Soft And Wet is the third track on the album For You, and, two months after the album’s release, was released as the album’s first single (Prince’s first single).
In 1988, it was included as the b-side on the "Back-to-Back Hits" re-release of Kiss, the first single from Prince’s eighth album Parade.
In 1993, the track was included as the third track on The Hits 1 (also included as the first disc of The Hits / The B-Sides), and it was included as the b-side of the US release of Pink Cashmere, the album’s first single.
The track was one of the earliest professional recordings by Prince, and recordings were made in Summer 1976 at Moon Sound in Minneapolis, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions as Aces, Baby, Diamond Eyes, Don’t Forget, Don’t Hold Back, Fantasy, I’m Yours, Jelly Jam (which was later used as the instrumental portion of Just As Long As We’re Together), Leaving For New York, Love Is Forever (later renamed My Love Is Forever), Make It Through The Storm, Since We’ve Been Together and Surprise).
In late 1976 - early 1977, the track was re-recorded at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions as re-recordings of Love Is Forever (later renamed My Love Is Forever), Baby, Jelly Jam (which was later used as the instrumental portion of Just As Long As We’re Together), Make It Through The Storm, and recordings of Just As Long As We’re Together, 10:15, Fortune Teller and Got To Be Something Here).
A tape with Just As Long As We’re Together and the Jelly Jam portion as first at fifth track with Baby, Soft And Wet, My Love Is Forever and We’ll Make It Through The Storm was made of that session.
Recording dates for the album recording are not known, but the album was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, from 1 October 1977 to 22 December 1977, with new lyrics before overdubs and mixing took place, in early January 1978 at Sound Labs in Los Angeles, California.
In a 2013 Minneapolis Star-Tribune interview, Pierre Lewis (lead-singer of the short-lived The Lewis Connection, with whom Prince recorded Got To Be Something Here in late 1976) mentioned that Prince had once borrowed his keyboard, and that this is the keyboard used on Soft And Wet: “I loaned it to him and had to finally go get it from him. He wouldn’t give it back," Lewis claimed.
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