PRINCE - WHEN DOVES CRY

"When Doves Cry" va ser un èxit mundial i va ser el primer senzill número 1 de Prince al Billboard Hot 100, on hi va romandre durant cinc setmanes a l'estiu, mantenint "Dancing on the Dark" de Bruce Springsteen al número 2, evitant així que el Boss assolis un número 1. Segons Billboard, "When Doves Cry" va ser el senzill més venut de 1984. Al Regne Unit va assolir el número 4 a la llista de singles.

Prince va escriure aquesta cançó per a la seva pel·lícula "Purple Rain". A la pel·lícula, la cançó es reprodueix després que el seu personatge perdi la seva noia (Apollonia) davant del seu rival (Morris - Morris Day de The Time). Veiem a Prince conduint la seva motocicleta barrejat amb plans de moments íntims amb Apollonia. A la pel·lícula, Prince té una relació difícil amb el seu pare, el qual maltracta la seva mare.

No hi ha baix en aquesta cançó. Prince va treure la pista del baix a l'últim moment per obtenir un so diferent, tot i que odiava fer-ho. El baixista de Prince, Brown Mark, no va tenir cap problema amb romandre a l'atur en aquesta cançó. "When Doves Cry era una cançó en solitari de Prince", va dir a Uncut. “Em va explicar que quan l'estava escrivint li va posar una línia de baix però després la va treure i li va agradar com quedava. Me l'ha va deixar escoltar perquè no volia que cregués que havia tret el baix com un insult cap a mi”. Vaig pensar que era fenomenal". Durant les actuacions en directe de la cançó al Purple Rain Tour, Mark va afegir línies de baix.

Els crítics van lloar l'estructura innovadora i sense baixos de la cançó. Les seves legions de fans que s'han multiplicat ràpidament van convertir la cançó en el seu primer èxit número 1 als Estats Units, i seria votada com el millor senzill de 1984 per Village Voice i el número 52 de tots els temps per Rolling Stone.

El tema s'acredita a Prince And the Revolution a causa de la seva inclusió a l'àlbum "Purple Rain", acreditat a la banda, encara que el llançament del single "When doves cry" només es va acreditar a Prince i als crèdits, tant al senzill com al àlbum, mostren que Prince és l'únic intèrpret de la cançó.

WHEN DOVES CRY

"When Doves Cry" was a worldwide hit, and was Prince's first Billboard Hot 100 #1 single, staying there for five weeks, over the summer, and kept Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing on the Dark" at #2, preventing The Boss from ever having a #1 hit. According to Billboard "When Doves Cry" was the top-selling single of 1984. In the UK peaked at #4 in the UK Singles Chart.

Prince wrote this song for his movie “Purple Rain”. In the film, the song plays under a montage after his character loses his girl (Apollonia) to his rival (Morris - Morris Day of The Time). We see Prince riding his motorcycle along with shots of intimate moments with Apollonia. In the movie, Prince has a difficult relationship with his father, who beats his mom. Scenes of his father come in on the lyrics where Prince calls him "demanding."

There is no bass on this song. Prince took out the bass track at the last minute to get a different sound, though he hated to see it go. Prince's bass player Brown Mark had no problem with being unemployed on this song. "When Doves Cry was a Prince solo track," he told Uncut. "He let me hear it because he and I had been bumping heads, and he didn't want me to think he took the bass out as an insult! He explained that when he was writing it, he put a bass line on but then took it out and liked the feel. I thought it was phenomenal." During live performances of the song on the Purple Rain Tour, Mark added bass lines to the song as well as to other songs without bass lines.

Critics fell all over themselves trying to come up with new superlatives to praise the song's innovative, bass-free structure. His rapidly multiplying legions of fans made the song his first-ever #1 hit in the United States, and it would go on to be voted the best single of 1984 by the Village Voice and No. 52 of all time by Rolling Stone.

The track is credited to Prince And the Revolution due to its inclusion on the album “Purple Rain”, credited to the band, although the single release “When doves cry” was credited only to Prince and the credits, on both the single and the album, show that Prince is the only performer on the track.