Like a Prayer (song)
Encyclopedia
"Like a Prayer" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna
on her fourth studio album of the same name
(1989). It was released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records
as the album's lead single. Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard
, "Like a Prayer" denoted a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who believed that she needed to cater more to her adult audience
. "Like a Prayer" is about a passionate young girl in love with God, who becomes the only male figure in her life.
"Like a Prayer" is a pop rock
song that incorporates gospel
music. A choir
provides background vocals that heighten the song's spiritual nature, while rock guitar sounds keep the music dark and mysterious. The lyrics of the song were inspired by Madonna's Catholic
upbringing. She introduced liturgical words in the lyrics, but changed the context in which they were added. Thus, they had dual meanings of sexual innuendos and religion. "Like a Prayer" was positively received by critics, and was a commercial success. It became Madonna’s seventh number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100
in the United States and also reached the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
"Like a Prayer" is more memorable for its accompanying music video
, which Mary Lambert directed. The video features Madonna as a witness to a murder, who hides in a church for safety. It also portrays Catholic symbols such as stigmata
and burning crosses, and a dream about making love to a saint. After its release, the Vatican
condemned the music 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 subsequently canceled, although she was allowed to retain her initial fee.
The song has been featured on three of Madonna's concert tours, most recently on the Sticky & Sweet Tour
in 2008–09. "Like a Prayer" has been covered by many artists, and was featured on American television show, Glee
, in an episode themed around Madonna. The song is noted for its effect on society, 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 marked as a turning point in Madonna's career, who began to be viewed as an efficient businesswoman—someone who knew how to sell a concept.
, on the recording front. Following the lack of critical and commercial success of her film Who's That Girl (1987), she acted in a Broadway production
called Speed-the-Plow
. However, the experience caused her much discomfort, because once again the reviews were not favorable. Her marriage to actor Sean Penn
ended, with the couple filing for divorce in January 1989. Madonna had also turned thirty, the same age her mother was when she died, thus creating more emotional turmoil for the singer. She commented in the June 1989 issue of Rolling Stone
that her Catholic upbringing injected a feeling of guilt in her all the time:
But she understood that as she was growing up, so was her core audience. Feeling the need to try out 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 which she thought could be the musical direction of the album. For the lyrical ideas of the title track, she chose topics that—until then—were personal mediations never to be shared with the general public. Thoughtfully, she sifted through her personal journals and diaries, and began considering her options. "What was it I wanted to say?" she recalled. "I wanted the album and the song to speak to things on my mind. It was a complex time in my life."
and Stephen Bray
experimented with instrumental tracks and musical ideas for her consideration. Both of them wanted to bring their unique style to the project, and the first step they took was developing a completely different music for the title track. Eventually, Madonna felt that the music presented to her by Leonard was more interesting, and she started to work with him. Together they wrote and produced the title track, while naming it "Like a Prayer"; it became the first developed song for the Like a Prayer
album. Once Madonna got the idea of how to interpose the music that Leonard developed with her thoughts, it took her just three hours to write it. She described "Like a Prayer" as the song of a passionate young girl "so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life."
Madonna’s further inspiration for the song came from the Catholic belief of transubstantiation. She believed that the wine and wafer, which symbolizes the Body of Christ
during Mass
, have transformative power and every word in the prayer has its precise meaning. For Madonna, “Like a Prayer” similarly appeared to carry its own transformative power. While writing the lyrics, Madonna introduced liturgical words but changed the context in which they were added, so they had dual meaning. She wanted the song to have superficial pop lyrics about sexuality and religion, but a different meaning underneath which she believed could provoke a reaction from her listeners. In author J. Randy Taraborrelli
's book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography
, Leonard explained that he was not comfortable with the lyrics and the sexual innuendos present in it. He gave the example of the first verse for "Like a Prayer" which went like "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there." Leonard understood that the dual meaning of the lines referred to someone performing a fellatio
. He was aghast and requested Madonna to change the line, but she was adamant to keep it.
's Billboard Book of Number One Singles, Leonard noted that once they finished writing the lyrics of the song, they decided to record it alongside a choir. 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 Andraé Crouch
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 in terms of recording. He had listened to the demo of the song 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 was briefly held up when Madonna and Leonard fought over the production of the bridge
of the song, resulting in the singer's leaving the studio.
The next day, Leonard hired guitarist Bruce Gaitsch
and bass drum
player Guy Pratt, as musicians for the song. 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 was eventually not fired, but as recording started for "Like a Prayer", he realized that Madonna would not forgive him so 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 like 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 players in "Like a Prayer", as well as the other songs of the album. Madonna had her own opinion of how the different musical instrument
s 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 the song could not be improved further, and that the recording was finished. Leonard then gave the song to Bill Bottrrell 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 decided to remove them.
and the sound of an organ
. Madonna sings the opening lines alongside light sound of the 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, when the choir fully supports Madonna's vocals and she re-utters the opening lines, but this time accompanied by synths and drum beats. As she 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
. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Co. Inc
, "Like a Prayer" is set in the time signature of common time
, with a moderate tempo
of 120 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D minor
with Madonna's vocals ranging from the lower octave of A3
to the two-lined higher note of F5
. "Like a Prayer" follows a sequence of Dm–C–D–Gm–D as its chord progression
in the opening chorus, and Dm–C–E–C7–B–F–A during the verses.
Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli
noted in his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography
that the lyrics of the song is "a series of button-pushing anomalies". With Madonna's inclusion of double entendre
s in the lyrics, "Like a Prayer" referred to both the spiritual and the carnal. Taraborrelli felt that the song sounded religious, but there was an undertone of sexual tension. This was achieved by the gospel choir, whose voice heightened the song's spiritual nature, while the rock guitar sounds kept it dark and mysterious. 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 featured bass guitar
played by Randy Jackson
, while the 7"
version had a different introduction
by Pratt, doubled by an analogue Minimoog
bass synthesizer
. "Like a Prayer" was also remixed as a dance song by Shep Pettibone
for Madonna's 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection
.
for the Like a Prayer album cover. Initially photos from the session with Ritts, were also to be used for the single’s packaging. The image that was supposed to be used for the cover was a blurry shot of Madonna, blowing smoke on her own face, while holding a cigarette in her left hand. However, once she started shooting for the music video, Madonna felt that one of the still shots of her in a field was extremely beautiful and decided to make it the cover art. A different artwork was developed for the 12-inch
single, featuring a painting by Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone
. He painted a classic (Catholic
) Madonna
, wearing a halo and draped in vine of thorns with a single blossoming flower. It features the letters MLVC indicating the singer's full name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, with a prominently "fallen" letter P near the heart of the Madonna, indicating Madonna's recent divorce from Penn. The singer was initially skeptic about the painting due to the media mayhem surrounding her relationship with Penn, and did not want to use it. However, once Ciccone presented her with a packaged version of the 12-inch single, where the painting was included along with the scent of patchouli
, she was impressed.
from The New York Times
, while writing about Madonna's re-invention of her image, observed how Madonna's sound had changed from the "simple blaring dance-pop
to the rich, fully rounded pop of 'Like a Prayer'. " O'Brien felt that the most remarkable aspect of "Like a Prayer" was Madonna's usage of liturgical words. "There is the surface meaning, forging sexuality with pop lyrics that sound so sweet. But underlying that is a rigorous mediation on prayer. In shorter words, 'Like a Prayer really takes you there," she concluded. This view was shared by biographer Mary Cross, who wrote in her biography of Madonna that "the song is a mix of the sacred and the profane. There-in lies Madonna's triumph with 'Like a Prayer'. It still sounds catchy and danceable."
Michael Campbell, author of Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On, felt that "the melody of 'Like a Prayer' flows in gently undulating phases that sounds really soothing to the ear." He went on to compare this rhythm of the song to singer Steve Winwood
's 1986 single, "Higher Love
". Australian rock music journalist Toby Creswell
wrote in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them
that "'Like a Prayer' is a beautifully crafted devotional song in the guise of perfect pop. God is the drum machine here." Scholar Georges Claude Guilbert
, author of Madonna as Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream, noted that there was a polysemy in "Like a Prayer" as it was clear that the woman who sings is addressing either God, or her lover, and in doing so “Madonna achieves the gold-card of attaining her own divinity. Whenever someone calls her name, it alludes to the song." Theologian
Andrew Greeley
compared "Like a Prayer" with the music and the hymns present in the Hebrew religious textbook, Song of Songs
. Greeley, although focusing more on the video, acknowledged the fact that sexual passion may be revelatory, and complimented Madonna for glorifying ideologies of female subjectivity and womanhood in the song.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
from Allmusic called the song "haunting" and felt that it displayed a commanding sense of Madonna's songcraft. To Rolling Stone
s Gavin Edwards, the song sounded "glorious"; he added that "In a career [like Madonna's] full of transgressive moments, 'Like a Prayer' is the most transgressive—and the most irresistible." Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly
commented that the "gospel-infused title track demonstrates that her writing and performing had been raised to heavenly new heights." In a review for The Immaculate Collection
compilation album, David Browne
of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the “frothier” texture of the song added poignancy to its spiritual lyrics. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
was impressed with the track, saying "'Like a Prayer' climbs to heights like no other pop song before it—or after. Like most of the songs on the album, the track's glossy production gives way to a power beyond studio sonics, and if [its] 'church-like' reverence feels like a religious experience, it's no mere coincidence."
