Music Review: Ginuwine "When Doves Cry"

Ginuwine

When Doves Cry

Album: Ginuwine…The Bachelor

Year: 1997

           Ginuwine harasses a woman in the unwelcome “When Doves Cry.”

           A thundering bass opens the single, setting an alarming tone.  In the newly added intro, Timbaland takes a line from the 1972 single, “Trogolate” by the Jimmy Castor Bunch and says Ginuwine is about a sing a really old song. (“What we gonna do right here/Is take you way back/Way back into time/My man Ginuwine/For all y'all people out there/Bobby to the speaker/It's sung by me/Now, Ginuwine speaking.”)

           A woman sits alone on the park bench, taking a breather from her jog. From his corner, he grabs a towel from his jeans and wipes his face. He says it’s been such a nice day for a run. She flinches as he sits down next to her. He tells her he means no harm. Then, he says he’s had a fantasy of them kissing her in this very park. In lurid detail, he says the she’s turned on by him. (“Dig if you will the picture/Of you and I engaged in a kiss/The sweat of your body covers G/Can you my darling/Can you picture this/Dream if you can a courtyard/An ocean of violets in bloom/Animals strike curious poses/I feel the heat/The heat between me and you.”)

              She tells him she’s flattered but she already has a boyfriend. He raises his voice, saying she can’t do this to him! He turns away from her and begins rambling to himself. It’s all his fault. He takes after his parents. He lets out a piercing wail, commenting that this how an animal in deep pain expresses its emotion. (“How can you just leave me standing?/Alone in a world that's so cold? (So cold)/Maybe I'm just too demanding/Maybe I'm just like my father too bold/Maybe you're just like my mother/She's never satisfied (She's never satisfied)/Why do we scream at each other/This is what it sounds like/When doves cry/”)

            He takes her hand, not noticing the keys she’s clutching, and puts it on his stomach. He says he’s nervous because of her.  Her face pale, she apologizes over and over, asking for her hand back. He squeezes her hand, saying she will love him. (“Touch if you will my stomach/Feel how it trembles inside/You've got the butterflies all tied up/Don't make me chase you/Even doves have pride.")

             The chorus is sung again.

           A scatting bass replaces the guitar, which Ginuwine “oh’s oh’s” over.

             The chorus is sung again to end the single.

             Ginuwine’s intial bashful vocals quickly become menacing in the monotone chorus once he doesn’t get the response he wants. He’s intent on acting out his fantasy on the strange woman. She’s going to play along if she likes it or not.

             Timbaland’s prickish introduction takes a jab at the original with the “Trogolate” reference. Usually, the reference is made to songs made twenty, thirty years ago (i.e. Christina Aguilera’s “Back In The Day” and Ariana Grande’s “The Way.”)

At that point in time, it was only a little bit over decade old. Prince has his flaws but don’t make it seem as though the cover is a favor to him.

           There are minor lyric changes. Ginuwine personalizes the “sweat of your body covers G” and “I feel the heat…” which ups the creep factor, given he’s talking in the third person and making it about himself.

         The biggest change is in the arrangement. The guitar is gone and replaced by an emotionless bass, lurking in the background. It sets a dangerous tone from the onset.

      The unbalanced “When Doves Cry”  manipulates the original into a misognystic one-sided sadistic game