The Prince

"The Prince" is a song solely written by saxophonist Lee Thompson. It was a tribute to ska musician Prince Buster, one of the main influences on Madness.

It was one of the three first songs that Madness recorded (the other two being "Madness" and "My Girl").

The Single
"The Prince" was Madness' first song to be released as a single and their only single to be released by 2 Tone Records. "Madness" was picked as the b-side. It was out in the record shops on August 10th, but it took its time to reach the charts. On September 1st, it entered the chart on position 74. Five weeks later, on October 6th, it reached its highest position at no. 16. Totally, it spent 11 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.