Prince hit #1 with “When Doves Cry”

When Doves Cry Prince

Writer(s): Prince (see lyrics here) Released: May 16, 1984 First Charted: June 2, 1984 Peak: 15 US, 14 CB, 14 GR, 14 RR, 18 RB, 31 AR, 28 CO, 4 UK, 13 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.75 US, 0.6 UK, 4.35 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 133.33 video, 243.56 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Prince Rogers Nelson was born in 1958 in Minneapolis. At 19, the “teenage funk prodigy” BR signed a three-album deal with Warner Bros. “with near complete creative control.” BR His second album produced the #11 disco hit “I Wanna Be Your Lover” but it wasn’t until his fifth album, 1999, that the public was definitely on board. The 1982 release went multi-platinum and reached #7, thanks to the top-ten hits “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious,” not to mention the classic title cut. His next project, the film Purple Rain, was “essentially Prince’s version of his own myth.” SS The accompanying soundtrack generated four top-ten hits, spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard album chart, and sold 26 million copies worldwide. Prince became the first artist since Elvis Presley to simultaneously have the #1 song, album, and movie. SS Dave Marsh said of that #1 song, “When Doves Cry,” that it “may have been the most influential single record of the eighties.” DM The song about “the fear of repeating the mistakes of his parents” RC was a last-minute addition to the soundtrack at the behest of director Albert Magnoli. He said the film needed “something that would directly touch on the film’s themes, something that could play in the background during a montage where Prince rode a motorcycle around while looking pensive.” BR “When Doves Cry” was celebrated as “simple and natural and utterly (invisibly) unorthodox.” PW After recording it, Prince erased the bass, RS500 “bring[ing] the piece down to its emotional essence.” SS It was an unheard of move, especially in the R&B genre. TC Along with its “keening melody and one of the strangest choruses in pop,” MC the resulting song is eccentric, even by Prince standards. RS500 Warner Bros. wasn’t sure what to make of the song. As engineer David Z. said, “They were a little afraid...they didn’t know what to do with it because it was drastically different.” TC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Prince BR Tom Breihan (2022). The Number Ones. Hachete Books: New York, NY. Pages 159-73. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Page 256. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 471. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 210. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 58. MC Neil McCormack (3/13/09). Telegraph.co.uk “100 Greatest Songs of All Time” RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 138-9. PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Pages 216-7. Related Links: First posted 6/2/2012; last updated 4/30/2024.