Prince's 'Controversy' turns 40 today (listen to a demo of "Do Me Baby")

Prince‘s fourth album, Controversy, turns 40 today, and to celebrate, his estate has shared a demo, “Do Me Baby,” pulled from Prince’s vast archives. The version that is on Controversy is a 7-minute slow-jam workout that closes out side one of the album; this demo version probably only sounded like a demo to Prince, as it’s fully fleshed out, though two minutes shorter. You can listen to the demo and the version on Controversy below, and here’s more info from the Prince Estate:

“Do Me, Baby” is best known as the centerpiece of 1981s Controversy, but Prince first recorded the song years earlier. A demo featuring Prince and his best friend and creative collaborator André Cymone was initially recorded in 1978. Then a year later, Prince fully reimagined the track as a solo recording during the April 1979 recording sessions for Prince at Alpha Studios in North Hollywood, CA, with overdubs added in the same period at Hollywood Sound Records in Hollywood, CA.

From that 2″ multitrack master tape, a cassette rough mix – recently discovered in Prince’s legendary vault and labeled in the artist’s own handwriting – was rendered but ultimately shelved. This special release of “Do Me, Baby (Demo)” has been newly mixed to match the original demo cassette specs by Prince’s GRAMMY-nominated engineer Chris James, and mastered by Prince’s longtime collaborator and multiple GRAMMY-winning engineer Bernie Grundman.

The “Do Me Baby” demo has been released as a special replica cassette single (limited to 1,981 units), as well as an etched 7” single on purple vinyl.

You can pick up Prince’s classic Purple Rain soundtrack on picture disc vinyl in the BV shop.

Happy Birthday, Controversy! Stream it below.