, and reached the top of the chart on the issue dated April 22, 1989. It was present on the top for three weeks, before being replaced by the Bon Jovi
song "I'll Be There for You
". The song also topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, while reaching number three on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart and at number 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs
chart. "Like a Prayer" was the twenty-fifth best-selling song of 1989 in the US, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) in May 1989, for shipment of a million copies of the single. According to Nielsen SoundScan
, it has also sold 443,000 digital downloads
as of April 2010, becoming Madonna's best-selling digital track since SoundScan started calculating downloads in 2005. In Canada, the song reached the top of the RPM Singles Chart
in its ninth week. It was present on the chart for 16 weeks and was the top-selling Canadian single for 1989.
In Australia, "Like a Prayer" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart
at number three on March 19, 1989. The next week it reached the top of the chart, and stayed there for another four weeks. It was present for a total of 22 weeks on the chart, and was certified two-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) for shipment of 140,000 copies of the single. "Like a Prayer" was also the top-selling Australian single of 1989. In New Zealand, the song had a similar run like Australia, by debuting at number three on the RIANZ Singles Chart
, and reaching number one the next week. It was present for a total of 13 weeks on the chart. "Like a Prayer" became Madonna's seventh number one single in Japan, and occupied the top position of the Oricon
Singles chart for three weeks.
In the United Kingdom, "Like a Prayer" entered the UK Singles Chart
at number two, before moving to the top the next week, remaining there for three weeks. Madonna became the artist with the most number-one singles of the 1980s, with a total of six chart-toppers. "Like a Prayer" became the tenth best-selling song of 1989 in the UK, with the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) certifying it gold, for shipment of 400,000 copies of the single. According to The Official Charts Company, the song has sold 550,000 copies there. "Like a Prayer" also reached number one in Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. It was Madonna's fifth number one song on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
chart, reaching the top on March 25, 1989, and staying at number one for 12 weeks. After the Glee
episode "The Power of Madonna
" was broadcast, "Like a Prayer" again entered the chart at position 47, on May 15, 2010. The song went on to sell over five million copies worldwide.
and at San Pedro Hills in San Pedro, California
. Madonna wanted the video to be more provocative than anything she had done before. She wanted to address racism
by having the "Like a Prayer" music video depict a mixed-race couple being shot by the Ku Klux Klan
. However, upon further thought and in keeping with the song's religious connotations, she decided on another provocative theme. When Madonna had recorded the song, she would play it over and over again, and thought about the visual as,
Lambert had a different visual aspect of the song on her mind. She felt that it was more about ecstasy, especially a sexual one, and how it related to religious ecstasy. Together she listened to the song with Madonna a number of times, and came to the conclusion that the religious ecstasy part should be included. A sub-plot about Madonna witnessing a homicide was included and it became the trigger factor in the ecstasy part of the plot. Actor Leon Robinson
was hired to play the role of a saint, which was inspired by Martin de Porres
, the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony.
The video was shot over four days, with an extra day allotted for re-shooting some of the scenes. Originally Lambert had casts
taken of Leon's face, hand and feet to create the statue of the saint which would be used as a decoration. The actor only enacted the live scenes. However, after post-production started on the video, Lambert found that the statue did not look like Leon and he was asked to re-shoot the respective scenes. Leon had to act as the statue and required special make-up; he had to stand motionless during extended periods of shooting and the retakes. The actor recalled that standing like a statue was indeed tough since "first of all, I didn't realize how hard it is on the back to stand absolutely tall and straight and not move. Secondly, as a performer you have this nervous energy—and my requirements here were total antithesis of that."
The girl lies down on a pew and starts dreaming, in which she begins to fall through space. Suddenly she is caught by a woman who tosses her back up and tells her to do the right thing. Still dreaming, she returns to the saint who becomes the black man she had seen earlier. He lands a kiss on the girl's forehead and leaves the church as she picks up a knife and cuts her hands, blood flowing out. As the chorus of the song starts, the scene shifts to the girl dancing wildly in front of burning crosses, while singing the song. In the meantime a choir sings around the girl in the church, who continues dancing with them. The girl wakes up and goes to the jail, telling the police that the black man is innocent; the police releases him and he is freed. The video ends with a final shot of the girl dancing in front of the burning crosses, and then everybody involved in the storyline takes a bow, as curtains come down on the set.
announced that they had signed Madonna to a $
5 million deal to use her and "Like a Prayer" in a television commercial for them. The agreement also called for Pepsi to financially sponsor Madonna's next world tour. Madonna would use the commercial to launch the "Like a Prayer" single globally before its actual release—the first time something like this was being done in the music industry—thereby creating promotion for the single and the album to come. Pepsi, on the other hand, would have their product associated with Madonna, thereby creating promotion for the soft drink. The company’s advertising head Alan Pottasch said: "the global media buy and unprecedented debut of this long awaited single will put Pepsi first and foremost in consumer's minds". Problems started during the shooting of the commercial, when Madonna refused to put the Pepsi brand name in it, and also baulked at dancing in it. She convinced the Pepsi executives that she would not hold a can of their product in her hand. Pepsi accepted her demands and ran the expensive television commercial during the global telecast of the 31st Grammy Awards in February 1989. A week later, the real ad was premiered at The Cosby Show
.
Titled "Make a Wish", the two minute commercial's theme portrayed Madonna taking a trip back in time to revisit her childhood memories. It started with Madonna watching a video of her childhood birthday party. As she reminisces, she interchanges places with her childhood self. The young Madonna roams aimlessly around the grown-up Madonna's room, while the latter dances with her childhood friend's on the street and inside a bar. The commercial continues with Madonna dancing inside a church, surrounded by a choir and her child self discovering her old play doll. As both of their lives are interchanged again, the grown-up Madonna looks towards the TV and says, "Go ahead, make a wish". Both the Madonnas raise their glass of Pepsi towards each other, and the young Madonna blows out the candles on her birthday cake. An estimated 250 million people around the world saw the commercial, which was directed by Joe Pytka. Pepsi-Cola Company spokesman Todd MacKenzie said that the ad was planned to be aired simultaneously in Europe, Asia, Australia, as well as North America. Bob Garfield from the Advertising Age
observed that from "Turkey to El Salvador to anytown USA, around 500 million eyes [were] glued to the screen. Leslie Savan from The Village Voice
noted that the ad qualified as a "hymn to the global capabilities of the age of electronic reproductions; it celebrates the pan-cultural ambitions of both soda pop and pop star."
, who deemed it as controversial. Phil Kloer from Record-Journal felt that whether or not one condemns the video as racist, "It's condemnable on the face of it because it exploits a symbol of evil [the burning crosses of the Ku Klax Klan] in order to sell records." Jamie Portman from The Daily Schenectady Gazette noted that "the video is vulnerable to charges of being blatantly provocative in its calculated blending of sex and religion." David Rosenthal from The Spokesman-Review found the video "visually stunning". Edna Gunderson from USA Today
did not understand the media mayhem behind the video. She pointed out that "Madonna is a good girl in the video. She saves someone. What is the big deal behind it?" Writing for the Los Angeles Times
, Chris Willman complimented the video for its portrayal of a love song, rather than blasphemy. He was more interested in the stigmata presented in the video.
Religious groups around the world protested against the video, which they deemed was blasphemous use of Christian imagery. They called for the national boycott of Pepsi and PepsiCo
's subsidiaries, including their fast food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken
, Taco Bell
and Pizza Hut
. Pepsi had initially decided to continue airing their commercial, however they were taken aback by the protests. They explained the differences between their advertising methods and Madonna's artistic opinions in the video. Ultimately Pepsi caved in to the protests, and cancelled the advertising campaign. According to Taraborrelli, so eager was Pepsi to extricate themselves from the venture, they even allowed Madonna to keep the five million dollars she had been advanced. In the meantime, the Pope
involved himself in the matter and banned any appearance of Madonna in Italy. Protests from a small Catholic organization in the country prompted Italian state television network RAI and Madonna's Italian record company, WEA, not to air the video there.
At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards
, "Like a Prayer" was nominated in the Viewer's Choice and Video of the Year
categories, winning the former. Ironically, the award show was sponsored by Pepsi in 1989, and when Madonna came onstage to receive the award she added: "I would really like to thank Pepsi for causing so much controversy." "Like a Prayer" also topped a number of video countdowns and critic lists. It peaked MTV
's countdown of "100 Videos That Broke The Rules" in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV, viewers voted it as the "Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time". In addition, the video was ranked at number 20 on Rolling Stone
s "The 100 Top Music Videos" and at number two on VH1
's 100 Greatest Videos. Fuse TV
also named "Like a Prayer" as one of its ten "Videos That Rocked The World". In a 2011 poll by Billboard, "Like a Prayer" was voted the second best music video of the 1980s, behind only Michael Jackson
's "Thriller
".
Santiago Fouz-Hernández wrote in his book Madonna's Drowned Worlds how the Black woman who catches Madonna when she is falling through heaven in her dream, is a symbol for the divinity, as she helps Madonna throughout the video to come to the correct decision. Fouz-Hernández also noted how the physical similarity between Madonna and woman indicated that it was actually Madonna's inner divinity which was rescuing her. After the Black saint comes to life and departs from the church, Madonna picks up his dropped dagger and accidentally cut her hands. Scholar Robert McQueen Grant
explained the action as a stigmata
, that marked Madonna as having an important role to play in the narrative. During the second chorus, as the crime scene is showed in detail, an identification is established between Madonna and the victim. Freya Jarman-Ivens, coauthor with Fouz-Hernández, noted that the woman cries out for help when Madonna sings the line "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer". However, Madonna does nothing about it, thus portraying failure of divinity to save. According to her, the look between the gang member and Madonna also sets up a complicity of "White men rape/kill women, white men blame it on Black men; Women are raped/killed for being on the streets at night, Black men are nevertheless thrown in jail."
