"Private Joy" is a song by American musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

from his 1981 album ''

Controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

'', released as the B-side of the single " Do Me, Baby". The song describes how Prince will never reveal the identity of his secret lover. This is the first time Prince used the LM-1 machine, which he would use throughout his career. In this bouncy

disco-pop Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describes ...

number, Prince explains that his lover is no one's but his. He sings about what they do together, and the times they share. He claims that he "strangled Valentino", and that she was "his ever since" and that she "belongs to Prince". The song ends with guitar riffs and

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

from Prince, and segues into "Ronnie, Talk to Russia", the next track on ''Controversy''. These guitar sounds were sampled and used in "Orgasm", a song on Prince's 1994 album ''

Come Come may refer to: Places *Come, village of a Greek polis *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a Britis ...

''.

Track listings

#"Do Me, Baby" (edit) – 3:57 #"Private Joy" – 4:25

Personnel

Sourced from Benoît Clerc and Guitarcloud. *

– lead and backing vocals,

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim Electronics, Oberheim's OB-series polyphony (instrument), polyphonic Analog synthesizer, analog Subtractive synthesis, subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was ...

ARP Omni The ARP Omni was a polyphonic analog synthesizer manufactured by ARP Instruments, Inc. Overview The Omni featured preset, electronically generated Orchestral ensemble String voices including polyphonic Violin and Viola sounds as well as mon ...

, electric guitar, bass guitar,

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

, Pearl SY-1 Syncussion

La Toya Jackson version

American singer

La Toya Jackson La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, ''The Jacksons (TV ...

covered this song for her 1984 album '' Heart Don't Lie''. Her single had limited release in Japan as a 7" single. Her U.S. hit single " Heart Don't Lie" can be found on the B-side. According to Jackson, Prince's publishing company, Controversy Music, "approached me about recording songs of his that hadn't gone over too big the first time around. They submitted several songs and I picked 'Private Joy' because it sounded so up-to-date." Though "Private Joy" was Jackson's favorite song from ''Heart Don't Lie'', it was never released as a single outside Japan. Said Jackson at the time, "I loved the song and my record company loved it, but my father manages me and it was his decision to not release that cut." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' stated that "note for note, she matches Prince's intensity with her own hard-edged snap, crackle and pop."

Track listings

;Japan 7" (#07 SP 815) #"Private Joy" – 4:51 #"Heart Don't Lie" (7") – 3:29

Cheyne version

Artist Cheyne recorded a version for the soundtrack of the 1985 film ''

Weird Science Weird Science may refer to: * ''Weird Science'' (film), a 1985 film directed by John Hughes ** ''Weird Science'' (TV series), a television series based on the film ** "Weird Science" (song), the theme song to the film and the TV series by Oingo ...

''.

Track listings

;U.S. 12" vinyl (#MCA-23583) #"Private Joy" (extended version) – 5:30 #"Private Joy" (instrumental) – 5:44 #"Private Joy" (bonus beats plus bass) – 4:28

References

{{La Toya Jackson 1981 songs 1984 singles Prince (musician) songs La Toya Jackson songs Songs written by Prince (musician) Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) CBS Records singles