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"When You Were Mine"
Promotional single by Prince
from the album Dirty Mind
B-side"Gotta Broken Heart Again"
"Uptown"
ReleasedOctober 8, 1980
RecordedMay-June 1980
Genre
Length3:47
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Prince
Producer(s)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]

Cyndi Lauper version

"When You Were Mine"
Single by Cyndi Lauper
from the album She's So Unusual
B-side"Yeah Yeah"
"I'll Kiss You"
ReleasedJanuary 31, 1985
RecordedJuly 1983
StudioThe Record Plant (New York City, New York)
Genre
Length5:06
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Prince
Producer(s)Rick Chertoff
Cyndi Lauper singles chronology
"Money Changes Everything"
(1984) 		"When You Were Mine"
(1985) 		"The Goonies 'R' Good Enough"
(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 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 performance for "When You Were Mine" by Cyndi Lauper
Chart (1985) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart 62

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Dirty Mind – Prince". AllMusic. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  2. ^ Partridge, Kenneth (October 8, 2015). "Prince's 'Dirty Mind' at 35: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  3. ^ Shoup, Brad (April 21, 2017). "Prince Albums Ranked". Stereogum. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  4. ^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 1980s". Pitchfork. August 24, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  5. ^ Molanphy, Chris (October 30, 2017). "Le Petty Prince Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Grow, Kory (April 21, 2016). "Prince Dead at 57". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  7. ^ Clerc, Benoît (October 2022). Prince: All the Songs. Octopus. ISBN 9781784728816.
  8. ^ "Dirty Mind". guitarcloud.org. Retrieved 2023-04-30.
  9. ^ Breihan, Tom (November 15, 2022). "Prince - "When Doves Cry". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York: Hachette Book Group. p. 170.
  10. ^ Evans, Paul (2004). "Cyndi Lauper". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 476. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
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