Hear Prince’s Previously Unreleased Gem ‘Cosmic Day’

The Prince estate has released the full version of a long-treasured rarity, “Cosmic Day,” which will appear on the upcoming reissue of Sign O’ the Times, out September 25th.

The track was recorded at Sunset Sound, Studio 3 on November 15th, 1986, and although a snippet of the recording has been passed among collectors for years, the whole song had yet to surface until now. The track finds Prince riding a thumping rock beat, tossing out all sorts of guitar heroics and harmonics, and delivering a mesmerizing vocal performance in his pitched-up “Camiille” voice.

To accompany the song’s release, the Prince estate also shared a photo of the original handwritten lyrics for “Cosmic Day” on the Prince social media accounts.

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The Prince Estate and @WarnerRecords are pleased to release the song and handwritten lyrics for "Cosmic Day" from Prince’s legendary vault. "Cosmic Day" was recorded on November 15, 1986 at Sunset Sound, and is one of the most revered recordings from the expanded reissue of Sign O’ The Times. Link in bio. #PrinceSOTT #Prince @sunsetsoundrecorders

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“Cosmic Day” is one of 45 unreleased studio recordings that will appear on the Sign O’ the Times reissue. The massive eight-CD or 13-LP set will feature an array of other goodies from the Prince vault, including a 1987 live show in the Netherlands, a bonus concert film from Prince’s 1987 New Year’s Eve at Paisley Park (featuring a Miles Davis cameo) and tracks like a previously unreleased 1979 version of “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man.”

The Sign O’ the Times set will also come with a 120-page hardcover book featuring Prince’s handwritten lyrics and unseen photos from Prince’s primary photographer of that time, Jeff Katz. Several Prince friends and peers contributed to the liner notes as well, including Dave Chappelle, Lenny Kravitz and Prince’s long-time engineer Susan Rogers.