"When Doves Cry" is a song by American musician
Prince, and the lead single from his sixth studio album Purple Rain. According to the DVD commentary of the film Purple Rain (1984), Prince was asked by director
Albert Magnoli to write a song to match the theme of a particular segment of the film that involved intermingled parental difficulties and a love affair. The next morning, Prince had composed two songs, one of which was "When Doves Cry". According to Prince's biographer
Per Nilsen, the song was inspired by his relationship with
Vanity 6 member
Susan Moonsie.
"When Doves Cry" was Prince's first
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, staying there for five weeks, and was also a worldwide hit. According to Billboard, it was the top-selling single of 1984. It is certified
Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[8] It was the last single released by a solo artist to receive a Platinum certification before the certification requirements were lowered in 1989. "When Doves Cry" was ranked number one on the
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1984. Following Prince's death, the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number eight, its first appearance in the top 10 since the week ending September 1, 1984.
The music video, directed by Prince, premiered on
MTV in June 1984. It opens with white doves emerging from double doors to reveal Prince in a bathtub, then shows him performing the song in various scenes. The video sparked controversy among network executives, who thought that its sexual nature was too explicit for television. "When Doves Cry" is ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[9]
Background and composition
Prince wrote and composed "When Doves Cry" after all the other tracks were complete on Purple Rain. In addition to providing vocals, he played all instruments on the track. The song's texture is remarkably stark. There is no
bass line, which is very unusual for an '80s dance song; Prince said that there originally was a bass line but, after a conversation with singer
Jill Jones, he decided that the song was too conventional with it included.[10] The song features an intro of a
guitar solo and a
Linn LM-1drum machine, followed by a
looped guttural vocal. After the lyrics, there is another, much longer, guitar and
synthesizer. The song ends on a
classical music-inspired
keyboard piece backed by another synthesizer solo. Keyboardist Matt Fink revealed in 2014 that the baroque synthesizer solo was recorded by Prince at half speed and an octave lower against a half-speed backing track, then sped up to create the final version. Fink was then tasked to learn and perform the solo at the album's speed.[11]
On versions edited for radio, either the song fades out as the long guitar and synthesizer solo begins, or the solo is eliminated altogether and the song skips to the ending with Prince's harmonizing and classical finish.
During live performances of the song on the Purple Rain Tour, Prince's bass player
Brown Mark added bass lines to the song as well as to other songs without bass lines.[12]
In its contemporary review of the song, Cash Box said that "featuring ethereal lyrics, a pounding backbeat and a sometimes ominous musical atmosphere, this single again proves Prince to be one of the most provocative and sophisticated artists in the business."[14]
"When Doves Cry" was No. 1 in the US for five weeks, from July 7, 1984, to August 4, 1984, keeping
Bruce Springsteen's "
Dancing in the Dark" from reaching the top spot. Because of tabulation differences, the song was announced as the year's No. 2 single on the American Top 40 year-end countdown (with "
Say Say Say" at No. 1).[15] The song was voted as the best single of the year in The Village VoicePazz & Jop critics' poll. Billboard ranked it as the
No. 1 year-end single of 1984. In 2016, after Prince's death, "When Doves Cry" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 20, peaking at No. 8. It also ranked No. 1 on the BillboardHot Black Singles chart for eight weeks (from June 30, to August 18, 1984), preventing Tina Turner's "
What's Love Got to Do With It" from reaching the top spot for five of those weeks.
The
B-side was the cult fan favorite "
17 Days", which was originally intended for
Apollonia 6's
self-titled album. A
12-inch single issued in the UK included "17 Days" and two tracks from Prince's previous album, 1999: its
title track and "D.M.S.R.". The entire title of "17 Days (the rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose, if U believe, look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose)" is now the longest-titled flip side of a Hot 100 No. 1, with 85 letters and/or numbers.
"When Doves Cry" became one of Prince's
signature songs. Spin magazine ranked "When Doves" the No. 6 song of all time.[citation needed] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "When Doves Cry" No. 37 on its list of "
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[16] In 2006,
VH1's "The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" ranked the song at No. 5. On October 13, 2008, the song was voted No. 2 on Australian VH1's Top 10 Number One Pop Songs countdown. The "80 of the 80s" podcast ranks it as the No. 59 song of the decade.[17] In 2016, Paste ranked the song number three on their list of the 50 greatest Prince songs,[18] and in 2022, American Songwriter ranked the song number two on their list of the 10 greatest Prince songs.[19]
"When Doves Cry" was
sampled for use in
MC Hammer's 1990 hit song, "
Pray", one of the few samples of his songs legally sanctioned by Prince.
Music video
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.[20] The video sparked controversy among network executives, who thought that its sexual nature was too explicit for television.
Track listing
7-inch single: Paisley Park / 0-20170 (US)
"When Doves Cry" – 3:47
"
17 Days (The rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose. If U believe, look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose.)" – 3:54
12-inch single: Warner Bros. / W9286T (UK)
"When Doves Cry" – 5:52
"17 Days (The rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose. If U believe, look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose.)" – 3:54
"1999" – 6:22
"D.M.S.R." – 8:05
2×12" pack
CD single 1989
"When Doves Cry"
"Purple Rain" (album version)
Personnel
Credits from Duane Tudahl, Benoît Clerc and Guitarcloud[21][22][23][24]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
A cover version by American singer
Ginuwine was produced by
Timbaland and released on July 25, 1997, for Ginuwine's album The Bachelor; Ginuwine's cover uses actual dove sound effects as texture for the song. The official
music video for this version was directed by
Michael Lucero.[74]
Charts
Weekly charts
Weekly chart performance for "When Doves Cry" by Ginuwine
As a child, American actor and singer
Quindon Tarver covered the song (retitled 'When Dove's Cry'[89][90]) for the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet. It was included on the soundtrack album William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture, Volume 2, and became a number 3 hit in Australia in July 1997.[91]
Canadian Alternative band
The Pursuit of Happiness recorded a cover version for their 2005 "Best Of" CD,[92] which was promoted as a single to Canadian radio stations.
Nonpoint held an online voting bracket competition in 2020 where fans voted for their next cover song, in which "When Doves Cry" by Prince was the winner. The band released the cover song in September 2021.[95]
UK comedian and actor,
Lenny Henry, made a parody video of the song back in the 1980s.[96]
^
abBreihan, Tom (November 15, 2022). "Prince - "When Doves Cry". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York:
Hachette Book Group. p. 166.
^"100 Greatest Funk Songs". Digital Dream Door. August 7, 2008.
Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2021.