As Madonna sings the intermediate verse amidst a field of burning crosses, she evokes the murder scene of three civil workers, portrayed in the 1988 American crime drama film Mississippi Burning
. Metz noted that when Madonna dances with the choir in the altar of the church, a young Black boy joins her. This referred to the only person who had protested against the Ku Klax Klan murders in Mississippi Burning, a Black man. Metz believed it was symbolic of how his protest was now transferred in Madonna. The erotic scene between the saint and Madonna was described by Benson as "leading the viewer to a single conclusion through its numerous cut-scenes of burning crosses, shocked face of Madonna, bleeding eye of the icon etc that Black men have been martyred for kissing white women or even wanting them." Grant believed this was where the racial equality message of the video came across as most poignant. On the contrary, when the curtain falls and the scene shifts to a smiling Madonna among the burning crosses, professor Maury Dean
felt that another explanation was inevitable. Madonna portrays a successful heroine and thus the whole video becomes about female empowerment.
. Madonna started the performance by uttering the word "God" suddenly, as everything became silent. Then she started singing "Like a Prayer", donning a dress that looked like a cross between a Mediterranean widow's attire and evocative clergy
man's robes. The bed, which was present during the previous performance, was replaced by hundreds of burning candles. At the beginning of the song Madonna knelt down in front of the stage, as the backup singers cried the words "Oh my God" several times. Madonna eventually removed a scarf from her head to display a huge crucifix hanging from her neck, and then rose and sang the full song, while her dancers gyrated around her. Two different performances were taped and released on video, the Blond Ambition – Japan Tour 90, taped in Yokohama
, Japan, on April 27, 1990, and the Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90, taped in Nice
, France, on August 5, 1990.
In 2003, Madonna released her ninth studio album, American Life
. While doing a set of short promotional performances for the album, Madonna sang "Like a Prayer", with the choir portion of the song being replaced by guitar sounds. The song was also included in the set list of the Re-Invention World Tour of 2004. Members of the audience asked to sing-along with her, filling in the part of the choir. Backup vocalist Siedah Garrett sang the vocals during the intermediate verses, while the backdrops displayed a series of Hebrew letters, indicating the 72 names of God
. Jim Farber from New York
complimented Madonna's vocals during the song. The performance was included on the 2006 live album
of the tour, titled I'm Going to Tell You a Secret
. Madonna sang a similar version of the song during the Live 8
benefit concert
at Hyde Park, London
in July 2005. She performed it alongside Birhan Woldu
, an Ethiopian woman who, as a malnourished toddler, had appeared in some of the footage of the 1984–85 famine in Ethiopia. Roger Friedman
from Fox News Channel
complimented her performance, describing her voice as "rich, supple and perfect". Conversely, Chicago Tribune
s Jill Lawless found her delivery to be uninspiring and "cathartic".
A dance version of the song, mixed with fragments of the dance track "Feels Like Home" by Meck
, was performed in the 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour
as part of the rave
segment. Madonna's line "feels like home" was replaced by the same line from Meck’s song. In the rave segment, Madonna appeared wearing breastplate, and a short wig. She danced energetically around the whole stage as backup singer Nicki Richards
provided vocals during the intermediate solo. The screens displayed a message of equality of religions, as symbols and texts from different scriptures flashed by, including messages from the Bible
, Qur'an
, Torah
and Talmud
. The performance ended with the line "We all come from the Light and to it shall we return", as a circular screen covered Madonna to give way to the next song, "Ray of Light
". Helen Brown from The Daily Telegraph
declared the performance as one of the highlights of the tour, while Joey Guerra
from Houston Chronicle
compared the sequences of Madonna rising on a platform with that of a superhero. The performance was included both in the CD and DVD of the live release of the tour, titled Sticky & Sweet Tour
, filmed in Buenos Aires
, Argentina from December 4–7, 2008. In January 2010, Madonna performed an acoustic version of the song live during the Hope For Haiti
telethon. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
commented: "For 20 years, that song has been the symbol of one of the most tumultuous and controversial periods in Madonna’s life. But for five minutes tonight, it was pure, put in service of something bigger than the singer."
singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding
, for his 1989 extended play
, God Made Me Do It: The Christmas EP. The 1999 and 2000 compilation albums, Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, included a cover of "Like a Prayer" by singers Loleatta Holloway
and electro-industrial
band Bigod 20
. An uptempo eurodance
remix was made by DJ group Sound Assassins for the remix album, Dancemania Speed 2
, released in Japan in March 1999. The song was redone as a hi-NRG
/eurodance
song in 2002 by a group called Mad'House, and was included in their album, Absolutely Mad. It was released as a single and was a commercial success, reaching the top of the charts in Austria, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, the top ten in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia regions), France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the top twenty in Denmark and Sweden. On the European Hot 100 Singles chart of Billboard, it reached a peak of two. A folk music cover of the song by Lavender Diamond
was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation, Through the Wilderness
, with an accompanying music video made by Peter Glantz
.
"Like a Prayer" was featured in an episode of American television series, Glee
, called "The Power of Madonna
". It was sung at the end of the episode by the fictional show choir New Directions, performed by the Glee cast members
. The song was released as a digital downloadable
single to the iTunes Store
, and was also included on the soundtrack EP, Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
. The cover version reached number 28 in Australia, number 27 in Canada, number two in Ireland, and number 16 in the United Kingdom.
In the United States, the song debuted at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, while entering the Hot Digital Songs
chart at number ten, with sales of 87,000 copies. DJs Meck
and Dino did a mash up of his 2007 single "Feels Like Home" with "Like a Prayer", and released it as "Feels Like a Prayer". The song reached the top ten of the charts in Belgium (Flanders region) and Netherlands, while peaking at number 15 in Belgium (Walloon region). In the United States, "Feels Like a Prayer" debuted at number 36 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and reached a peak of number six, after seven weeks. We Are the Fallen
, an American rock band covered the song live in 2008. Nick Duerden from Spin
felt the song was "so successfully pulverized that one wondered whether it wasn't written specifically to become the world's greatest heavy rock anthem."
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", while Rolling Stone
included it in their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
", at number 300. In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their "Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time", by Q
magazine. "Like a Prayer" was allocated the number one spot on the list. Another similar poll conducted by MSN Entertainment
in 2008, had the same result.
Campbell noted that the popularity and the media mayhem surrounding the song and the music video helped introduce a very important factor in celebrity world, the reception of free publicity. "Like a Prayer"s impact was more evident on its parent studio album, which shot to the top of the charts once it was released in April 1989. The music video also served as an evidence of the emergence of the video commodity as a different entity from the song that spawned it. As author Judith Marcus pointed out in her book, Surviving the Twentieth Century, Madonna used the church to make her point on victimization. For her, the main impact of the video lies in the fact that Madonna emerged from the role of a victim by "empowering" herself. The author asserted that the video metaphorically "attacked" the Church's demand for female compliance, indicted the Church's precept of a dichotomy between body and spirit, and at the same time assailed the Church's denial of female spirituality. Campbell noted that the video does not follow any definite narrative, although there is a plethora of images in it. He found sequences where Madonna does not sing the song, but her voice is heard, as most interesting since it pointed out the rapid evolution of the music video medium and Madonna's own work, which had moved beyond a simple capture of a live performance, as was the case for the music video of her first single, "Everybody" (1982); at that point in her career, such videos were already a distant memory.
Like the video, the song was noted for merging disparate and contradictory musical features in it. Campbell found that the simple melody of “Like a Prayer” offered an easy listen, with the contrasts in sound, rhythm and texture appealed to different target audiences. The usage of choir and organ in the song was an unprecedented blend of pop with religious music, which paved the way for gospel music to be more mainstream than before. In 1999, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
held a seminar on the different implications and metaphors present in the song; it was headed by professors Martin Katz
, George Shirley
and Michael Daugherty
. The main topic discussed was the fact that there can be different metaphorical meanings of the song, as the word "like" can be taken in separate contexts. Shirley explained that although when one thinks of "Like a Prayer", they would first think of its visual aspects, but for him the lyrics are far more important as they reinforce the postmodern nature of the video. The ambiguity of the word "like" blurs distinctions between a human lover and God, evident strongly in the line "Like a child, you whisper softly to me". This was further explained by Katz, who added: "The music of 'Like a Prayer' is probably a mitigating one, blunting and softening the harder edges, the more challenging content of the lyrics and the video."
Taraborrelli commented that "in the end, the events surrounding 'Like a Prayer' only served to enhance Madonna's reputation as a shrewd businesswoman, someone who knows how to sell a concept." Before Madonna's deal with Pepsi, pop stars in general were not given enough artistic freedom by sponsors. However, Madonna had said from the very first day that she would be doing the commercial in her very own way, which Pepsi had to accept. While she said that it was never her intention that Pepsi be the fall guy in the fiasco surrounding the video, Madonna stayed true to herself. Although the commercial intended to promote Pepsi the soft drink
, she did not bother to hold even a can
of the product, leading Taraborrelli to comment that "Madonna the pop star was going to do it her way, no matter what Madonna the businesswoman had agreed to do." She maintained all along that the Pepsi ad and the music video were two different commodities and she was right to stand her ground. Taraborrelli noted that after "Like a Prayer", the recruitment of pop stars and athletes to sell soft drinks became commonplace. However, none of them generated the level of excitement on par with Pepsi's failed deal with Madonna.
