Watch Neil Finn Play Acoustic Cover Of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” In His House
Dig, if you will, a picture: a 61-year-old New Zealand rock legend, his hair holding up remarkably well under quarantine, visibly reading the lyrics from his laptop screen as he strums a cover of Prince’s eternal 1984 classic “When Doves Cry” on his acoustic guitar. That’s what happens in the new video from Neil Finn, the former Split Enz/Crowded House frontman who recently joined Fleetwood Mac as one of Lindsey Buckingham’s replacements. It’s pretty charming!
During quarantine, Finn has been playing live daily audio streams on Fangradio, sometimes playing requests or jamming with his fellow-musician family members. And Finn has also been sharing a few videos here and there. Earlier this month, Finn posted a clip of himself covering David Bowie’s “Heroes.” It was great! And now Finn has gone even bigger, playing one of the few songs that’s even more of a universally recognized classic than “Heroes.”
Finn wisely doesn’t try to do any kind of Prince impression on his “When Doves Cry” cover. Instead, he simply gives the impression of a guy playing a song he’s always admired. We hear other instruments and voices on the cover, and that’s because Finn is playing along with the audio of a previously-recorded cover, with his wife Sharon singing backup. He signs off by sayin, “All hail Prince.” It’s nice. Watch it below.
You can catch Neil Finn’s daily live broadcasts here.