Pitchfork

Like so many of his songs, "When Doves Cry" seems so inseparable from Prince's performance-- the rhythms and melodies fitted to his delivery, the lyrics specific to the autobiographical fiction of Purple Rain-- that anyone covering it is going to sound a bit awkward. Now the British Columbia-based Be Good Tanyas put their spin on it, translating Prince's psychosexual self-reckoning to an alt-honkytonk setting. Played as an acoustic skiffle on guitar and drums, the main rhythm has lost its sleazy crawl.

Frazey Ford's tense interpretation sounds more outwardly declarative than inwardly reckoning. That she's made the point of view specifically female is quite a bold decision too. With its invitation to "touch if you will my stomach" and its calm romantic recrimination ("How could you just leave me standing alone in a world that's so cold?"), could "When Doves Cry" disguise a ballad of unwanted pregnancy? Does the narrator doubt her own qualifications as a parent, lamenting the traits she's inherited and fearing she'll pass along? Prince never had that in mind, and it's unclear whether the Be Good Tanyas actually intend this reading, but the mere suggestion makes this cover more compelling than most.