8. goodbye (from crystal ball compilation (disc 3), 1998, recorded in 1996)
"goodbye" was replaced by "the holy river" on emancipation, which strikes me as an unusual substitution. not because "the holy river" sucks -- indeed, it is great and i'll talk about it soon -- but because their subject matter is completely different. "goodbye" is a really beautiful ballad, a better philly soul ballad than his covers of either "betcha by golly wow" or "la la means i love you" turned out to be, one that would have to have been placed on disc 2. the problem with that is that disc 2 is so celebratory, prince so happy to have found his true love in mayte, that "goodbye" would have been jarring. (and it's far too amicable of a parting to be directed at his former "slave" masters at wb.)

now, i wonder if i pick "goodbye" over any of the ballads on emancipation because it didn't make that album, because it's not tainted with some of my own personal associations with it. but, ultimately, i believe it comes down to my own predilection for songs that are bittersweet, a feeling more akin to how i intend on viewing myself than the hosannas of songs like "saviour" and "flsmw."