When Doves Cry

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"When Doves Cry"
U.S. 7" single
Single by Prince
from the album Purple Rain
B-side	"17 Days" "1999" (UK 12") "D.M.S.R." (UK 12")
Released	June 9, 1984
Format	7" single 12" single
Recorded	Sunset Sound, 03/01/1984
Genre	Rock, Funk, Pop
Length	7" edit: 3:47 Album/12": 5:52
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Writer(s)	Prince
Producer	Prince
Certification	Platinum - (08/21/1984)
Prince singles chronology
"Let's Pretend We're Married" (1983) "When Doves Cry" (1984) "Let's Go Crazy" (1984)
Prince (UK) chronology
"Little Red Corvette" (1983) "When Doves Cry" (1984) "Purple Rain" (1984)
Purple Rain track listing
"Darling Nikki" (5) "When Doves Cry" (6) "I Would Die 4 U" (7)

"When Doves Cry" is a song by the American musician Prince, and the lead single from his 1984 album Purple Rain. It was a worldwide hit, and his first American number one single, topping charts for five weeks. According to Billboard magazine, it was the top-selling single of the year.

On 10/13/2008, the song was voted #2 on Australian VH1's Top 10 Number One Pop Songs countdown.

The song

History

According to the Purple Rain DVD, Prince was asked by the director to write a song to match the theme of a particular segment of the film - one which involved intermingled parental difficulties and a love affair. The next morning, Prince had reportedly composed two songs, one of which was "When Doves Cry".

Impact

The song was #1 in the US for five weeks, from 07/07/1984 - 08/04/1984. It kept the other big hit of that summer, Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark", from reaching the top spot. "When Doves Cry" was voted as the best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Billboard ranked it as the #1 single of 1984; however, on American Top 40 it was ranked as the number two song of the year as AT40 did not use Billboard's rankings that year.

The B-side was the cult fan favourite "17 Days", which was originally intended for the Apollonia 6 album. A 12-inch single issued in the UK included the album track, "17 Days", and two tracks from Prince's previous album, 1999, namely the title track and "D.M.S.R."

Song structure

Prince wrote and composed "When Doves Cry" after all the other tracks on Purple Rain were complete. In addition to vocals, he also played all instruments on the track. The song's texture is remarkably stark. There is no bass line at all, which is very unusual for a dance song; Prince has said that there originally was a bass line, but decided that the song was too conventional with it intact. During live performances of the song on the Purple Rain Tour, Brown Mark, Prince's then-bass player, added bass lines in this song and other songs without a bass line. [1] The song features an intro of a guitar solo and drum machine, followed by a looped guttural vocal. After the lyrics, there is another, much longer guitar and a synthesizer solo. The song ends on a classical music-inspired keyboard piece backed by another synthesizer solo.

Acclaim

"When Doves Cry" has gone on to become one of Prince's signature songs. Spin magazine ranked the song 6th greatest single of all time. It was number #38 in Movement's list The Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone ranked "When Doves Cry" #52 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (which makes it number three among songs of the 1980s). In 2006, VH1's "The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" ranked the song #5 on the list.

Music video

This section requires expansion.

The music video (directed by Prince himself) was released on MTV in June, 1984. It opens with white doves emerging from double doors to reveal Prince in a bathtub. It also includes scenes from the Purple Rain film interspersed with shots of the Revolution performing and dancing in a white room. The final portion of the video incorporates a mirrored frame of the left half of the picture, creating a doubling effect. The video was nominated for Best Choreography at 1985's MTV Video Music Awards.[2] The video sparked controversy among network executives who thought that the sexual nature of the video was too explicit for television.

Track listing

12": Paisley Park / 0-20170 (US)

1. "When Doves Cry - 5:52
2. "17 Days - 3:54

12": Warner Bros. / W9286T (UK)

1. "When Doves Cry" - 5:52
2. "17 Days" - 3:54

1. "1999" - 6:22
2. "D.M.S.R." - 8:05

• 2x12" pack

Awards and nominations

• American Music Awards - 1985 - Favorite Soul/R&B Single (won)

Ginuwine cover version

A hit cover version by R&B singer Ginuwine was produced by Timbaland in 1996 for Ginuwine's The Bachelor album, Ginuwine's cover uses actual dove sound effects as texture for its jungle music-inspired instrumental track.

Charts

Other cover versions

• Irish music artist Damien Rice recorded an acoustic cover version of the song.
• A cappella group The Flying Pickets included a cover on their 1994 album The Original Flying Pickets: Volume 1.
• As a child, American actor/singer Quindon Tarver covered the song for the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet. It was included on the 1997 soundtrack album William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture, Volume 2, and became a hit in Australia. This version is often mistakenly thought to be sung by the late R&B singer Aaliyah.^[5]
• Patti Smith covered "When Doves Cry" on her compilation album, Land (1975–2002).
• First season Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian performed the song on the show and recorded a cover for his 2003 debut album Just As I Am.
• Tennessee indie band One Less Reason recorded a hard rock cover of the song on their 2005 album EveryDayLife.^[6]
• Canadian group The Be Good Tanyas performed "When Doves Cry" on their 2006 album Hello Love.
• Anglo-Swedish band Razorlight recorded a cover as the B-side to their 2007 single "I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got".
• Canadian singer Kristy Thirsk included a cover of the song on her 2008 EP Under Cover EP. An audio sample of her version can be heard on her official MySpace page.^[7]
• Spanish electropop artists The Amplid recorded a cover in 2008.^[8]
• A cover by The Twilight Singers was included on the 2009 tribute compilation Purplish Rain. A free download of the song was offered by Spin magazine.^[9]

Live cover performances

• American southern rock/jam band Gov't Mule, with Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers, also perform a version of this song quite often at their shows as a part of their own song "Beautifully Broken". A version of "Beautifully Broken" featuring an intro and outro of 'When Doves Cry' appears on the 2003 Gov't Mule live album The Deepest End, Live In Concert.
• Bluegrass band Greensky Bluegrass have been performing a live cover version of this song in concerts since 2005.
• Canadian pop band Barenaked Ladies performed a cover at one of their concerts.
• Industrial metal band Mushroomhead has performed the song in concert and low quality recordings of it can be found online.
• American country singer David Allan Coe has covered the song at some concerts as a part of a medley.
• Patrick Wolf performed a live cover of the song, duetting with Charlotte Church on the March 23, 2007 episode of the The Charlotte Church Show.
• British singer Mika performed a live cover of the song at a Montreal concert on January 28, 2008.

Sampling

• In 1990, MC Hammer sampled "When Doves Cry" as the basis for his song "Pray" from the Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em album.
• In 1998, rapper Bizzy Bone would use an interpolation and pay homage to Prince's hit with "Thugz Cry" from his album Heaven'z Movie.
• Darren Hayes used the beat for the his song "Darkness" for 2007's tour "The Time Machine Tour"
• Pigeon John and General Electriks used it in a song called "Crush".

Appearances/references in other media

• In the episode of the Simpsons, "Lemon of Troy", Milhouse Van Houten, upon meeting the Shelbyvillian Milhouse, says "I guess this is what it feels like when doves cry".
• The Quindon Tarver version of the song (backed by a choir) was featured in the wedding scene of the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film Romeo + Juliet.
• Patti Smith's cover of the song was used in the 2003 film Lost in Translation.
• The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an 80s hit song, named a two part episode after this song. The episode dealt with the issue of child abuse.
• Snoop Dogg recreated the ending of the original "When Doves Cry" video at the midpoint of his "Sensual Seduction" video.

References