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Hear Prince’s acoustic demo of I Feel for You from early 1979

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Warner Records/Prince EstateTo mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Prince‘s self-titled second album, which was released on October 19, 1979, the artist’s estate has released a previously unheard acoustic solo demo of his classic song “I Feel for You.”

The song is now available on streaming services, and as a limited-edition 7″ purple vinyl single, which you can order now at Prince’s online store. The B-side of the single includes the original studio recording of the song.  The single is only available to order for the next seven days, and will ship around January 31.

The demo was recorded by a 20-year-old Prince during the winter of 1978-1979, and you can hear him pressing the “record” button on a tape recorder and picking up his acoustic guitar before he starts playing and singing. The cassette tape of the recording was recently discovered in Prince’s legendary vault.

Michael Howe, the archivist of Prince’s vault, says he was “blow away” by the demo, in which Prince shows off his amazing acoustic guitar skills, as well as his falsetto voice.

While “I Feel for You” appeared on the Prince album, it became a smash hit in 1984 when Chaka Khan covered it, and added harmonica by Stevie Wonder and the famous “Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan/let me rock you Chaka Khan” rap by Melle Mel. That version won two Grammys, including Best R&B Song for Prince, as the songwriter.

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