Culture
04 May 21

WATCH: Prince's epic 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' solo gets new director's cut

The clip has gone viral on a number of occasions, especially after Prince’s death in 2016.

Music icon Prince made history when he performed Beatles hit 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Joined onstage by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Steve Winwood in tribute to George Harrison, the singer-songwriter's guitar solo has countlessly been voted one of the key moments in rock star history, and now director Joel Gallen has created a new cut of the star-studded live collaboration.

The all-star jam, which also features Harrison's son, Dhani, has been a YouTube regular for over 10 years, going viral every few months to remind everyone how earth-shatteringly great Prince was.

Uploading the cut to YouTube last week, Gallen expressed his satisfaction at being able to tweak the footage years later:

“Seventeen 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 wrote.

“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. Let me know what you think. Joel.”

The legendary solo ends with Prince tossing the guitar into the air, which the instrument never coming back down to earth. It remains one of the coolest moves in the history of rock and roll. In 2016, the New York Times published an oral history of the performance, and Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone, who played on stage with Prince, said he never found out what became of the guitar:

"It was a hell of a guitar solo, and a hell of a show he actually put on for the band," Ferrone said.

"When he fell back into the audience, everybody in the band freaked out. And then that whole thing with the guitar going up in the air. I didn’t even see who caught it. I just saw it go up, and I was astonished that it didn’t come back down again. Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too."

In other news, Prince’s ‘lost’ 2010 album Welcome 2 America is finally set to be released this summer, having been first performed live in NYC over a decade ago.

Check out the new director's cut of the iconic Prince moment below: