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   Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:36:00 JST Anil Dash

   Okay, here's a Prince story for you: At this moment, on this night in 1984, Prince walked into Sunset Sound studios, and walked out 36 hours later having produced, arranged, composed and performed the entirety of When Doves Cry. 10 weeks later, it was released as a single. It became a Prince's first number one song, the biggest song of the year, and one of the greatest pop singles of all time. He was 26 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG3VcCAlUgE

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:38:32 JST Anil Dash

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     The song itself is extraordinary. Stark, sexy, and searingly introspective. There had literally never been a song that sounded like this on the radio before — because Prince had pushed his drum machines, voice, keyboard skills and guitar well past any of their designed limits in order to produce the song. When I asked him (on this night, 8 years ago) to tell us a story about its recording, he demurred instead with a joke. "YES. WELL, IT WAS A STARRY NIGHT..."

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:38:56 JST Anil Dash

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     It's not surprising that Prince might have been reticent to talk about the process of creating such an unusually personal song, which goes deep (in its chorus, no less!) into his relationship with his parents and his own insecurities. But as Duane Tudahl notes in his extraordinary book about Prince's studio sessions of the era, Prince was also coming off having been blanked at the Grammys the night before (it would be Michael Jackson's record-breaking night for Thriller). https://amzn.to/49wR8cI

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:40:08 JST Anil Dash

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     But Prince took that energy and channeled into something that had never been heard before on the radio. Its nearly skeletal structure was due to a now-legendary choice to _remove_ the bass from the final mix. In Prince's own words, as I found in the lost liner notes he penned for his Greatest Hits collection, he credits jilljonesofficial with inspiring him to turn the song into something "bassless and stark". https://www.anildash.com/2016/05/28/princes_own_liner_notes_on_his_greatest_hits

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:40:41 JST Anil Dash

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     "When Doves Cry" had a sonic landscape that would change the sound of radio — hit songs today still mimic the sound of its production. And then there's the lyrics, seen here in Prince's own hand (the opening line in purple pen, no less!) which clearly kept their meaning to him as the song remained a staple of his live shows for decades. Though it's perhaps meaningful that, to my knowledge, he never performed the song in its entirety again after the passing of his parents.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Saturday, 02-Mar-2024 14:41:29 JST Anil Dash

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     And over the years, even as other songs like "Purple Rain" have become more synonymous with Prince's legacy, the impact of "When Doves Cry" is undeniable. Take it from no less an authority on pop music than Madonna, who credits the song with helping her escape from some of the hardest parts of her struggling, pre-fame life.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 00:40:04 JST Anil Dash

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     • Tane Piper ⁂

     @tanepiper @anildash Yes! He used variants of the symbol in his work for more than a decade before changing name! It’s also on his motorcycle and spray painted on an overpass bridge in the video.

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     Tane Piper ⁂ (tanepiper@tane.codes)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 00:40:05 JST Tane Piper ⁂

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     @anildash Wait, woahh... Foreshadowing of Symbol?

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 00:40:26 JST Anil Dash

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     • voxpopsicle

     @voxpopsicle @anildash yep, they’re great :)

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     voxpopsicle (voxpopsicle@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 00:40:27 JST voxpopsicle

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     @anildash if you're a Prince fan (and I get the feeling you are) Drew Dempsey from Sunset Sound has a series of interviews on Youtube many of which focus on Prince, like this one with Susan Rogers

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Iv__walYL4

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 06:08:24 JST Anil Dash

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     • sayrer

     @sayrer @anildash he’s on that track too :)

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     sayrer (sayrer@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 06:08:25 JST sayrer

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     @anildash surely. I've always thought “Like a Prayer" was an homage to that song

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 06:57:13 JST Anil Dash

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     • sayrer

     @sayrer @anildash just like on When Doves Cry, the guitar solo that opens Like A Prayer is by Prince. You can hear a lot more of his guitar solo at 5:00 in the extended version of the song https://youtu.be/QqV-mdAWrBA?si=T3m517InUOHSb-w2 and in the album track Act of Contrition off of the Like A Prayer album.

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     sayrer (sayrer@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 06:57:14 JST sayrer

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     @anildash shut the front door! link me

     Anil Dash repeated this.
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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 07:00:55 JST Anil Dash

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     • sayrer

     @sayrer @anildash this remix is almost entirely made of parts from Prince, including samples from his then-unreleased Black Album, and a couple more guitar and keyboard solos he records for the song. https://youtu.be/kJ0IAT-XK0k?si=2aZi3hldwJG0rbAE

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 12:44:18 JST Anil Dash

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     • sayrer

     @sayrer @anildash no, he performed on it but didn’t write it.

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     sayrer (sayrer@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 12:44:19 JST sayrer

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     @anildash oh Prince wrote this whole thing huh, I listened to it again and I can hear it (no one calling the cops)

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     Jaitalking (jaitalking@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 12:44:43 JST Jaitalking

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     @anildash thoughts on “Love Song”? I always quite liked it

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Sunday, 03-Mar-2024 12:44:43 JST Anil Dash

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     • Jaitalking

     @jaitalking @anildash I love it. Wish it had gotten more play (other than the nod in her “Hung Up”), or that she had played it in tributes to him.

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     TurboQuokka (turboquokka@kolektiva.social)'s status on Monday, 04-Mar-2024 04:03:47 JST TurboQuokka

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     @anildash And there’s not even any bass on it! That’s one of the things that makes it so unique sounding.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Monday, 04-Mar-2024 04:03:47 JST Anil Dash

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     • TurboQuokka

     @turboquokka @anildash indeed, see this further in the thread https://me.dm/@anildash/112024484987482974