Darlene Marie is an unreleased track recorded in late May 1979, at Hollywood Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, CA, USA (around the time Prince was recording overdubs for the Prince album). The track was written for a friend Prince met in San Francisco, CA in September 1978 named Darlene, whose middle name was Maria, but was written as Marie on her baptismal record. Prince liked Marie better than Maria, or found it better suited the lyrics. He first wrote the song as a birthday present for her around her birthday (1 November) and recorded a version of it in early November 1978 in his France Avenue Home Studio in Edina, MN, USA. The song was long time mistakenly thought to have been named Darling Marie and to be first recorded in 1977. It has a relatively simple arrangement and features Prince accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. The lyrics include the line "Darlene Marie... why don't you marry me?"
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