Prince's iconic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" solo gets intimate new edit

Publish Date
Tuesday, 4 May 2021, 6:59AM

Prince had no shortage of iconic moments throughout his career and his performance at George Harrison's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2004 is certainly near the top.

Prince famously took the stage to perform Harrison's Beatles classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with a band that included Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, Steve Winwood and George's son Dhani Harrison and completely stole the show.

The Purple One was himself inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier that night, but his solo during the Harrison tribute might warrant its own induction.

A new edit of the performance by director Joel Gallen, who produced the original broadcast, recently surfaced on YouTube. In it, Gallen gives us a closer look at Prince's mesmerizing solo and the sheer joy and astonishment it produced in the other musicians onstage.

"17 years after this stunning performance by Prince, I finally had the chance to go in and re-edit it slightly — since there were several shots that were bothering me," Gallen explained in the video description. "I got rid of all the dissolves and made them all cuts, and added lots more close-ups of Prince during his solo. I think it's better now.

The resulting edit is a more purposeful look at what everyone wanted more of.

Prince's solo begins at about the 3:30 mark and he gets right into it, unleashing a flurry of heartrending phrases over the Beatles' classic, which features Eric Clapton on lead guitar. Gallen's new edit includes split-screens and previously unseen angles of Prince's fingers at work and him trading glances and mischievous smirks with Petty and Lynn.

Dhani, who is positioned between Prince and Petty, provides some of the best in-the-moment reactions to the history that is unfolding in front of him.

As the final chord rings out the camera lingers on Prince; he's seen tossing his guitar into the air — it literally disappears — and he struts offstage without taking a bow.

Legend.

Watch the new edit in the video player above!

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you