I tried this before without any luck but I think it's worth one more try:

Piano chords wanted desperately: Old Friends 4 Sale

I have been trying to a get a hold of the proper and accurate piano chords to Old Friend 4 Sale, played by Prince in the 1985 version of the song that almost all of us have on bootleg. Can anybody help me...?!

I'M NOT LOOKING FOR PRINCE SHEET MUSIC IN GENERAL, I have just about everything that's around - but I'm dying to get the right chords for Old Friends 4 Sale.

Somebody, pleeeease!

Yo my man you can find em yourself. Remeber that scene in PR when he was learning the song w/ the old cassette player? Do that. Block out a Saturday, play, rewind, play, rewind till you get a sound youre comfortable w/. And record yourself. All day, and all night, and all Sunday if necessary. Pick it back up Monday etc. Of course I like a few good bottles of merlot while I'm working, but thats me.

Ya know what's sad, I did that! But that's "Purple Rain" not "Old Friends." I also learned "Father's Song." I'm still looking for How Come U Don't Call Me. Soon enough an Alicia fanatic will post it.

yeah yeah yeah, I can find 'em myself, but it's gonna take me a freakin' long time, and it probably wouldn't be right anyway. So I just tried my luck here amongst other fans, and I must admit I'm quite surprised that nobody with better piano skills than me knows the chords....

1.Listen to the flourishes, and riffs between each measure to find the key.

2.Pick a verse where the chords are clear, he always has at least part of one, like in white mansion at the 'hey there whats your name', the chords behind that are the song but youd never know

3. Follow the bassline. Play on top of it.

4. That cheesy Vegas version he released a year or two ago has some clues in the horns & strings, if I remember correctly.

5. I'ma dig that bad boy up, and see what I can find.

Prince usually has so many weird, jazzy chords it usually is tough to figure it out by listening, for me anyway. I didn't like the vegas version either. The original was great. I heard it was about Chick after he spilled the beans to the enquirer. The later version changed the words.

Couldn't agree more - that's why it's the 85-version I dig.

The lyrics are much more personal and stronger that the later Las Vegas-version - and the jazzy blue piano playing is awsome.

It was the piano playing that cought my attention in the first place some 12 years ago when I first heard Old Friends 4 Sale on a good old vinyl bootleg.
[This message was edited Sun Mar 10 6:54:13 PST 2002 by jalokin]