It may seem strange to say this, but I have my doubts that it was ever recorded. I know that it appeared on a hand written track listing in "the Beautiful ones" but there have been plenty of interviews with those involved in recording For You and until this mention I never heard a word about this track.

It also seems strange to me that Prince would record a cover at a time when he was keen to position himself as a "one man band" produced , arranged composed and performed by Prince.

I speculate that it may be a placeholder of sorts; when Prince was considering assembling the album he wanted a balled in that spot similar to "send in the clowns"

andrewm7 said:

Could Prince have written a different song with the same title?

I assume it's the song we all know. Judy Collins covered it in 1975, it had re-entered the charts in 1977 (going top 20), so it was in the air... and Prince liked some pretty soft, folky stuff. Someone who's going to name an album from Both Sides Now isn't above loving Send in the Clowns. And while he did end the album with I'm Yours, quite a few albums do end on a softer note. Now, had he recorded it? Don't know. I'd love it if he did, and I'd love if it came out... I love Sondheim, and the idea that Prince did a Sondheim song is a pleasing one. But most of those songs on that list are ones we haven't heard of, aren't they? Maybe they were all just Prince, guitar, and a tape deck songs, like I Spend My Time Loving You. Even that would be great if it turned up, but I doubt it ever will.

EddieC said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Could Prince have written a different song with the same title?

Hi English Gent.

Prince actually wrote 'Send In The Clowns (J. Collins)' on the note, so it must have been a cover song. No idea if it was ever recorded by Prince. It may have just been an idea at the time. If it was I’d love to hear it.

I've actually been on a bit of a 'For You' binge for the past few weeks. I've been listening to the album and the Sound 80 demos a lot. Something I'd love to hear from this era are the Moonsound studio demos. Apparently Prince recorded an early version of ‘I’m Yours’ during this time. Really curious to hear that one.

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[Edited 1/15/22 16:53pm]

Of course we'd want to hear it but I'm having trouble imagining a straight up over sexualized, breathy falsetto rendition being a good thing. It would sound like a sassier MBGITW, wouldn't it?

I can totally picture him ending shows with when promoting the album, just his face in a spotlight taking long pauses to soak in the reactions from the crowd, and the whole thing being an "is he serious?" moment, but yikes.

I bet there's a cassette with him running through it at least.