Sitting there on the purple lawn
U've been there since dawn

.

"If he makes it, the most atypical local star to come out of Sound 80 will be a multi-talented [18-year-old] prodigy from North Minneapolis who plays any instrument you hand him, sings with a crystal pure falsetto that would have put the young Michael Jackson to shame, and goes by the name Prince. "

- Lisa Hendricksson, Minnesota Daily, April 8, 1977

Have you ever sat in or walked through a neighborhood recording studio that existed in the 60s 70s or 80s? That feel that it's been there for a while and a lot of people, famous people possibly, came through at least once in a lifetime? That old smell of wood and electronics. I can see how Prince became sequestered in his own recording studio Paisley Park. Not only did he live out fantasies on stage but also in studios across the country and even in Europe. SOUND80 is one of the firsts in Prince's trips Uptown.

All of this and more is for you.
With love, sincerity and deepest care,
my life with you I share

Baby is the sixth track on on Prince's first album For You.

Two more versions were recorded in 1976-1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, prior to Prince signing a contract or beginning work on his first album. An ensemble of musicians from a Minneapolis radio station, The WAYL Orchestra, was brought in to add strings to the song, but Prince didn’t like the end result, preferring synthetic strings instead. Before that, in the summer of 1976-1977, Prince had also recorded the track at Moon Sound in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Prince -all vocals & instruments except:

Patrice Rushen - synth keyboards (uncredited)

PrinceVault

Baby, what are we gonna do?
I'm so in love with you
Baby, what are we gonna do?
I know you're in love with me too

Should we go on livin' together
Or should we get married right away?
Whatever you decide, I'll still love you, baby
An' we'll grow stronger everyday

Baby, what are we gonna do?
I barely have enough money for two
Baby, what are we gonna do?
I don't want to regret what I've done to you

I never would've thought that this would happen
To a very careful man like me
But baby, pretty baby, we're gonna work it out, yeah
I love you, I love you, can't you see?

Baby, baby, baby
It's you, said it's you, I truly adore
Baby, baby, we're gonna work it out
I hope our baby has eyes just like yours

Sound 80, Minneapolis, 29 December 1976 – summer 1977
Baby #2 (Instrumental) (3:15)
Baby #3 (3:08)

"In 1975, a friend of mine was backing a group called Grand Central, and brought it into ASI to cut a demo. The band members consisted of 16-year-old Prince, André Cymone on bass guitar and Morris Day on drums, and although they sounded decent nothing really happened as a result of that demo. In fact, nothing was really happening at all in Minneapolis and [twin city] St Paul in terms of the music business back then. The record company execs wouldn't even come up there — they thought we had buffalo in our back yard — and so it was a pretty frustrated musical community. For decades, all everybody had been saying there was 'We need a hit', and to achieve, that everyone from Bob Dylan to [bassist] Willie Weeks had left."

Fast-forward to a year later, by which time David Z was working at another local facility, Studio 80, where in December of '74 Dylan had done some of the recordings for his classic album Blood On The Tracks. Prince was now being managed as a solo artist by another of David Z's friends, Owen Husney, who turned up at Sound 80 with a tape of his protegé's songs.

"We listened to them and I thought they were really good," Z recalls. "Those songs would end up on Prince's first record."

With David Z engineering, Prince subsequently set about single-handedly recording demos of three 12-minute tracks at Sound 80: 'Soft & Wet', 'Baby' and 'Make It Through The Storm'.

"In advance of each session, he used a little hand-held cassette recorder to hum the bass, guitar, keyboard and synth-produced horn parts, and he also mouthed the beats," says Z. "I set up a station for each instrument and, using the cassette machine to remind himself what to do, Prince played every single part. It was amazing to me, because that's pretty hard to do while retaining your objectivity. However, right from the start he was great; the complete package from the first minute I heard him. He did nothing but eat, sleep and make music, and to this day I'm sure he doesn't sleep much. He had more energy than anybody.

"My cousin Cliff Siegel, who was a regional promotions man for Warner Brothers, took the three songs we had recorded to his boss Russ Thyret, and he in turn took it to [A&R exec] Lenny Waronker, who absolutely flipped. He couldn't believe this kid was doing everything."

Indeed, titled For You, Prince's debut album would not only be produced and arranged by him, but it would also feature his own compositions, as well as his playing of all 27 instruments.


https://www.soundonsound.com/people/prince-kiss

https://img.discogs.com/D...5.jpeg.jpg

OldFriends4Sale said:

Baby is the sixth track on on Prince's first album For You.

Two more versions were recorded in 1976-1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, prior to Prince signing a contract or beginning work on his first album. An ensemble of musicians from a Minneapolis radio station, The WAYL Orchestra, was brought in to add strings to the song, but Prince didn’t like the end result, preferring synthetic strings instead. Before that, in the summer of 1976-1977, Prince had also recorded the track at Moon Sound in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Prince -all vocals & instruments except:

Patrice Rushen - synth keyboards (uncredited)

PrinceVault

Okay... I want to hear this with the real strings now!!!

