Like A Prayer
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March 10, 1989
The "Like A Prayer" song enters the Billboard singles chart.
Like A Prayer
Single by Madonna
From the album Like a Prayer
B-side: "Act of Contrition"
Released: March 3, 1989
Format: Cassette single CD single 7" 12"
Recorded: September 1988; Jonny Yuma Studios (Burbank, California)
Genre: Pop rock
Length: 5:41
Label: Sire Warner Bros.
Writer(s): Madonna Patrick Leonard
Producer(s): Madonna Patrick Leonard
Alternative cover
Cover artwork for the 12" vinyl created by Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone. It features the letters "MLVC" (the initials of the singer's full name) and prominently a "fallen" letter "P" near the heart of the Madonna, suggesting her divorce from Sean Penn in 1989.
"Like a Prayer" is a song recorded by the American singer Madonna for her 1989 studio album of the same name. Sire Records released it as the lead single from the album on March 3, 1989. Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, "Like a Prayer" denoted a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who felt she needed to cater more to her adult audience.
"Like a Prayer" is a pop rock song with elements of gospel music. A choir provides background vocals that heighten the song's spiritual nature, and a rock guitar keeps the music dark and mysterious. Madonna introduced liturgical words in the lyrics�inspired by her Catholic upbringing�but changed the context in which they were used. They have dual meanings of sexual innuendo and religion. "Like a Prayer" was acclaimed by critics, and was a commercial success. It was Madonna's seventh number-one single on the United States' Billboard Hot 100, and topped the singles charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom and other countries.
The music video, directed by Mary Lambert, portrays Madonna as a witness to a murder of a black girl by white supremacists. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety seeking strength to go forth as a witness. The clip depicts Catholic symbols such as stigmata, Ku Klux Klan-style cross burning, and a dream about kissing a black saint. After its release, the Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested its broadcast. They boycotted products by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which used the song for a commercial. Madonna's contract with Pepsi was then canceled, although she was allowed to retain her initial fee.
The song has been featured on four of Madonna's concert tours, most recently The MDNA Tour in 2012. "Like a Prayer" has been covered by many artists. The song is noted for the mayhem surrounding the music video, and the different interpretations of its content, leading to discussions among music and film scholars. Alongside its respective album, "Like a Prayer" has been considered a turning point in Madonna's career, as she began to be viewed as an efficient businesswoman�someone who knew how to sell a concept.
Background
1988 was a quiet year on the recording front for Madonna. Following the lack of critical and commercial success of her 1987 film Who's That Girl, she acted in the Broadway production Speed-the-Plow. However, unfavorable reviews once again caused her discomfort. Her marriage to actor Sean Penn ended and the couple filed for divorce in January 1989. Madonna turned 30, the age at which her mother had died, and thus the singer experienced more emotional turmoil. She commented for the May 1989 issue of Interview that her Catholic upbringing struck a feeling of guilt in her all the time:
Because in Catholicism you are a born sinner and you're a sinner all your life. No matter how you try to get away from it, the sin is within you all the time. It was this fear that haunted me; it taunted and pained me every moment. My music was probably the only distraction I had.
But she understood that as she was growing up, so was her core audience. Feeling the need to attempt something different, Madonna wanted the sound of her new album to indicate what could be popular in the music world. She had certain personal matters on her mind that she thought could be the musical direction of the album. For lyrical ideas of the title track, she chose topics that until then had been personal meditations never to be shared with the general public. Thoughtfully, she sifted through her personal journals and diaries, and began considering her options. She recalled, "What was it I wanted to say? I wanted the album and the song to speak to things on my mind. It was a complex time in my life."
Recording
Once Madonna and Leonard finished writing the lyrics of "Like a Prayer", they decided to record it alongside a choir at the end of 1988. He wanted to have a quick recording session for the song, as he believed that not much work would be needed for it. Madonna and Leonard met with musician Andra� Crouch and a member of his management team/vocalist Roberto Noriega and signed his choir as one of the background vocalists. Since Crouch was the leader of the Los Angeles Church of God choir, he researched the lyrics of the song, as he wanted to "find out what the intention of the song might be. We're very particular in choosing what we work with, and we liked what we heard." At Jonny Yuma recording studio, Crouch got his choir together and explained to them what they needed to do during the recording session. He had listened to the demo of "Like a Prayer" in his car, and directed his choir according to his own interpretations of the music. The choir was recorded separately, and Leonard wanted it to be added during post-production of the song.
