Songfacts®:

• In this ballad, Prince is stone in love, counting the hours waiting for his girl to call his name. It's one of the few songs he talked about in an interview.
  
  "That's a song about peace," he told the Daily Telegraph. "You see, you're trying to speak the truth in a song like that. Is it about love, or is it about the Creator? It could be both."
• The line, "Before the day I carried you through the Bridle Path door," is a reference to the area in Toronto called The Bridle Path, where Prince lived with his second wife, Manuela Testolini. They were married from 2001 to 2007.
• "Call My Name" was the second single from Prince's Musicology album, following the title track. Prince (he started using that name again in 2000 after changing it to a symbol in 1993) was coming off a string of albums with very limited appeal, some released only to his New Power Generation music club. He got back in touch with his wider fanbase in 2004, starting by opening the Grammy Awards with a performance where he was joined by Beyoncé, then with his Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. The album was his first distributed by a major label (Columbia) since 1999, and the songs connected with his old fans. "Call My Name" ended up being the biggest American chart hit from the album, peaking at #75.
• The song won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2005 ceremony; "Musicology" also won for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. These were Prince's first Grammy wins since 1988, when his song "Kiss" took the trophy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
• As part of his resurgence, Prince launched an arena tour for Musicology that was the highest grossing tour of 2004. Ticket prices were inflated but came with a CD copy of the album that was handed out at the venues. These counted as sales, pushing the album to Double Platinum certification.
• Prince was very protective over his music and rarely gave anyone his blessing to cover his songs, so when Broadway veteran Morgan James wanted to record this for her 2014 debut album, Hunter, producer L.A. Reid told her not to bother. She begged Reid to reach out to Prince for permission, but he insisted it would be a waste of time because the Purple One would never allow it. James recorded it anyway, but it wasn't included on the first pressings of the album. Reid, however, had a change of heart that changed everything.
  
  James told Songfacts the story in a 2023 interview: "L.A. calls me up one day and he says, 'I was just listening to music in my house, and 'Call My Name' came on shuffle. That's a good track.' I said, 'Thanks. I think we should send it to Prince.' He said, 'You know what, I think I'll send it to Prince.' He called Prince's assistant and said, 'Can you give me four minutes?' He sent the song over, and a few minutes later, Prince called back and said, 'I love it and she should release it. She should make a video, the whole thing.' A full blessing."
  
  As a result, Hunter was reissued to include the cover, and "Call My Name" was released as a single.