Baby

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Baby

from the album For You Song details Performer: Prince First Released: 7 April 1978 - For You album Album(s): For You Writer(s): Prince Producer(s): Prince Live Appearances First and last live appearance: 21 January 2016 (show 1): Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA (only known performance) Performed regularly on tour: none Performed occasionally in shows: 2016 (solo piano)

Baby is the sixth track on on Prince’s first album For You. In 1980, it was included as the b-side of Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?, the second single from Prince’s second album Prince. An early version of the song was recorded in Summer 1976 at Moon Sound in Minneapolis, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions as Aces, 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, Surprise and Soft And Wet). The early version was included as the first track on Prince’s 1976 demo tape he took to various record companies in New York. Inspiration for the songs lyrics, dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, did not come from Prince’s personal experience, but were based on stories about what his friends were dealing with. 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. Specific recording dates for the album version of song are not known, but the album was recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, from 1 October 1977 to 22 December 1977, before overdubs and mixing took place, in early January 1978 at Sound Labs in Los Angeles, California. Recording Information Recording Sessions Date Studio Additional info Summer 1976 Moon Sound, Minneapolis, MN, USA preliminary recording 1976-1977 Sound 80, Minneapolis, MN, USA Re-recording October - December 1977 Record Plant, Sausalito, CA, USA Re-recording Early January 1978 Sound Labs, Los Angeles, CA, USA Overdubs and mixing Recording Personnel Prince - all vocals and instruments except: Patrice Rushen - synth keyboards (uncredited) Versions Released Versions Title Length Released Version Additional info Baby 3:09 For You Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? single Studio Sampled, Referred to, Quoted in... Title Length Released Version Additional info Hate U 5:54 The Gold Experience Hate U single Studio The track, and its remixes, uses a synth line borrowed from Baby Unreleased Versions Title Version Additional Info Baby Studio 1976 Moon Sound sessions Baby Studio 1976-1977 Sound 80 sessions Baby Studio 1976-1977 Sound 80 sessions with string overdubs (rejected by Prince) Baby Instrumental version 1976-1977 Sound 80 sessions Baby Studio 1977 Record Plant version before Sound Labs Overdubs and mixing

Additional Information See also Trivia For You album 1976 demo tape References The Vault: The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince (2004)

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