"The Prince" is a song by British ska/pop band Madness. It was written by Lee Thompson,Greene, Jo-Ann. Retrieved 28 June 2007. and was the band's first single. On 10 August 1979 the single was released through

2 Tone Records 2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records. History ...

and peaked at number 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, spending a total of 11 weeks in the charts. Retrieved 27 June 2007. "The Prince" is a tribute to Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster, who influenced Madness (the band took their name from one of his songs, "Madness", which they covered on the b-side of "The Prince").

Music video

As this was the band's first single, they were relatively unknown prior to the release. Due to this fact, no music video was filmed for the single. However, the band later bought the rights to a performance on

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

from 6 September 1979. This performance has since become associated with the single, and has featured on compilations featuring the band's music videos.

Different recordings

The song was initially recorded on 16 June 1979 at the Pathway Studios,

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. The track was then remixed on 9 July of the same year, along with the single's B-side, "Madness". The remix was in order to remove the hum from Thompson's saxophone solo. However,

Mike Barson Michael Barson (born 21 April 1958) is a Scottish-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Barson came to prominence in the late 1970s as the keyboard player for the band Madness. Early y ...

showed displeasure at the mix of "Madness". The song was re-recorded later that year for the '' One Step Beyond...'' album. As well as having a distinctively clearer sound, the song had a slight change in lyrics and

later admitted in the

33 1/3 (Thirty-Three and a Third) is a series of books, each about a single music album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, RPM. History Originally published by Continuum, the series was founded by editor David Barker ...

book One Step Beyond... that he preferred it to the single version. The B-side, "Madness", was also re-recorded for the album in a more multi-layered arrangement.

Track listing

7" vinyl single

Side one #"The Prince" ( Lee Thompson) – 2:30 Side two #"Madness" ( Cecil Campbell) – 2:32

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, The Songs about musicians Cultural depictions of reggae musicians 1979 debut singles Madness (band) songs Songs written by Lee Thompson (saxophonist) 2 Tone Records singles 1979 songs Song recordings produced by Clive Langer