Pain

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Pain

Livingsingle album.jpg
from the album Living Single
Pain single.PNG
single art for Pain
Song details
Performer: Rosie Gaines; Chaka Khan
First Released: 30 September 1997 - Living Single album
Album(s): Living Single
Writer(s): Prince and D. Channsin Berry (incorrectly credited as N. Channison Berry)
Producer(s): Prince; David Gamson
Live Appearances
First and last live appearance:
  • This track is not believed to have been performed live by Prince
Performed regularly on tour:
  • none
Performed occasionally in shows:
  • none

Pain by Chaka Khan is the fifth track on Living Single, the soundtrack album to the Fox TV series Living Single.

A preliminary version of the song titled Joy And Pain was written by D. Channsin Berry, for a future Rosie Gaines album. When Rosie Gaines joined Prince’s band and work on her Paisley Park Records album commenced, she showed Prince the song. He decided to record it and reworked the lyrics, changing it to Pain. The song was registered twice at the Ascap : as Pain (Non-rap version), credited to Prince and D. Channsin Berry and as Pain (Rap version) credited to Prince, D. Channsin Berry and Monie Love (for unknown reason, the song was registered at the Library Of Congress in April 1993 as being written by Prince, Rosie Gaines and Monie Love).

While specific recording dates are not known, basic tracking took place in June 1990 in London, England (during the same set of sessions that produced Daddy Pop, Schoolyard and Walk Don’t Walk, but mostly focused on Rosie Gaines’ first solo album, recording Hold Me, My Tender Heart, Streetwalker, In The Name Of Love and Turn Your Lights Down Low); Prince worked in three different London studios, Olympic Studios, Townhouse Studios and Metropolis Studios and it is not known which studio was used for this song. It was included as the fifth track on the 16 September 1993, configuration of Concrete Jungle, but was removed for later configurations. It was also included as the b-side on a planned single of My Tender Heart, where the writer’s credit was shared with Monie Love. Prince’s Gaines’s versions both contain lyrics (on the break before the bridge) that were not kept for Chaka Khan’s version.

Specific recording dates for Chaka Khan’s version are not known, but the track, produced by David Gamson, was recorded between 1993 and 1995 at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California, for inclusion on her planned tenth album Dare You To Love Me, which was postponed and finally canceled. Khan’s version of the track features Me’Shell Ndegéocello on bass guitar (who worked with SymbolSmallerBlue.png on two instrumentals - one of which was later re-recorded as Emale), and renowned saxophonist Joshua Redman.

In 2016, the day following Prince’s passing, his version was streamed on Rosie Gaines’s Facebook account. It is not considered as an official release as it was most likely done without the consent of the heirs. Rosie Gaines’ version was released a few weeks later as a stand-alone track through Amazon, iTunes and CD-Baby.


Recording Information
Recording Sessions
Date Studio Additional info
June 1990 Olympic Studios,
London, England;
Townhouse Studios
London, England
or
Metropolis Studios,
London, England
Basic tracking (Rosie Gaines version)
Late 1992 - early 1993 (assumed) Paisley Park Studios,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Trumpet overdubs by Atlanta Bliss
1993-1995 (assumed) Ocean Way Recording,
Hollywood, CA, USA
Chaka Khan re-recording (no Prince input)
Recording Personnel

Chaka Khan version


Rosie Gaines version


Versions
Released Versions
Title Length Released Version Additional info
Pain 5:24 Living Single soundtrack Studio Chaka Khan version
Pain 5:37 Pain single Studio Rosie Gaines version


Unreleased Versions
Title Version Additional Info
Pain Studio version w/ Prince vocals; recorded June 1990
Pain (Rap version) Studio as the title suggests, this version may contain additional rap lyrics written by Monie Love
 
Additional Information

See also Trivia

  • Artwork posted with the 2016 stream of Prince’s version:
Pain FB Artwork.PNG

References
P. Control   < < < All Songs Unreleased Songs > > >   Paisley Park