before the ‘88 overdubs.

[Edited 1/26/19 2:45am]

Curious what your source is. I read somewhere the P version in circulation is from 88. PVault says it was revised and also says 'additional recording' in June 88. Anyway...

Hard to know for sure, I guess. Here's the version that I'm referring to:

*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxO-7AkuDWU

*

It's possible that the version recorded in 1987 was just Prince and his piano, because it was done at the Galpin House, not PP. He may have brought Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss in for the horns on the 1988 recording at PP.