When You Were Mine (Prince song) explained

When You Were Mine
Type:Promotional single
Artist:Prince
Album:Dirty Mind
Released:October 8, 1980
Recorded:May–June 1980
B-Side:"Gotta Broken Heart Again"
"Uptown"
Genre:
Label:Warner Bros.
Producer:Prince

"When You Were Mine" is a song written and released by Prince on his 1980 album, Dirty Mind.[6] Though not released as a single, the song received a promotional 12" release (which included "Gotta Broken Heart Again" and "Uptown"). "When You Were Mine" was later the B-side for Prince's "Controversy" single in 1981.

A live recording was included on his 2002 live album, One Nite Alone... Live! The original studio version was also included on The Hits/The B-Sides in 1993. Prince said he was inspired to write the rock song while listening to John Lennon. The track includes a Farfisa-inspired organ sound played on an Oberheim OB-X.

Personnel

Credits from Benoît Clerc and Guitarcloud[7] [8]

Mitch Ryder Version

In 1983, Mitch Ryder released a version of the song on the John Mellencamp-produced album Never Kick a Sleeping Dog. The song peaked at number 87 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 during the week ending July 30, 1983, the highest charting position of any recording of this song in the U.S., according to the book, Joel Whitburn's Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Ryder's version was also featured in the soundtrack of the film Hot Dog…The Movie (1983).

Cyndi Lauper version

When You Were Mine
Type:single
Artist:Cyndi Lauper
Album:She's So Unusual
B-Side:"Yeah Yeah"
"I'll Kiss You"
Released:April 21, 1984[9]
Recorded:July 1983
Studio:The Record Plant (New York City, New York)
Genre:
Length:5:06
Label:Epic
Producer:Rick Chertoff
Chronology:Cyndi Lauper
Prev Title:Money Changes Everything
Prev Year:1984
Next Title:The Goonies 'R' Good Enough
Next Year:1985

Cyndi Lauper's mid-tempo ballad cover version of "When You Were Mine" is also synthesizer-based for her 1983 debut album, She's So Unusual.[6] She performed the single at the 1985 American Music Awards. It was released exclusively as a promotional single in the United States and received a commercial release in Canada and Japan.

The single debuted on the RPM Top 100 singles chart dated April 27, 1985 at number 91.[12] It peaked at number 62 in its sixth week on the chart.[13] The single spent a total of nine weeks on the chart.[14]

The song was used as the theme song to the second season of the American true crime anthology television series, "Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story". In Peru's premier radio station, Radio Panamericana, it was in the year end chart for 1986, in the Top 20.

Track listing

Canada 7" single

  1. "When You Were Mine" (single version) – 4:00
  2. "Yeah Yeah" – 3:17

Japan 7" single

  1. "When You Were Mine"
  2. "I'll Kiss You"

Charts

Chart (1985)!scope="col"
Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart62

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Erlewine. Stephen Thomas. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Dirty Mind – Prince. AllMusic. November 9, 2022.
  2. Partridge. Kenneth. October 8, 2015. Prince's 'Dirty Mind' at 35: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review. November 29, 2022. Billboard.
  3. Web site: Shoup. Brad. April 21, 2017. Prince Albums Ranked. November 29, 2022. Stereogum.
  4. Web site: The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s . . August 24, 2015 . October 16, 2022.
  5. Le Petty Prince Edition. Hit Parade Music History and Music Trivia. Slate. Molanphy. Chris. October 30, 2017. July 9, 2023.
  6. Grow. Kory. April 21, 2016. Prince Dead at 57. April 20, 2018. Rolling Stone.
  7. Book: Clerc, Benoît . October 2022 . Prince: All the Songs . Octopus . 9781784728816.
  8. Web site: Dirty Mind. 2023-04-30. guitarcloud.org.
  9. When You Were Mine. Cyndi Lauper. 1985. Portrait. 07・5P-345. Japan.
  10. Book: Breihan, Tom. Prince - "When Doves Cry. November 15, 2022. The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. Hachette Book Group. New York. 170.
  11. Book: Evans, Paul. Cyndi Lauper. . 2004 . . 4th . Brackett . Nathan . Hoard . Christian . 0-7432-0169-8 . 476.
  12. Web site: RPM 100 Singles April 27, 1985. RPM.
  13. Web site: RPM 100 Singles June 1, 1985. RPM.
  14. Web site: RPM 100 Singles June 22, 1985. RPM.