Watch what happens when Jimmy Eat World sees Prince cover their big hit 'The Middle'

The members of Jimmy Eat World have known for years about Prince having covered "The Middle" as part of his post-Oscar bash in 2009 at the Avalon Ballroom in what Rolling Stone said was a "true-to-the-original" rendition.

It's the kind of thing a person tends to find out pretty quickly — an icon for the ages covering your song.

They'd never heard his version, though, until a Rock Sound interviewer surprised Jim Adkins and drummer Zach Lind with a bootleg of Prince's rendition and caught their reaction for a video he shared on Twitter.

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"See, the thing is I'm a big, big Prince nerd," the Rock Sound reporter explained.

"And I'm a big fan of your work as well. So for years, I've been waiting for that bootleg to end up online. A couple of months ago, it appeared online. I have it on my phone."

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It's fun to see Adkins' expressions as he listens.

When the Rock Sounds guy points out that Prince "plays around with those lyrics" during the lengthy instrumental intro, Adkins says, "He wants to scat some new stuff, that's totally fine. He gets a pass."

When the singing does start, you can clearly see how stoked the singer is to hear his lyrics coming out of Prince's mouth.

"Oh wow," he says with a grin. "That's such a trip."

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When Prince reminds you of White Lion

The video ends with Adkins comparing the drum accents to "Wait" by the Danish glam-metal band White Lion and Lind suggesting, "We can do a cover of Prince doing a cover of our song."

In 2009, by which point Taylor Swift had lip-synced the song in an Apple Music ad, Adkins talked about how it feels to see his music embraced by legendary acts.

"It’s kind of nuts," Adkins said with a laugh.

"Hearing that Prince had covered it at whatever Grammy afterparty he did or Taylor Swift hand-picking it to use for an Apple commercial? It’s like what?! What is that? I don’t know. I still freak out anytime I hear ‘The Middle’ or anything we've done, like, on the radio."

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Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prince covers 'The Middle.' See Jimmy Eat World reaction video