If there is a perfect rock song, When Doves Cry is it.

A masterpiece!!!!

I like that song and I also like the video

Yup.

A true classic

"When Doves Cry" is one of the songs that link Prince to popular culture.

One of the best songs EVER. Tied for my favorite song of all time (with Purple Rain)

Everyone of us should like When Doves Cry. Who doesn't enjoy that song on the org.

The day I 1st. heard this song, the radio station kept saying, "Stay tuned...we have Prince's new single coming up." I was really looking forward to listening to it. When they finally played it, my reaction was "What the heck was that?" I thought it was too weird.
By the fourth or fifth hearing it became my favorite purple song ever.
I just heard it last night and I'm still amazed how this song stands out in the continuity of radio-play.

Can you dig the picture?

Definately one of his best. When this song first came out, and they started playing it on the radio, everytime I heard it, the song was halfway over. I would be riding in the car with some of my friends and I was a "rudeboy" (slang for o.g. Prince fan) from the beginning, as was a few of them in the car. I was like "There's the song! That's the one I've been talking about!" Then someone else said "That's not Prince." And I was like "The hell it isn't! Listen to it! You can't tell?! Just listen to the vocals!" Anyway, when the single was finally released on purple wax, and I heard that beautiful guitar intro, it was all over for me! I was only 15 and as a young guitarist, I adored that shit! I had been wanting P to put more rock guitar in his recordings like he had in his concerts and there it was. As a song, I think it's one of his most honest songs. If u weren't there, it's hard to imagine. But when this song was first released, it was a very big deal in the music industry. It shot straight to #1, r&b and pop. It took hold to the general public and they wouldn't let go. This song made P a bonafide superstar. This girl I was dating at the time, everybody linked this song to us. Kids were always telling me "When Doves Cry" reminds me of you two." Weird.

This song still sends chills up my spine, especially when it is played loud. I love that there is no bass guitar on it.


M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

No bass and its still funky!!!

funkpill said:

Ye-ughhh!!
Is it just me or can you also hear some almost subliminal screams in the background of the song.


M

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

ummmm...Somewhat....

funkpill said:

No doubt Pill, it's most definitely Funky.

sonofblade said:

Man that song brings back good memories for me. Everytime it came on the radio I would crank the volume wayyyyy up. Probably his best track ever.

I dig it

i fell in love with this song after hearing the album version of it. all the other times i had heard it, the end was cut off and i feel like that's where all the power is in the song. now i totally love it. it's one of my many favorites just because it sounds so raw and honest to me. it's all in the screams.

JasmineFire said:

Who would think that all that power would lie in a scream? Damn.

Could there really be a Prince fan who doesn't like this song?? "When Doves Cry" is one of the greatest songs ever recorded by any artist..I know thats a "bold" statement based on my opinion; but, c'mon..the song is perfect...I remember the first time I heard it..it was on the radio and I thought it was called "When Adults Cry"...

I drool whenever I see that video.

That song never grows old. One that you can blast loud out the car window.

Doves Cry a classic. Prince was so ahead of himself so ahead.
The guitar playing is awesome. Wendy blows my goodness she played that guitar
to his day you have to say dammmmmn.

The video is priceless. Glad to watch it in the cyberclips.

Prince plays the guitar not wendy.

I never get tired of this song either. It has a very timeless quality, but it also takes me back to '84 when I first put the needle to side 2 of Purple Rain!

The only song I would say can hang with WDC is Little Red Corvette (IMO).

The song damn well changed my life! The very first Prince tune I ever heard. The video was on Top of the Pops and I was like "who's this dude?".

Too cool.

ahh, the summer of 84, hearing this on the radio, it was like no other music ever made, do the young fans appreciate how different this was when it came out?

IS there anyone in the world who DOESN'T like this song?!?!?

I remember when it was in the "Top 40 Radio Countdown" (or whatever it was called!) with Casey Casum (or however his name was spelled!), and he said that Prince had done the entire song himself. Huh?

Schöne Grüße

Me and my friend Luc used to stay up to watch Friday Night Videos. Both music videos and vhs machines were pretty new back then and we liked to tape the show then rewatch clips over and over. Like most normal young gay men back then, Luc liked Pat Banatar and Donna Summer, so I had to watch Love is a Battlefield and She Works Hard for the Money ad nauseum.

Anyhoo... one friday night, the WDC video aired. I think it was the video premiere on network television. It was the short version, and I could not absorb the song that first time. It was very different from 1999, and I was more puzzled than impressed. The song felt incomplete, too short too -- remember,the previous album had prepared me for long funky songs. Also Prince appearance in the video was so much softer than the purple clad satyr he had been, though there was more than a trace of that left over.

Through the magic of vhs, I was able to rewatch the video right away, and that time the song opened up into something I had not imagined possible. It was one of those times where your idea of what music should sound like is suddenly altered forever. This was even clearer when they showed the long version of the video and I got to hear the whole song on the lp.

That was part of the fun of WDC. First a short video, then a single with the wonderful 17 Days as the b side, then discovering the full version of both the song and the video. The beginning of WDC does sound like the dawn of something. For months afterward, it was impossible to avoid the Purple Rain phenomenon.
[Edited 9/10/05 13:01pm]