Credits adapted from Like a Prayer album liner notes.
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
on her fourth studio album of the same name
Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989 by Sire Records, three years after her previous studio album. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and fellow icon Prince on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the...
(1989). It was released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
as the album's lead single. Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
, "Like a Prayer" denoted a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who believed that she needed to cater more to her adult audience
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
. "Like a Prayer" is about a passionate young girl in love with God, who becomes the only male figure in her life.
"Like a Prayer" is a pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
song that incorporates gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
music. A choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
provides background vocals that heighten the song's spiritual nature, while rock guitar sounds keep the music dark and mysterious. The lyrics of the song were inspired by Madonna's Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
upbringing. She introduced liturgical words in the lyrics, but changed the context in which they were added. Thus, they had dual meanings of sexual innuendos and religion. "Like a Prayer" was positively received by critics, and was a commercial success. It became Madonna’s seventh number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in the United States and also reached the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
"Like a Prayer" is more memorable for its accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, which Mary Lambert directed. The video features Madonna as a witness to a murder, who hides in a church for safety. It also portrays Catholic symbols such as stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
and burning crosses, and a dream about making love to a saint. After its release, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
condemned the music video, while family and religious groups protested its broadcast. They boycotted products by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
, which used the song for a commercial. Madonna's contract with Pepsi was subsequently canceled, although she was allowed to retain her initial fee.
The song has been featured on three of Madonna's concert tours, most recently on the Sticky & Sweet Tour
Sticky & Sweet Tour
The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by American singer Madonna to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with...
in 2008–09. "Like a Prayer" has been covered by many artists, and was featured on American television show, Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, in an episode themed around Madonna. The song is noted for its effect on society, 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 marked as a turning point in Madonna's career, who began to be viewed as an efficient businesswoman—someone who knew how to sell a concept.
Background
The year 1988 had been a quiet one for MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, on the recording front. Following the lack of critical and commercial success of her film Who's That Girl (1987), she acted in a Broadway production
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
called Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow is a play by David Mamet which is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog and State and Main ....
. However, the experience caused her much discomfort, because once again the reviews were not favorable. Her marriage to actor Sean Penn
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
ended, with the couple filing for divorce in January 1989. Madonna had also turned thirty, the same age her mother was when she died, thus creating more emotional turmoil for the singer. She commented in the June 1989 issue of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
that her Catholic upbringing injected 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 try out 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 which she thought could be the musical direction of the album. For the lyrical ideas of the title track, she chose topics that—until then—were personal mediations never to be shared with the general public. Thoughtfully, she sifted through her personal journals and diaries, and began considering her options. "What was it I wanted to say?" she recalled. "I wanted the album and the song to speak to things on my mind. It was a complex time in my life."
Development
As Madonna considered her alternatives, producers Patrick LeonardPatrick Leonard
Patrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
and Stephen Bray
Stephen Bray
Stephen Bray is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer from Detroit. Bray is best known for his collaboration with Madonna.Bray began studying music through private instruction in Detroit, and continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.Bray owns and operates Saturn...
experimented with instrumental tracks and musical ideas for her consideration. Both of them wanted to bring their unique style to the project, and the first step they took was developing a completely different music for the title track. Eventually, Madonna felt that the music presented to her by Leonard was more interesting, and she started to work with him. Together they wrote and produced the title track, while naming it "Like a Prayer"; it became the first developed song for the Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer
Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989 by Sire Records, three years after her previous studio album. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and fellow icon Prince on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the...
album. Once Madonna got the idea of how to interpose the music that Leonard developed with her thoughts, it took her just three hours to write it. She described "Like a Prayer" as the song of a passionate young girl "so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life."
Madonna’s further inspiration for the song came from the Catholic belief of transubstantiation. She believed that the wine and wafer, which symbolizes the Body of Christ
Body of Christ
In Christian theology, the term Body of Christ has two separate connotations: it may refer to Jesus's statement about the Eucharist at the Last Supper that "This is my body" in , or the explicit usage of the term by the Apostle Paul in to refer to the Christian Church.Although in general usage the...
during Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, have transformative power and every word in the prayer has its precise meaning. For Madonna, “Like a Prayer” similarly appeared to carry its own transformative power. While writing the lyrics, Madonna introduced liturgical words but changed the context in which they were added, so they had dual meaning. She wanted the song to have superficial pop lyrics about sexuality and religion, but a different meaning underneath which she believed could provoke a reaction from her listeners. In author J. Randy Taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
's book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography
Madonna: An Intimate Biography
Madonna: An Intimate Biography is a book by American author J. Randy Taraborrelli, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna. The book was released in April 2001 by Sidgwick & Jackson in the United Kingdom, and in August 2001 by Simon & Schuster in the United States...
, Leonard explained that he was not comfortable with the lyrics and the sexual innuendos present in it. He gave the example of the first verse for "Like a Prayer" which went like "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there." Leonard understood that the dual meaning of the lines referred to someone performing a fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
. He was aghast and requested Madonna to change the line, but she was adamant to keep it.
Recording
In Fred BronsonFred Bronson
Fredric M. Bronson is an American journalist, author and writer. He is best known for his appearances on American Idol, the weekly "Chart Beat" column in Billboard magazine, and as the author of books related to Billboard charts.Born to Irving and Mildred Bronson and raised in Culver City,...
's Billboard Book of Number One Singles, Leonard noted that once they finished writing the lyrics of the song, they decided to record it alongside a choir. He wanted to have a quick recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
session for the song, as he believed that not much work would be needed for it. Madonna and Leonard met with musician Andraé Crouch
Andrae Crouch
Andraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
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 in terms of recording. He had listened to the demo of the song 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 was briefly held up when Madonna and Leonard fought over the production of the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
of the song, resulting in the singer's leaving the studio.
The next day, Leonard hired guitarist Bruce Gaitsch
Bruce Gaitsch
Bruce R. Gaitsch is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is best known for working with notable musicians such as Richard Marx, Chicago, Peter Cetera, Madonna, Agnetha Fältskog and many others as a session musician and songwriter...
and bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
player Guy Pratt, as musicians for the song. 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 was eventually not fired, but as recording started for "Like a Prayer", he realized that Madonna would not forgive him so 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 like 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 players in "Like a Prayer", as well as the other songs of the album. Madonna had her own opinion of how the different musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s should be played, to achieve the sound that she envisioned.
Pratt recalled that after the middle chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
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
Fill (music)
In popular music, a fill is a short musical passage, riff, or rhythmic sound which helps to sustain the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody....
towards the end. Guy, I want duck eggs
Whole note
thumb|right|250px|Figure 1. A whole note and a whole rest.In music, a whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note , and no note stem . Its length is equal to four beats in 4/4 time...
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
process. As the mixing was nearing completion, Leonard felt that the bongos and the Latin Percussion
Latin Percussion
Latin Percussion, also known as LP, is a brand of percussion instruments, specializing in ethnic instruments engineered and manufactured to withstand the rigors of use in a drum kit, orchestral percussion section, and similar applications...
would sound really mismatched, if Crouch's choir was to be added afterwards, hence he decided to remove them.
Composition
"Like a Prayer" begins with the sound of heavy rock guitar which is suddenly cut off after a few seconds, and replaced by the choirChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and the sound of an organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
. Madonna sings the opening lines alongside light sound of the 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
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
. 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, when the choir fully supports Madonna's vocals and she re-utters the opening lines, but this time accompanied by synths and drum beats. As she 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
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
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
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Co. Inc
Alfred Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is a family-owned and operated music publishing company, founded in 1922. Headquartered in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, it is the largest educational music publisher in the world.- Profile :...
, "Like a Prayer" is set in the time signature of common time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, with a moderate tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of 120 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of D minor
D minor
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
with Madonna's vocals ranging from the lower octave of A3
A (musical note)
La or A is the sixth note of the solfège. "A" is generally used as a standard for tuning. When the orchestra tunes, the oboe plays an "A" and the rest of the instruments tune to match that pitch. Every string instrument in the orchestra has an A string, from which each player can tune the rest of...
to the two-lined higher note of F5
F (musical note)
F is a musical note, the fourth above C. It is also known as fa in fixed-do solfège.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of Middle F is approximately 349.228 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
. "Like a Prayer" follows a sequence of Dm–C–D–Gm–D as its chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
in the opening chorus, and Dm–C–E–C7–B–F–A during the verses.
Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
noted in his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography
Madonna: An Intimate Biography
Madonna: An Intimate Biography is a book by American author J. Randy Taraborrelli, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna. The book was released in April 2001 by Sidgwick & Jackson in the United Kingdom, and in August 2001 by Simon & Schuster in the United States...
that the lyrics of the song is "a series of button-pushing anomalies". With Madonna's inclusion of double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s in the lyrics, "Like a Prayer" referred to both the spiritual and the carnal. Taraborrelli felt that the song sounded religious, but there was an undertone of sexual tension. This was achieved by the gospel choir, whose voice heightened the song's spiritual nature, while the rock guitar sounds kept it dark and mysterious. O'Brien explained how the song's lyrics describe Madonna receiving a vocation
Vocation
A vocation , is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity.-Senses:...
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 featured bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
played by Randy Jackson
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R executive, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew...
