Train is the fifth track on Mavis Staples' first Paisley Park Records album Time Waits For No One. In September 2020, Prince’s original version was released as the first track of Vault Tracks part 2, one of the discs with previously unreleased tracks included with the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition.
Basic tracking for Prince’s original version took place on 7 July 1986 at Prince’s Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (on the same day as Eggplant).
Prince’s version was included as the third track on the 18 July 1986 configuration of the album Dream Factory. When Prince decided not to proceed with the album after disbanding the Revolution, and concentrated instead on Camille and Crystal Ball (both of which were also aborted), he decided not to include this song, even though it did not contain input from the Revolution.
Prince revised the song in late June 1988, at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions as recording Time Waits For No One and revising Come Home and I Guess I’m Crazy). The song was then sent (along with Time Waits For No One, Come Home, I Guess I’m Crazy and Interesting) to Mavis Staples in Memphis, Tennessee, where she recorded lead vocal overdubs with producers Al Bell, Homer Banks and Lester Snell at Ardent Studios.
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Recording Information
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Recording Sessions
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Date
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Studio
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Additional info
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7 July 1986
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Galpin Blvd Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Tracking
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8 July 1986
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Galpin Blvd Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Overdubs, horn overdubs, mix
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9 July 1986
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Galpin Blvd Home Studio, Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Edit, mix, instrumental mix
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27 June 1988
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Paisley Park Studios (Studio A), Chanhassen, MN, USA
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Additional recording, mixing
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19 July 1986
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Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA, USA
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Mix
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Summer 1988 (assumed)
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Ardent Studios, Memphis, TN, USA
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Vocal overdubs by Mavis Staples
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Recording Personnel
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Mavis Staples version
Prince version
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Unreleased Versions
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Title
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Version
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Additional Info
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Train (instrumental)
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Studio
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Instrumental mix
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Train
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Studio
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Version with Susannah Melvoin singing lead
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Train
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Studio
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Prince’s updated 1988 version after overdubs
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