Wouldn't you have just about given your left pinkie to be a fly on the wall during those recording sessions of that 1st album? I might have been willing to give even a better part than that, come to think of it.

JUST AS LONG AS WE'RE 2GETHER 1976 Husney, Prince, and attorney Levinson got on a plane for Los Angeles and visited the swank offices of five labels: Warner Bros, CBS, A&M, RSO, and ABC/Dunhill. The manager and attorney made the initial pitch, after which Prince came in and said just a few words. The approach worked; after hearing the demo tape, the executives were curious to see the teenager who had pulled this off, and they were mesmerized by his oddly quiet manner. CBS then booked time at Village Recorders Studios and asked Prince to undertake an audition of sorts. He recorded "Just As Long As We're Together," one of the songs on his demo, as the executives looked on. summer 1977 Ostin agreed, and Prince was flown to Amigo Studios in Los Angeles. Waronker and other officials discreetly drifted i and out as Prince recorded another version of "Just As Long As We're Together." As Husney recalled, "He thought these people were janitors." The executives, after watching Prince play every instrument as he constructed the song in the better part of a day, decided it would be folly to force a producer upon him; an artist this talented and headstrong would simply have to learn on the job. "Okay, we're going to have to burn a record on the guy," Waronker grumbled to Husney after the session. -Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince

Just As Long As We're Together Released November 21, 1978 Recorded October-December 1977 . The song consists of two verses and multiple repeats of the chorus before a coda at the end. The coda is actually an instrumental track originally called "Jelly Jam" that was added to "Just as Long as We're Together", and modified over time to blend into the main track. Andre Cymone co-leads on this song.

You can live your own life and I'll live mine

I will never try to keep you down

And even if I only see you some of the time

I'm just happy when you come around

And even if the sun don't shine

I'm warm enough when you're in these arms of mine J

ust as long as we're together

Everything's alright (everything's alright)

Everything's alright (everything's alright)

There is nothing that will overcome the love we share,

Nothing that will break us apart

Girl I gotta always have you in my ear,

Gotta always have you in my heart

Oh baby, your place or mine?

I'll get the music, baby, you bring the wine

Just as long as we're together (just as long as we're together)

Oh girl, there's nothin' better (just as long as we're together)

Just as long as we're together

Everything's alright (everything's alright)

Everything's alright (everything's alright)

Just as long as there is you

I'll be around doin' what you what me to

Just as long as there is me

I'll be around to sing that melody, sugar

Just as long as we're together (everything's alright)

Oh baby, everything's alright

Just as long as we're together (everything's alright)

Oh girl, everything's alright

Just as long as we're together (everything's alright)

Oh girl, everything's alright!

Don't you know there ain't better (everything's alright)

Oh hunt you baby, in the night

Sound 80, Minneapolis, 29 December 1976 – summer 1977
Just As Long As We’re Together #1 (3:34)

CBS Records, Village Recorders, Los Angeles, 8 April 1977

Just As Long As We’re Together #4

Studios, Los Angeles, summer 1977

Just As Long As We’re Together #5

The Record Plant, Sausalito, 1 October – 22 December 1977

Just As Long As We’re Together #6 (6:24)*

My Love Is Forever is the seventh track on Prince's first album For You. In 1979, it was included as the b-side on some versions of I Wanna Be Your Lover, the first single from Prince's second album Prince.

An early version of the song was recorded in 1976 at Moonsound, Minneapolis, MN, USA, under the name Love Is Forever, using Chris Moon's original lyrics

In 1976-1977, Prince re-wrote some of the lyrics, and recorded the song at Sound 80, Minneapolis, MN, USA, under the title My Love Is Forever prior to signing a contract or beginning work on the album. Specific recording dates for the album version of song are not known, but the album was recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, USA, from 1 October 1977 to 22 December 1977, before overdubs and mixing took place, in early January 1978 at Sound Labs, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

-PrinceVault

You're always on my mind
Day and night, baby, all the time
(All the time)
You mean so much to me
A love like ours just hard to be

You're the wind and the rain
You've got a river that takes away my pain
And the sky that's, oh, so blue
You're everything girl, don't you know I need you
(Need you)

You are the only thing that keeps me goin'
You are the only thing that keeps my love alive
You are the only thing that I'll ever need
You don't have to worry, you see, my love is forever

Sugar, I don't have to dream
'Cause you give me what I want
Girl, you know what I need
Forever until my love is through, I, I will love you
(Love you)

Oh, oh, what does it take to make you see
That you are the only one for me
I'll never, never stop loving you
Never, never stop wanting you
Never, never get enough of you, love is forever

You are the only thing that keeps me goin'
You are the only thing, keeps my love alive
You are the only thing that I'll ever need
You don't have to worry, my love is forever

Ahhhh, yes! A thread about the early years...bring it!!