, while the 7"
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
version had a different introduction
Introduction (music)
In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. In popular music this is often abbreviated as intro...
by Pratt, doubled by an analogue Minimoog
Minimoog
The Minimoog is a monophonic analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. It was released in 1970 by R.A. Moog Inc. , and production was stopped in 1981. It was re-designed by Robert Moog in 2002 and released as Minimoog Voyager.The Minimoog was designed in response to the use of...
bass synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
. "Like a Prayer" was also remixed as a dance song by Shep Pettibone
Shep Pettibone
Robert E. Pettibone, Jr. is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul...
for Madonna's 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 9, 1990 by Sire Records. It contains fifteen of her hit singles from 1982 to 1990, as well as two new tracks "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me"...
.
Artwork
Madonna chose to work with photographer Herb RittsHerb Ritts
Herbert "Herb" Ritts was an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black-and-white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture.-Early life and career:...
for the Like a Prayer album cover. Initially photos from the session with Ritts, were also to be used for the single’s packaging. The image that was supposed to be used for the cover was a blurry shot of Madonna, blowing smoke on her own face, while holding a cigarette in her left hand. However, once she started shooting for the music video, Madonna felt that one of the still shots of her in a field was extremely beautiful and decided to make it the cover art. A different artwork was developed for the 12-inch
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
single, featuring a painting by Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone
Christopher Ciccone
Christopher G. Ciccone is an American artist, film director, artistic director, dancer, best selling author, and interior and furniture designer. He is the younger brother of Madonna, and began his career working as Madonna's assistant, dresser, backup dancer, stylist, and artistic director...
. He painted a classic (Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
) Madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
, wearing a halo and draped in vine of thorns with a single blossoming flower. It features the letters MLVC indicating the singer's full name Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, with a prominently "fallen" letter P near the heart of the Madonna, indicating Madonna's recent divorce from Penn. The singer was initially skeptic about the painting due to the media mayhem surrounding her relationship with Penn, and did not want to use it. However, once Ciccone presented her with a packaged version of the 12-inch single, where the painting was included along with the scent of patchouli
Patchouli
Patchouli is a species from the genus Pogostemon and a bushy herb of the mint family, with erect stems, reaching two or three feet in height and bearing small, pale pink-white flowers...
, she was impressed.
Critical reception
After "Like a Prayer" was released on March 21, 1989, the song received mostly positive reviews from critics. Taraborrelli commented that the song "deserved every bit of the curiosity it generated. While being devilishly danceable, the song also shows Madonna's uncanny ability to inspire strong, conflicting emotions during the course of a single song, leaving the listener scratching his head for answers—and craving for more." Stephen HoldenStephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, while writing about Madonna's re-invention of her image, observed how Madonna's sound had changed from the "simple blaring dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
to the rich, fully rounded pop of 'Like a Prayer'. " O'Brien felt that the most remarkable aspect of "Like a Prayer" was Madonna's usage of liturgical words. "There is the surface meaning, forging sexuality with pop lyrics that sound so sweet. But underlying that is a rigorous mediation on prayer. In shorter words, 'Like a Prayer really takes you there," she concluded. This view was shared by biographer Mary Cross, who wrote in her biography of Madonna that "the song is a mix of the sacred and the profane. There-in lies Madonna's triumph with 'Like a Prayer'. It still sounds catchy and danceable."
Michael Campbell, author of Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On, felt that "the melody of 'Like a Prayer' flows in gently undulating phases that sounds really soothing to the ear." He went on to compare this rhythm of the song to singer Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
's 1986 single, "Higher Love
Higher Love
"Higher Love" is a 1986 number-one hit song by Steve Winwood. It was the first single released from his fourth solo LP, Back in the High Life. It was written by Winwood and Will Jennings, and produced by Russ Titelman and Winwood...
". Australian rock music journalist Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell
Toby Creswell is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of Rolling Stone and a founding editor of Juice. In 1986 he co-wrote, with Martin Fabinyi, his first book Too Much Ain't Enough a biography of pub rocker and former Cold Chisel vocalist Jimmy Barnes...
wrote in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them
1001 songs
1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them is a compendium of notable popular recordings collected by Australian rock journalist and critic Toby Creswell...
that "'Like a Prayer' is a beautifully crafted devotional song in the guise of perfect pop. God is the drum machine here." Scholar Georges Claude Guilbert
Georges Claude Guilbert
Georges-Claude Guilbert born May 18, 1959) is a French academic and writer. He is Professor in American Studies at the Université François Rabelais, Tours, France.He was one of the editors of Arobase and Cercles from 1996 to 2006....
, author of Madonna as Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream, noted that there was a polysemy in "Like a Prayer" as it was clear that the woman who sings is addressing either God, or her lover, and in doing so “Madonna achieves the gold-card of attaining her own divinity. Whenever someone calls her name, it alludes to the song." Theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
Andrew Greeley
Andrew Greeley
Father Andrew M. Greeley is an Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and fiction writer....
compared "Like a Prayer" with the music and the hymns present in the Hebrew religious textbook, Song of Songs
Song of songs
Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...
. Greeley, although focusing more on the video, acknowledged the fact that sexual passion may be revelatory, and complimented Madonna for glorifying ideologies of female subjectivity and womanhood in the song.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
from Allmusic called the song "haunting" and felt that it displayed a commanding sense of Madonna's songcraft. To Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Gavin Edwards, the song sounded "glorious"; he added that "In a career [like Madonna's] full of transgressive moments, 'Like a Prayer' is the most transgressive—and the most irresistible." Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
commented that the "gospel-infused title track demonstrates that her writing and performing had been raised to heavenly new heights." In a review for The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 9, 1990 by Sire Records. It contains fifteen of her hit singles from 1982 to 1990, as well as two new tracks "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me"...
compilation album, David Browne
David Browne
David Browne is an American journalist and author. He was the resident music critic at Entertainment Weekly between 1990 and 2006. He was an editor at Music & Sound Output magazine and a music critic at the New York Daily News before EW...
of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the “frothier” texture of the song added poignancy to its spiritual lyrics. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
was impressed with the track, saying "'Like a Prayer' climbs to heights like no other pop song before it—or after. Like most of the songs on the album, the track's glossy production gives way to a power beyond studio sonics, and if [its] 'church-like' reverence feels like a religious experience, it's no mere coincidence."
Chart performance
In the United States, "Like a Prayer" debuted at number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, and reached the top of the chart on the issue dated April 22, 1989. It was present on the top for three weeks, before being replaced by the Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
song "I'll Be There for You
I'll Be There for You (Bon Jovi song)
"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American hard rock band Bon Jovi from their 1988 album New Jersey, was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora...
". The song also topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, while reaching number three on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart and at number 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart. "Like a Prayer" was the twenty-fifth best-selling song of 1989 in the US, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) in May 1989, for shipment of a million copies of the single. According to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
, it has also sold 443,000 digital downloads
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
as of April 2010, becoming Madonna's best-selling digital track since SoundScan started calculating downloads in 2005. In Canada, the song reached the top of the RPM Singles Chart
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
in its ninth week. It was present on the chart for 16 weeks and was the top-selling Canadian single for 1989.
In Australia, "Like a Prayer" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
at number three on March 19, 1989. The next week it reached the top of the chart, and stayed there for another four weeks. It was present for a total of 22 weeks on the chart, and was certified two-times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) for shipment of 140,000 copies of the single. "Like a Prayer" was also the top-selling Australian single of 1989. In New Zealand, the song had a similar run like Australia, by debuting at number three on the RIANZ Singles Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
, and reaching number one the next week. It was present for a total of 13 weeks on the chart. "Like a Prayer" became Madonna's seventh number one single in Japan, and occupied the top position of the Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
Singles chart for three weeks.
In the United Kingdom, "Like a Prayer" entered the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
at number two, before moving to the top the next week, remaining there for three weeks. Madonna became the artist with the most number-one singles of the 1980s, with a total of six chart-toppers. "Like a Prayer" became the tenth best-selling song of 1989 in the UK, with the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI) certifying it gold, for shipment of 400,000 copies of the single. According to The Official Charts Company, the song has sold 550,000 copies there. "Like a Prayer" also reached number one in Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. It was Madonna's fifth number one song on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
The European Hot 100 Singles has been compiled by Billboard and Music & Media magazine since March, 1984. The chart is based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,...
chart, reaching the top on March 25, 1989, and staying at number one for 12 weeks. After the Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
episode "The Power of Madonna
The Power of Madonna
"The Power of Madonna" is the 15th episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on April 20, 2010...
" was broadcast, "Like a Prayer" again entered the chart at position 47, on May 15, 2010. The song went on to sell over five million copies worldwide.
Development
The music video for "Like a Prayer" was directed by Mary Lambert and was shot at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, CaliforniaHollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
and at San Pedro Hills in San Pedro, California
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area...
. Madonna wanted the video to be more provocative than anything she had done before. She wanted to address racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
by having the "Like a Prayer" music video depict a mixed-race couple being shot by the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. However, upon further thought and in keeping with the song's religious connotations, she decided on another provocative theme. When Madonna had recorded the song, she would play it over and over again, and thought about the visual as,
Lambert had a different visual aspect of the song on her mind. She felt that it was more about ecstasy, especially a sexual one, and how it related to religious ecstasy. Together she listened to the song with Madonna a number of times, and came to the conclusion that the religious ecstasy part should be included. A sub-plot about Madonna witnessing a homicide was included and it became the trigger factor in the ecstasy part of the plot. Actor Leon Robinson
Leon Robinson
Leon Preston Robinson IV usually credited as simply Leon, is an American actor and singer, who began his professional career as an actor in 1981.-Personal life:...
was hired to play the role of a saint, which was inspired by Martin de Porres
Martin de Porres
Martin de Porres was a lay brother of the Dominican Order who was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony.He was noted for work on behalf of the poor, establishing an...
