|
ABC, 123 is an unreleased track Prince, Pepé Willie and Ike Paige worked on in Autumn 1976 at Ike Paige’s appartment in Harlem, New York, NY, USA.
Prince traveled to New York City in Autumn, 1976, taking with him a demo tape to give to various record companies. He was staying at his half-sister Sharon Nelson’s appartment in Manhattan. Pepé Willie, whom he known since 1974, was also in New York working on some songs with Ike Paige. Willie invited Prince to Paige’s appartment in Harlem and started to work together on ABC, 123. In his autobiography published in 2021 (If You See Me: My Six-Decade Journey in Rock and Roll), Pepé Willie discussed the creation of the song in New York:
"We connected, and I invited him to come hang out with me and Ike Paige at Ike’s place in Harlem. The three of us started writing a song together, which we called ABC, 123. Prince finished his part much faster than Ike or I finished ours, so he went out on the balcony to take in the sights and sounds of the big city. As Ike and I sat inside the apartment completing the song, I called out to Prince to see if he had any more input on the song. "No, I’m cool. Go ahead and keep it.", I said, "Are you sure?". He said "Yeah. It’s cool"."
The track remains unreleased as it was most likely not finished during Prince’s visit in New York. No recording of ABC, 123 is known to exist.
|