Soft And Wet #2 (3:04) (Prince/Chris Moon)

Soft And Wet

Hey lover, I've got a sugarcane
That I wanna lose in U, baby can U stand the pain?
Hey lover, sugar don't U see?
There's so many things that U do 2 me... ooh baby!

(Hey lover) All I wanna see is the love in your eyes
And all I wanna hear is your sweet love sighs
(Hey lover) All I wanna feel is your burning flame
Tell me, tell me baby that U feel the same
Tell me that U feel the same way I do
Tell me that U love me girl

If this is lust, then I must confess I feel it everyday
If this is wrong, then I long 2 be as far from right as I may
Soft and wet, soft and wet

Soft and wet, soft and wet

Everytime I am with U, U just love me 2 death
Ooh wee baby, U leave me without breath ... oh baby
Ooh yeah

(Hey lover) U're just as soft as a lion tamed
And U're just as wet as the evening rain
(Hey lover) I really dig it when U call my name
Your love is driving me, U're driving me insane
Crazy baby, oh girl, crazy about your love

Soft and wet
U know U are soft and wet
4 sure girl, your love is soft and wet
Ooh, soft and wet

© 1978 Ecnirp Music Inc. - BMI

Prince was credited for all vocals, songwriting, every instrument played on the album, as well as the whole arrangements and production. The only credit given to someone other than Prince is a co-writing credit to Chris Moon for the lyrics of Soft And Wet. Moon and Prince disagreed over credits due on My Love Is Forever, which was financially settled after the album release.

-PrinceVault

The 2nd control room in studio B @ MoonSound in the 1970's Minneapolis.

narrative + voice recordings

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra recording at Sound 80 Studio, 1978. Photograph is from the Bruce Goldstein photography Collection at the Gale Family Library, Minnesota Historical Society.

"Special thanks to God, Owen, Britt, Bernadette, My Father and Mother, Russ Thyret, Gary, David Rivkin / Sound 80 Studios, C. Moon, Eddie, Sharon and Eleanor, L. Phillips, Bobby "Z" Rivkin, Tom Coster, Graham Lear, Joe Giannetti, Patrice Rushen, Charles Veal, Jr., Shirley Walker, Knut Koupee Music, Chuck Orr, Lisa H., and You!"

We Can Work It Out

Prince

Now that I know your name and U know mine
Ain't it just about time that we got 2gether?
We should make such beautiful music 4ever
Oh, 2gether 4ever

Put your trust in me, I'll never let U down
Cuz I know I can count on U 2 help me make it
Ain't no doubt about it
We can work it out, work it out
I know we can work it out
Work it out, work it out
Ooh wee!

Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out

Makin' music naturally, me and W.B.

Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we...

Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out

Music 4 the young and old, music bound 2 be gold
Work it out

Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out [x2]

Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out (Can we work it out?)
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out (I want 2 work it out)
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out
(Everybody sing) Hope we work it out, I hope we work it out

Makin' music naturally, me and W.B.

We Can Work It Out (originally titled I Hope We Work It Out) is an unreleased track recorded in June 1977 at Sound 80, Minneapolis, Minnesota, specifically for the reception Warner Bros. hosted on 25 June 1977 at La Serre on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles, in celebration of signing with the label. Allegedly Prince so dreaded the mingling with the record execs there, that David Rivkin suggested he record a song for the occasion. The track's lyrics are really directed at Warner Bros., by way of introducing himself to the record company. Lyrics include lines such as "Makin' music naturally, me and W.B. Music for the young and old, music bound to be gold". The song ends with an explosion, which is interesting given that Prince would later view himself as a slave and desperately tried to remove himself from his contract with Warner Bros..

Drummer Bobby Z. notes that he and Prince rehearsed the track a few times before recording it (seemingly in a single take).

Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted
Bobby Z. - drums

-PrinceVault

You're really not that hard to get
I only want to make you see
Baby, I'm not ready yet
To give you any part of me
I don't want to tease you
I only wanna turn you on
I know I can please you
'Til your voice is gone
'Til the party's gone

Wouldn't you love to love me?
Wouldn't you?


Unfortunately, the feeling did not turn out to be mutual. Prince and Carwell did record one song–possibly "Wouldn't You Love to Love Me?"–at Sound 80, with David "Z" Rivkin engineering.

But tensions arose between mentor and mentee, and a demo tape was never finalized.

"He was really serious about recording her. She had a great voice," Prince's own mentor and cousin-in-law Pepé Willie recalled to Nilsen.

"But her lifestyle clashed with the way Prince wanted to run his business. She had that bottle of Johnny Walker. When his own career started to take off, he simply didn't have the time anymore."

https://theiconicprince.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/wouldnt-you-love-to-love-me/