, the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony.
The video was shot over four days, with an extra day allotted for re-shooting some of the scenes. Originally Lambert had casts
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
taken of Leon's face, hand and feet to create the statue of the saint which would be used as a decoration. The actor only enacted the live scenes. However, after post-production started on the video, Lambert found that the statue did not look like Leon and he was asked to re-shoot the respective scenes. Leon had to act as the statue and required special make-up; he had to stand motionless during extended periods of shooting and the retakes. The actor recalled that standing like a statue was indeed tough since "first of all, I didn't realize how hard it is on the back to stand absolutely tall and straight and not move. Secondly, as a performer you have this nervous energy—and my requirements here were total antithesis of that."
Synopsis
The video begins by showing a girl running on the street, played by Madonna. She witnesses a murder of a young woman, but is frozen in fear to protest. A black man walking down the alley also notices the incident and decides to help the woman. But just then, the police arrive and arrest him. The murderers give a threatening look towards the girl and depart. She escapes to a church, where she sees a saint in a cage who looks very much like the black man on the street. As the song starts, the girl utters a prayer in front of the saint, who seems to be crying.The girl lies down on a pew and starts dreaming, in which she begins to fall through space. Suddenly she is caught by a woman who tosses her back up and tells her to do the right thing. Still dreaming, she returns to the saint who becomes the black man she had seen earlier. He lands a kiss on the girl's forehead and leaves the church as she picks up a knife and cuts her hands, blood flowing out. As the chorus of the song starts, the scene shifts to the girl dancing wildly in front of burning crosses, while singing the song. In the meantime a choir sings around the girl in the church, who continues dancing with them. The girl wakes up and goes to the jail, telling the police that the black man is innocent; the police releases him and he is freed. The video ends with a final shot of the girl dancing in front of the burning crosses, and then everybody involved in the storyline takes a bow, as curtains come down on the set.
Pepsi commercial
In January 1989, while "Like a Prayer" music video was still being filmed, Pepsi-ColaPepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
announced that they had signed Madonna to a $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
5 million deal to use her and "Like a Prayer" in a television commercial for them. The agreement also called for Pepsi to financially sponsor Madonna's next world tour. Madonna would use the commercial to launch the "Like a Prayer" single globally before its actual release—the first time something like this was being done in the music industry—thereby creating promotion for the single and the album to come. Pepsi, on the other hand, would have their product associated with Madonna, thereby creating promotion for the soft drink. The company’s advertising head Alan Pottasch said: "the global media buy and unprecedented debut of this long awaited single will put Pepsi first and foremost in consumer's minds". Problems started during the shooting of the commercial, when Madonna refused to put the Pepsi brand name in it, and also baulked at dancing in it. She convinced the Pepsi executives that she would not hold a can of their product in her hand. Pepsi accepted her demands and ran the expensive television commercial during the global telecast of the 31st Grammy Awards in February 1989. A week later, the real ad was premiered at The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
.
Titled "Make a Wish", the two minute commercial's theme portrayed Madonna taking a trip back in time to revisit her childhood memories. It started with Madonna watching a video of her childhood birthday party. As she reminisces, she interchanges places with her childhood self. The young Madonna roams aimlessly around the grown-up Madonna's room, while the latter dances with her childhood friend's on the street and inside a bar. The commercial continues with Madonna dancing inside a church, surrounded by a choir and her child self discovering her old play doll. As both of their lives are interchanged again, the grown-up Madonna looks towards the TV and says, "Go ahead, make a wish". Both the Madonnas raise their glass of Pepsi towards each other, and the young Madonna blows out the candles on her birthday cake. An estimated 250 million people around the world saw the commercial, which was directed by Joe Pytka. Pepsi-Cola Company spokesman Todd MacKenzie said that the ad was planned to be aired simultaneously in Europe, Asia, Australia, as well as North America. Bob Garfield from the Advertising Age
Advertising Age
Advertising Age is a magazine, delivering news, analysis and data on marketing and media. The magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930...
observed that from "Turkey to El Salvador to anytown USA, around 500 million eyes [were] glued to the screen. Leslie Savan from The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
noted that the ad qualified as a "hymn to the global capabilities of the age of electronic reproductions; it celebrates the pan-cultural ambitions of both soda pop and pop star."
Reception and protests
Taraborrelli pointed out about the music actual music video that "Madonna danced with such abundance in [it], as if she knew that she was about to cause a commotion, and couldn't wait to see how it would unfold." The day after the Pepsi commercial was premiered, Madonna released the actual music video for "Like a Prayer" on MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, who deemed it as controversial. Phil Kloer from Record-Journal felt that whether or not one condemns the video as racist, "It's condemnable on the face of it because it exploits a symbol of evil [the burning crosses of the Ku Klax Klan] in order to sell records." Jamie Portman from The Daily Schenectady Gazette noted that "the video is vulnerable to charges of being blatantly provocative in its calculated blending of sex and religion." David Rosenthal from The Spokesman-Review found the video "visually stunning". Edna Gunderson from USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
did not understand the media mayhem behind the video. She pointed out that "Madonna is a good girl in the video. She saves someone. What is the big deal behind it?" Writing for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Chris Willman complimented the video for its portrayal of a love song, rather than blasphemy. He was more interested in the stigmata presented in the video.
Religious groups around the world protested against the video, which they deemed was blasphemous use of Christian imagery. They called for the national boycott of Pepsi and PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
's subsidiaries, including their fast food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
, Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
and Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
. Pepsi had initially decided to continue airing their commercial, however they were taken aback by the protests. They explained the differences between their advertising methods and Madonna's artistic opinions in the video. Ultimately Pepsi caved in to the protests, and cancelled the advertising campaign. According to Taraborrelli, so eager was Pepsi to extricate themselves from the venture, they even allowed Madonna to keep the five million dollars she had been advanced. In the meantime, the Pope
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
involved himself in the matter and banned any appearance of Madonna in Italy. Protests from a small Catholic organization in the country prompted Italian state television network RAI and Madonna's Italian record company, WEA, not to air the video there.
At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards
1989 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1989 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 1989, honoring the best music videos from April 2, 1988, to June 1, 1989. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles....
, "Like a Prayer" was nominated in the Viewer's Choice and Video of the Year
MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year
The MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year is the main award handed out at the yearly MTV Video Music Awards. It was first awarded in , when The Cars won it, and has been given out since. Eminem has been the most nominated solo artist, male solo artist, and act in this category, having been...
categories, winning the former. Ironically, the award show was sponsored by Pepsi in 1989, and when Madonna came onstage to receive the award she added: "I would really like to thank Pepsi for causing so much controversy." "Like a Prayer" also topped a number of video countdowns and critic lists. It peaked MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's countdown of "100 Videos That Broke The Rules" in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV, viewers voted it as the "Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time". In addition, the video was ranked at number 20 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s "The 100 Top Music Videos" and at number two on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Greatest Videos. Fuse TV
Fuse TV
Fuse is an American national television network dedicated exclusively to music. It features original series and specials, exclusive interviews, live concerts and video blocks....
also named "Like a Prayer" as one of its ten "Videos That Rocked The World". In a 2011 poll by Billboard, "Like a Prayer" was voted the second best music video of the 1980s, behind only Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Thriller
Thriller (song)
"Thriller" is a song recorded by American recording artist Michael Jackson, composed by Rod Temperton, and produced by Quincy Jones. It is the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album Thriller. It was released on January 23, 1984 by Epic Records...
".
Themes and analysis
Scholars and academics have offered different interpretations of the music video. Allen Metz, one of the authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, noted that when Madonna enters the church at the beginning of the video, the line "I hear you call my name, And it feels like.... Home" is played. He explained that the scene explained Madonna's continued fascination with Spanish culture right from her early videos. The women of the Spanish East Harlem in New York call their Church as la casa di momma (Momma's House). In that respect, Madonna alluded herself to be one from the Harlem, but also refers to her own name as the divine returning to the Church. Nicholas B. Dirks, author of Culture/power/history explained how Madonna falling into a dream is the most important point of the narrative as it signified that "Madonna is really not putting herself in place of the redeemer, but imagining herself as one."Santiago Fouz-Hernández wrote in his book Madonna's Drowned Worlds how the Black woman who catches Madonna when she is falling through heaven in her dream, is a symbol for the divinity, as she helps Madonna throughout the video to come to the correct decision. Fouz-Hernández also noted how the physical similarity between Madonna and woman indicated that it was actually Madonna's inner divinity which was rescuing her. After the Black saint comes to life and departs from the church, Madonna picks up his dropped dagger and accidentally cut her hands. Scholar Robert McQueen Grant
Robert McQueen Grant
Robert M. Grant is a professor and US economic strategy academic who challenged Michael Porter's views on the basis for competitive advantage. He suggested that competitive advantage was more frequently to be discovered in access to distinctive or unique internal resources, rather than a choice...
explained the action as a stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
, that marked Madonna as having an important role to play in the narrative. During the second chorus, as the crime scene is showed in detail, an identification is established between Madonna and the victim. Freya Jarman-Ivens, coauthor with Fouz-Hernández, noted that the woman cries out for help when Madonna sings the line "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer". However, Madonna does nothing about it, thus portraying failure of divinity to save. According to her, the look between the gang member and Madonna also sets up a complicity of "White men rape/kill women, white men blame it on Black men; Women are raped/killed for being on the streets at night, Black men are nevertheless thrown in jail."