Recording took more time than usual since Madonna and Leonard fought "tooth and nail" according to O'Brien, the reason being Madonna wanting to prove everybody that her second time as a record producer was not a fluke. Leonard worked on the chord changes for the verses and the chorus. He hired guitarist Bruce Gaitsch and bass guitar player Guy Pratt as musicians for "Like a Prayer". Pratt had in turn hired some additional drummers who were supposed to reach Jonny Yuma in the morning. However, the person cancelled at the last minute, which irritated Madonna greatly, and she started shouting and swearing profusely at Leonard. Pratt did not end up being fired, but as recording started for "Like a Prayer", he realized that Madonna would not forgive him easily; she called him at late nights for his opinion, and urgently asking him to come to the recording studio, only to dismiss him. In the meantime, Leonard hired British drum and guitar players such as Chester Kamens, David Williams and Dann Huff. He commented that the choice was deliberate since he was a fan of British rock, and wanted that kind of attitude and quirkiness of the musicians in "Like a Prayer", as well as the other songs of the album. Madonna had her own opinion of how the different musical instruments should be played to achieve the sound that she envisioned.
Pratt recalled that after the middle chorus of the song was recorded, Madonna notified the musicians of some changes in the production. She wanted drummer Jonathan Moffet to "do less of the high-hat in the middle eight, and more of a fill towards the end. Guy, I want duck eggs [semibreves] on the end, and Chester, bring in your guitar on the second verse." The team ran through her instructions once more, and did a final take with vocals and one with the string arrangements. Gaitsch heard Madonna telling Leonard that "Like a Prayer" could not be improved further, and that the recording was finished. Leonard then gave the song to Bill Bottrell for the mixing process. As the mixing was nearing completion, Leonard felt that the bongos and the Latin Percussion would sound really mismatched, if Crouch's choir was to be added afterwards; hence, he removed them. Junior Vasquez remixed the 12" version of the track, turning the church capella inside out and overlaying it with Fast Eddie's single "Let's Go".
Composition
"Like a Prayer" is a pop rock song that incorporates elements of gospel and funk music. According to the sheet music from Alfred Publishing, it was composed using common time in the key of D minor, with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Madonna's vocals range from the lower octave of A3 to the two-lined higher note of F5. "Like a Prayer" follows a Dm�C�D�Gm�D chord progression in the opening chorus, and a Dm�C�E�C7�B?�F�A sequence in the verses. The song begins with the sound of heavy rock guitar that is suddenly cut off after a few seconds, and replaced with the choir and the sound of an organ. Madonna sings the opening lines alongside the light sound of percussion, as drums start during the first verse. The percussion and the choir sound are added interchangeably between the verses and the bridges, until the second chorus. At this point the guitars start flickering from left to right, accompanied by a bubbling sequenced bassline.
Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, commented that "Like a Prayer" was the most complex track that Madonna had ever attempted. According to him, the complexity builds up more after the second chorus, in which the choir fully supports Madonna's vocals and she re-utters the opening lines, but this time accompanied by a synthesizer and drum beats. As Madonna sings the lines "Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there, Just like, a muse to me, You're a mystery", an R&B-influenced voice backs her up along with the choir. The song ends with a final repetition of the chorus and the singing of the choir gradually fading out.
Taraborrelli noted in Madonna: An Intimate Biography that the lyrics of the song consist of "a series of button-pushing anomalies". With Madonna's inclusion of double entendres in the lyrics, "Like a Prayer" refers to both the spiritual and the carnal. Taraborrelli felt that the song sounds religious, but with an undertone of sexual tension. This was achieved by the gospel choir, whose voice heightens the song's spiritual nature, while the rock guitar sounds keep it dark and mysterious. Author Lucy O'Brien explained how the song's lyrics describe Madonna receiving a vocation from God: "Madonna is unashamedly her mother's daughter�kneeling alone in private devotion, contemplating God's mystery. She sings of being chosen, of having a calling." The album version features bass guitar played by Guy Pratt doubled by an analogue Minimoog bass synthesizer, while the 7" version has a different bass part played by Randy Jackson. "Like a Prayer" was also remixed by Shep Pettibone for the 12" single of the song; a re-edited version of Pettibone's mix is featured on Madonna's 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection.