I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man is the fourth track on the second disc of Prince's ninth album Sign O' The Times, and, seven months after the album's release, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man was released as the album's fourth single.
A live version was also included in the concert movie Sign O' The Times.
In 1993, the single edit was included as the tenth track on Prince's first compilation album The Hits 1 (also included as the first disc of The Hits / The B-Sides).
Basic tracking took place on 23 May 1979, at Hollywood Sound Recorders (Studio A), Los Angeles, California, during sessions which focused on overdubs and mixing the Prince album. It is unclear if the track was worked on further in 1982 (the year it was previously thought to be first recorded in), but it was re-recorded from scratch on 16 July 1986 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California. It was included as the the tenth track on the 18 July 1986 configuration of Dream Factory.
When the album developed into the triple-album Crystal Ball, the song was included as the seventh and final track on the second disc on the 30 November 1986 configuration, which was eventually pared down and became Sign O' The Times.
The original 1979 Version was released in September 2020, on one of the discs with previously unreleased tracks included with the Sign O' The Times Super Deluxe Edition set. It was released as a preview for the album on 16 July 2020 (on the 34th anniversary of the re-recording), along with a photo of Prince's original handwritten lyrics, written on a 12" record sleeve.
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