As Madonna sings the intermediate verse amidst a field of burning crosses, she evokes the murder scene of three civil workers, portrayed in the 1988 American crime drama film Mississippi Burning
Mississippi Burning
Mississippi Burning is a 1988 American crime drama film loosely based on the FBI investigation into the real-life murders of three civil rights workers in the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1964. The film focuses on two fictional FBI agents who investigate the murders...
. Metz noted that when Madonna dances with the choir in the altar of the church, a young Black boy joins her. This referred to the only person who had protested against the Ku Klax Klan murders in Mississippi Burning, a Black man. Metz believed it was symbolic of how his protest was now transferred in Madonna. The erotic scene between the saint and Madonna was described by Benson as "leading the viewer to a single conclusion through its numerous cut-scenes of burning crosses, shocked face of Madonna, bleeding eye of the icon etc that Black men have been martyred for kissing white women or even wanting them." Grant believed this was where the racial equality message of the video came across as most poignant. On the contrary, when the curtain falls and the scene shifts to a smiling Madonna among the burning crosses, professor Maury Dean
Maury Dean
Maury Dean is an American musician, professor and author, whose book "The Rock Revolution" is in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian.-Music:...
felt that another explanation was inevitable. Madonna portrays a successful heroine and thus the whole video becomes about female empowerment.
Live performances
The first live performance of "Like a Prayer" was at the 1990 Blond Ambition World TourBlond Ambition World Tour
The Blond Ambition World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Madonna. The tour was launched in support of her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack, I'm Breathless. The tour reached North America, Europe and Asia. It was a highly controversial tour,...
. Madonna started the performance by uttering the word "God" suddenly, as everything became silent. Then she started singing "Like a Prayer", donning a dress that looked like a cross between a Mediterranean widow's attire and evocative clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man's robes. The bed, which was present during the previous performance, was replaced by hundreds of burning candles. At the beginning of the song Madonna knelt down in front of the stage, as the backup singers cried the words "Oh my God" several times. Madonna eventually removed a scarf from her head to display a huge crucifix hanging from her neck, and then rose and sang the full song, while her dancers gyrated around her. Two different performances were taped and released on video, the Blond Ambition – Japan Tour 90, taped in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan, on April 27, 1990, and the Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90, taped in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France, on August 5, 1990.
In 2003, Madonna released her ninth studio album, American Life
American Life
American Life is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on April 22, 2003 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. The album produced in its entirety by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï featured references to many parts of American culture...
. While doing a set of short promotional performances for the album, Madonna sang "Like a Prayer", with the choir portion of the song being replaced by guitar sounds. The song was also included in the set list of the Re-Invention World Tour of 2004. Members of the audience asked to sing-along with her, filling in the part of the choir. Backup vocalist Siedah Garrett sang the vocals during the intermediate verses, while the backdrops displayed a series of Hebrew letters, indicating the 72 names of God
Names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
. Jim Farber from New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
complimented Madonna's vocals during the song. The performance was included on the 2006 live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
of the tour, titled I'm Going to Tell You a Secret
I'm Going to Tell You a Secret
I'm Going to Tell You a Secret is the title of an American documentary film that follows pop singer Madonna on her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour. It premiered on MTV on October 21, 2005 and was released commercially in a CD+DVD package on June 20, 2006 by Warner Bros. Records...
. Madonna sang a similar version of the song during the Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
benefit concert
Benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...
at Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
in July 2005. She performed it alongside Birhan Woldu
Birhan Woldu
Birhan Woldu is an Ethiopian famed for being the starving child, near death, shown in a video at Live Aid in 1985.Woldu was originally found in 1984 by a CBC documentary crew led by Brian Stewart and Tony Burman. Her family walked from their village in Tigray to Mek'ele in hopes of finding food or...
, an Ethiopian woman who, as a malnourished toddler, had appeared in some of the footage of the 1984–85 famine in Ethiopia. Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is an American entertainment news journalist. Friedman created and wrote the FOX411 news column on Foxnews.com for 10 years. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz 411, an entertainment news column.-Career:...
from Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
complimented her performance, describing her voice as "rich, supple and perfect". Conversely, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
s Jill Lawless found her delivery to be uninspiring and "cathartic".
A dance version of the song, mixed with fragments of the dance track "Feels Like Home" by Meck
Meck (musician)
Meck is the DJ and recording alias of Craig Dimech, the former head of free2air recordings and now Frenetic Music. Having started his A&R career at Ministry Of Sound imprint Incentive Music, Craig has been responsible or had a hand in many Top 10 and Top 20 UK hits...
, was performed in the 2008–09 Sticky & Sweet Tour
Sticky & Sweet Tour
The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by American singer Madonna to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with...
as part of the rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
segment. Madonna's line "feels like home" was replaced by the same line from Meck’s song. In the rave segment, Madonna appeared wearing breastplate, and a short wig. She danced energetically around the whole stage as backup singer Nicki Richards
Nicki Richards
Nicki Richards is an American singer, songwriter, producer, actor based in Manhattan, New York City. She is also known as a backing singer for a number of renowned artists and on a big number of studio recordings. Her father was a high ranking African-American naval officer and her mother, Donna...
provided vocals during the intermediate solo. The screens displayed a message of equality of religions, as symbols and texts from different scriptures flashed by, including messages from the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
. The performance ended with the line "We all come from the Light and to it shall we return", as a circular screen covered Madonna to give way to the next song, "Ray of Light
Ray of Light (song)
A high-speed electronic dance song, "Ray of Light" has received stylistic comparisons to rave, psychedelic and acid music. The track contains strong techno elements, as well as disco, trance and Eurodance influences, and it sees Madonna deepen her dance roots and go for a more electronic sound...
". Helen Brown from The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
declared the performance as one of the highlights of the tour, while Joey Guerra
Joey Guerra
Joey Guerra is the pop music critic for the Houston Chronicle, one of the ten largest papers in the U.S. Born June 16, 1974 in Houston, Texas. He is a prolific writer, covering the major genres and the Houston/Texas music scene...
from Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
compared the sequences of Madonna rising on a platform with that of a superhero. The performance was included both in the CD and DVD of the live release of the tour, titled Sticky & Sweet Tour
Sticky & Sweet Tour (album)
Sticky & Sweet Tour is the third live album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on March 26, 2010 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was released on DVD, Blu-ray and CD formats. The tour was filmed at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina during the 2008 leg of...
, filmed in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina from December 4–7, 2008. In January 2010, Madonna performed an acoustic version of the song live during the Hope For Haiti
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief was a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time . The telethon was the most widely distributed telethon in history...
telethon. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
commented: "For 20 years, that song has been the symbol of one of the most tumultuous and controversial periods in Madonna’s life. But for five minutes tonight, it was pure, put in service of something bigger than the singer."
Cover versions
One of the first cover versions of the song was done by folkFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding
John Wesley Harding (singer)
Wesley Stace is a folk/pop singer-songwriter and author who goes by the stage name John Wesley Harding. He has called his style of music folk noir and gangsta folk...
, for his 1989 extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, God Made Me Do It: The Christmas EP. The 1999 and 2000 compilation albums, Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, included a cover of "Like a Prayer" by singers Loleatta Holloway
Loleatta Holloway
Loleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...
and electro-industrial
Electro-industrial
Electro-industrial is a music genre drawing on EBM and post-industrial that developed in the mid-1980s. While EBM has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial has a deep, complex and layered sound. The style was pioneered by Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, and other groups,...
band Bigod 20
Bigod 20
Bigod 20 was a German EBM and electro-industrial band which was formed in 1988 by music producers Andreas Tomalla and Markus Nikolai .-History:...
. An uptempo eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
remix was made by DJ group Sound Assassins for the remix album, Dancemania Speed 2
Dancemania Speed
Dancemania Speed is a sub-series of Toshiba EMI's Dancemania compilation series. This series features faster, further remixed versions of recordings from previously released Dancemania albums or faster remixed covers of various famous songs...
, released in Japan in March 1999. The song was redone as a hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
/eurodance
Eurodance
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
song in 2002 by a group called Mad'House, and was included in their album, Absolutely Mad. It was released as a single and was a commercial success, reaching the top of the charts in Austria, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, the top ten in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia regions), France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the top twenty in Denmark and Sweden. On the European Hot 100 Singles chart of Billboard, it reached a peak of two. A folk music cover of the song by Lavender Diamond
Lavender Diamond
Lavender Diamond is a Los Angeles-based Folk/country-pop quartet known for its light-hearted, often winsome sound; its simple, romantic lyrics; and the charismatic, whimsical stage presence and ethereal vocals of frontwoman Becky Stark.-History:...
was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation, Through the Wilderness
Through the Wilderness
Through the Wilderness is a tribute album to Madonna by various folk artists, released on November 27, 2007 on Manimal Vinyl Records.*7 out of 10- Pitchforkmedia.com*3.5 Stars - Spin Magazine-Tracks included:...
, with an accompanying music video made by Peter Glantz
Peter Glantz
Peter Glantz is an American director of theater and film, notably the films Lightning Bolt - Power Of Salad and the music video DVD Pick A Winner, both released through the record label Load Records...
.
"Like a Prayer" was featured in an episode of American television series, Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
, called "The Power of Madonna
The Power of Madonna
"The Power of Madonna" is the 15th episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on April 20, 2010...
". It was sung at the end of the episode by the fictional show choir New Directions, performed by the Glee cast members
Characters of Glee
Glee is a musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. The song was released as a digital downloadable
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
single to the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
, and was also included on the soundtrack EP, Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna is the first extended play by the cast of the musical television series Glee. It contains eight songs from the season one Glee episode, "The Power of Madonna", which was a tribute episode dedicated to American recording artist Madonna...
