Stevie Nicks inspired Prince to write ‘When Doves Cry’
Although they had their musical differences, Prince and Stevie Nicks greatly influenced one another’s work. Despite never stepping foot on stage or in a recording studio together, both artists’ careers are intertwined, and the Fleetwood Mac singer was the spark of inspiration he needed to make ‘When Doves Cry’.
Their relationship began when Nicks first heard Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’ on the car stereo while travelling with her then-husband Kim Anderson. It was the perfect circumstance to be introduced to the Purple One, and she immediately felt compelled to create a song of a similarly epic nature in ‘Stand Back’.
Discussing the moment, Nicks later recalled: “All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I’m singing along, going, ‘Stand back!’ I’m like, ‘Kim, pull over! We need to buy a tape recorder because I need to record this’,” she once explained. “And so we do – we careen off the freeway to find a radio, record shop or something, and we go in and we buy a little tape recorder”.
Adding: “We get the song, and I’m basically using Prince’s instrumental melody. What I’m singing along is very, very different from what he’s singing. I’m singing in and out of all of the holes”.
Their relationship was a two-way street, even before they knew each other personally. Throughout the 1980s, the pair went from contemporaries to acquaintances, and although they were never particularly close, he did tell her how ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ inspired ‘When Doves Cry’. Nicks once revealed: “He was inspired by ‘Edge of Seventeen’ to write ‘When Doves Cry,’. That’s really when he and I started to sort of be friends. From that moment onward at the very end of ‘Edge of Seventeen’, I go, ‘I know what it sounds like, I know what it sounds like, I know what it sounds like when doves cry. It sounds like you.'”
‘When Doves Cry’ was the final track Prince created for Purple Rain, and the record was close to completion, but he felt compelled to make one last effort. ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ gifted him the urge to step into the studio, and the track was created thanks to Prince getting swept away by a whirlwind of imagination.
The track is essentially a solo song with Prince playing every instrument on ‘When Doves Cry’ rather than seeking assistance from The Revolution. Once he got in his groove, nobody was stopping him, and the final mix of ‘When Doves Cry’ was finished just two days after he began playing around with the song.
The only invention by others was by singer Jill Jones, who successfully managed to persuade Prince to remove the bassline and begrudgingly take her advice on board. It’s impossible to imagine his oeuvre without ‘When Doves Cry’, and we’ve got Stevie Nicks to thank for the legacy-defining track.
