|
Slow Love is the seventh track on the first disc of Prince’s ninth album Sign O’ The Times. In 1987, a live version was included as the fifth track of the concert movie Sign O’ The Times.
The song was longtime thought to be co-written by Carole Davis, whom Prince met in 1984, but in fact it is essentially a sole-composition by Davis, who wrote the lyrics and music and did the vocal arrangement. Prince only helped to rewrite and re-arrange the bridge.
This initial version was recorded on 1 July 1984 at his Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
The song was then shelved and taken out again two years later, when Prince worked further on the recording on 3 June 1986 at the Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (the day after a configuration of the Dream Factory album was made, on the same day as Eric Leeds saxophone overdubs on Yah, U Know).
The track was then initially included as the ninth track on the third and final configuration of the Dream Factory album on 18 July 1986. When that album developed into the triple-album Crystal Ball, the song was included as the seventh track on the first disc on its 30 November 1986 configuration, which was eventually pared down and became Sign O’ The Times.
When Prince was planning to release the song, in 1987, he attempted to buy the rights to it. Davis: “He had his lawyers call me, and they offered me $25,000 to own the song outright, and I refused, and they got back to me about a month later to give me 50 percent of publishing and writers, which I accepted for the opportunity to appear on a Prince record.”
While Carole Davis largely wrote all the music and lyrics and she released her own version of the song (produced by Nile Rodgers) that appeared as a bonus track on the cd version only of her 1989 debut album Heart Of Gold, Prince’s version is not considered a cover as his was released first and he is officially credited as co-author of the song.
In late 1993, the song was tried out during early sessions for Mayte’s first album at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and was included as the eighth track on an early version of the album, which was titled Latino Barbie Doll at the time. The track was removed when the album evolved into Child Of The Sun, however.
| 
