Spike Lee debuts video for Prince’s rendition of ‘Mary Don’t You Weep’

The filmmaker insists His Royal Badness wanted him to include a recording of a gospel classic in the soundtrack of 'BlacKkKlansman'

Kia Morgan-Smith

Aug 22, 2018

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Filmmaker Spike Lee dropped the visually stunning video for “Mary Don’t You Weep,” a Prince joint that is included in his critically acclaimed movie BlackkKlansman, Complex reports.

Lee spoke to Rolling Stone about the Prince cover of the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” that plays at the end of the movie. Lee said that the song was perhaps a divine sign from the late superstar, who died in 2016.

“I knew that I needed an end-credits song. I’ve become very close with Troy Carter, one of the executives at Spotify [and a Prince estate advisor],” said Lee. “So, I invited Troy to a private screening. And after, he said, ‘Spike, I got the song.’ And that was ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which had been recorded on cassette in the mid-Eighties.”

“Prince wanted me to have that song, I don’t care what nobody says. My brother Prince wanted me to have that song, for this film,” he says emphatically. “There’s no other explanation to me. This cassette is in the back of the vaults. In Paisley Park. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it’s discovered? Nah-ah. That ain’t an accident.”

The song will also be included on an upcoming album of unreleased tracks from Prince’s vault.

Watch the official video.