*Prince has an army of hit songs and albums. And while each tune and compilation strikes a nerve with fans for internal and external reasons, no greatest hits offering seems to be complete without his classic “When Doves Cry” or as New York University music professor Ethan Hein classifies it, “an epic sonic adventure.”
Released in 1984 as the lead single from Prince’s epic soundtrack to his semi-autobiographical film “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry” stands apart in its own lane.
The irony of it is the tune was the last one Prince wrote for the feature after director Albert Magnoli asked him to come up with “something for the montage scene where the Kid is riding around on his motorcycle, having just lost his girlfriend to Morris Day.
The result was Prince writing “When Doves Cry that night. And starting production on it in Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound studios on March 1, 1984. The initial two-hour session, didn’t produce any recordings. “…he probably just programmed drums and chose synth sounds,” Hein speculated in an article he wrote about the album version of “When Doves Cry” for Music Radar.
Things changed when Prince returned to Sunset Sound and finished the rest of “When Doves Cry” in what Hein described as “a single marathon session sprint.”
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On May 16, 1984, a little more than a month before the “Purple Rain” soundtrack hit stores on June 25, 1984, and just over a month on July 27, 1984, after the “Purple Rain” movie invaded theaters, “When Doves Cry” gave the world its first taste of the literal musical revolution to come from Prince and his band of the same name at that time. The single, inspired by Prince’s relationship with Vanity 6 member Susan Moonsie would go on to achieve international acclaim becoming Prince’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song with a five-week reign and securing top single of 1984 status.
In his remembrance, Hein touched on Prince’s quest to create a worthwhile song that changed the game instrumentally and vocally speaking. Lyrically, the instructor confessed that he couldn’t comment on “When Doves Cry” without diving into the words composed by Prince for the hit song.
“They are sublimely odd! In his column ‘The Number One’s, Tom Breihan describes the song as “opaque poetry, a hallucinatory swirl of panting come-ons and animal imagery. That means it’s classic Prince — half functional, half mysterious, able to do its work while still leaving your mind spinning.” I couldn’t put it any better,” the educator mentioned.
“Consider the opening line of the song: “Dig, if you will, a picture.” In the first four words, Prince manages to combine jazz slang with a flowery Victorian-ism. The language stays strangely formal, even when it’s describing physical love: “engaged in a kiss,” “the sweat of this body.” Not “my” body, “this” body! And who sings so much about their parents in a sweaty love song? Only an incomparable genius.
As with any well-known song, “When Doves Cry” is not excused from artists who were game to cover it and make it thier own. Among the interpreters were Ginuwine (“backed by a great Timbaland beat, which uses the drum break from ‘Fool Yourself’ by Little Feat for extra intertextuality”), Patti Smith, (“a slow and sultry rock groove”) and Metallica members Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo, who “do the song as a goof during a show in the music icon’s beloved hometown of Minneapolis.
As Prince continued changing the game on a worldwide platform, rap music arrived, capturing the eye and ear of the music’s hip-hop and dance producers, who despite Prince’s consistent refusal, wanted to merge it with the culture’s sound.
Heiln goes on to expose Audio Two, who used a slowed-down sample of Prince singing “This is what it sounds like” in their song ‘Make It Funky,’ without The Arist’s permission
“Early rap didn’t have much of a cultural footprint outside of certain neighborhoods in certain cities, though, so it was easy for this kind of thing to fly under the radar,” Hien stated before revealing the one rapper who got Prince’s blessing to use his popular tune. “Rather weirdly, Prince did permit MC Hammer, of all people, to sample the beat from ‘When Doves Cry’ for his underwhelming song ‘Pray.’
“Interpolating and quoting Prince is much less legally problematic. Bizzy Bone quotes ‘When Doves Cry’ on Thugz Cry,’ and another Bone Thugs-N-Harmony member, Krayzie Bone, also interpolates the song on Can’t Get Out The Game,” he continued.
For more of Hien’s breakdown of Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” click here.
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