. The cover version reached number 28 in Australia, number 27 in Canada, number two in Ireland, and number 16 in the United Kingdom.
In the United States, the song debuted at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, while entering the Hot Digital Songs
Hot Digital Songs
The Hot Digital Songs chart ranks the best-selling digital singles in the United States, according to Billboard.Beginning in February 2005, digital sales have been incorporated into many of Billboards music single charts. It was decided to do so mainly because of the dramatic rise in popularity of...
chart at number ten, with sales of 87,000 copies. DJs Meck
Meck (musician)
Meck is the DJ and recording alias of Craig Dimech, the former head of free2air recordings and now Frenetic Music. Having started his A&R career at Ministry Of Sound imprint Incentive Music, Craig has been responsible or had a hand in many Top 10 and Top 20 UK hits...
and Dino did a mash up of his 2007 single "Feels Like Home" with "Like a Prayer", and released it as "Feels Like a Prayer". The song reached the top ten of the charts in Belgium (Flanders region) and Netherlands, while peaking at number 15 in Belgium (Walloon region). In the United States, "Feels Like a Prayer" debuted at number 36 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, and reached a peak of number six, after seven weeks. We Are the Fallen
We Are the Fallen
We Are the Fallen is an American gothic metal band consisting of former American Idol contestant Carly Smithson, Marty O'Brien and former Evanescence members Ben Moody, John LeCompt, and Rocky Gray. The band's name is an allusion to Evanescence's 2003 album, Fallen, which has resulted in criticism...
, an American rock band covered the song live in 2008. Nick Duerden from Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
felt the song was "so successfully pulverized that one wondered whether it wasn't written specifically to become the world's greatest heavy rock anthem."
Legacy
"Like a Prayer" is considered as one of Madonna's best songs and one of the greatest songs ever by both critics and fans. It was ranked sixth on BlenderBlender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
included it in their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
", at number 300. In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their "Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time", by Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine. "Like a Prayer" was allocated the number one spot on the list. Another similar poll conducted by MSN Entertainment
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
in 2008, had the same result.
Campbell noted that the popularity and the media mayhem surrounding the song and the music video helped introduce a very important factor in celebrity world, the reception of free publicity. "Like a Prayer"s impact was more evident on its parent studio album, which shot to the top of the charts once it was released in April 1989. The music video also served as an evidence of the emergence of the video commodity as a different entity from the song that spawned it. As author Judith Marcus pointed out in her book, Surviving the Twentieth Century, Madonna used the church to make her point on victimization. For her, the main impact of the video lies in the fact that Madonna emerged from the role of a victim by "empowering" herself. The author asserted that the video metaphorically "attacked" the Church's demand for female compliance, indicted the Church's precept of a dichotomy between body and spirit, and at the same time assailed the Church's denial of female spirituality. Campbell noted that the video does not follow any definite narrative, although there is a plethora of images in it. He found sequences where Madonna does not sing the song, but her voice is heard, as most interesting since it pointed out the rapid evolution of the music video medium and Madonna's own work, which had moved beyond a simple capture of a live performance, as was the case for the music video of her first single, "Everybody" (1982); at that point in her career, such videos were already a distant memory.
Like the video, the song was noted for merging disparate and contradictory musical features in it. Campbell found that the simple melody of “Like a Prayer” offered an easy listen, with the contrasts in sound, rhythm and texture appealed to different target audiences. The usage of choir and organ in the song was an unprecedented blend of pop with religious music, which paved the way for gospel music to be more mainstream than before. In 1999, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance
The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance is an undergraduate and graduate institution for the performing arts in the United States. It is part of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The School of Music, Theatre & Dance was founded in 1880 and is currently headed by...
held a seminar on the different implications and metaphors present in the song; it was headed by professors Martin Katz
Martin Katz
Martin Katz is an American pianist, educator and conductor, primarily known for his work as an accompanist.Over his 30 years as a performer, Mr...
, George Shirley
George Shirley
George Irving Shirley is a renowned tenor opera singer.He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.-External links:*** by Bruce Duffie...
and Michael Daugherty
Michael Daugherty
Michael Kevin Daugherty is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. Influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism, Daugherty is one of the most colorful and widely performed American concert music composers of his generation...
. The main topic discussed was the fact that there can be different metaphorical meanings of the song, as the word "like" can be taken in separate contexts. Shirley explained that although when one thinks of "Like a Prayer", they would first think of its visual aspects, but for him the lyrics are far more important as they reinforce the postmodern nature of the video. The ambiguity of the word "like" blurs distinctions between a human lover and God, evident strongly in the line "Like a child, you whisper softly to me". This was further explained by Katz, who added: "The music of 'Like a Prayer' is probably a mitigating one, blunting and softening the harder edges, the more challenging content of the lyrics and the video."
Taraborrelli commented that "in the end, the events surrounding 'Like a Prayer' only served to enhance Madonna's reputation as a shrewd businesswoman, someone who knows how to sell a concept." Before Madonna's deal with Pepsi, pop stars in general were not given enough artistic freedom by sponsors. However, Madonna had said from the very first day that she would be doing the commercial in her very own way, which Pepsi had to accept. While she said that it was never her intention that Pepsi be the fall guy in the fiasco surrounding the video, Madonna stayed true to herself. Although the commercial intended to promote Pepsi the soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
, she did not bother to hold even a can
Beverage can
A beverage can is a tin can designed to hold a specific portion of a beverage. Beverage cans are made of tin-plated steel or aluminium.- History :...
of the product, leading Taraborrelli to comment that "Madonna the pop star was going to do it her way, no matter what Madonna the businesswoman had agreed to do." She maintained all along that the Pepsi ad and the music video were two different commodities and she was right to stand her ground. Taraborrelli noted that after "Like a Prayer", the recruitment of pop stars and athletes to sell soft drinks became commonplace. However, none of them generated the level of excitement on par with Pepsi's failed deal with Madonna.
Track listings and formats
- 7" single (US)
- "Like a Prayer" (7" version) – 5:19
- "Act of Contrition" – 2:19
- 3" CD single (Japan)
- A. "Like a Prayer" (7" version fade) – 5:07
- B. "Act of Contrition" – 2:19
- 12" single (UK)
- A. "Like a Prayer" (12" dance mix) – 7:50
- B1. "Like a Prayer" (Churchapella) – 6:14
- B2. "Like a Prayer" (7" remix edit) – 5:41
- 12" single (US)
- A1. "Like a Prayer" (12" dance mix) – 7:50
- A2. "Like a Prayer" (12" extended remix) – 7:21
- A3. "Like a Prayer" (Churchapella) – 6:14
- B1. "Like a Prayer" (12" club version) – 6:35
- B2. "Like a Prayer" (7" remix edit) – 5:41
- B3. "Act of Contrition" – 2:19
- CD promo single (US)
- "Like a Prayer" (7" version) – 5:08
- "Like a Prayer" (7" remix edit) – 5:41
- "Like a Prayer" (7" dance edit) – 5:25
- "Like a Prayer" (12" dance mix) – 7:50
- "Like a Prayer" (12" club version) – 6:35
- 12" promo single (US)
- A1. "Like a Prayer" (12" dance mix) – 7:50
- A2. "Like a Prayer" (Instra dub) – 6:01
- A3. "Like a Prayer" (Bass dub) – 5:31
- B1. "Like a Prayer" (12" club version) – 6:35
- B2. "Like a Prayer" (Dub beats) – 4:39
- B3. "Like a Prayer" (7" remix edit) – 5:41
Credits and personnel
- MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
– songwriterSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, background vocals - Patrick LeonardPatrick LeonardPatrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
– songwriter, producer, arrangerArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents... - Andraé CrouchAndrae CrouchAndraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
– choirChoirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, background vocals - Bill Meyers – arranger
- Bruce GaitschBruce GaitschBruce R. Gaitsch is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is best known for working with notable musicians such as Richard Marx, Chicago, Peter Cetera, Madonna, Agnetha Fältskog and many others as a session musician and songwriter...
– acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Chester Kamen – guitar
- Chuck Findley – arranger, brassBrassBrass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
- Dann Huff – guitar
- David Williams – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Dick Hyde – brass
- Donna De Lory – background vocals
- Niki HarisNiki HarisNiki Haris is an American actress, dancer, and singer of pop, R&B, Dance music and jazz, perhaps best known for having been one of Madonna's backing vocalists from 1987 to 2001.-Early life and family:...
– background vocals - Geary Lanier – clavinetClavinetA Clavinet is an electrically amplified keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company. It is essentially an electronically amplified clavichord, analogous to an electric guitar. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has appeared particularly in funk, disco, rock, and reggae songs.Various...
- Guy Pratt – drum programming, brass
- Paulinho da Costa – percussion
- Herb RittsHerb RittsHerbert "Herb" Ritts was an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black-and-white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture.-Early life and career:...
– cover art photographer - Christopher CicconeChristopher CicconeChristopher G. Ciccone is an American artist, film director, artistic director, dancer, best selling author, and interior and furniture designer. He is the younger brother of Madonna, and began his career working as Madonna's assistant, dresser, backup dancer, stylist, and artistic director...
– 12" single cover designer - Bob Ludwig – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Bill Bottrell – mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Shep PettiboneShep PettiboneRobert E. Pettibone, Jr. is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul...
– additional producer, remix, audio engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - Michael Hutchinson – remix engineer
- Dave Way – assistant engineer
- Fred McFarlane – programmingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
- Junior VasquezJunior VasquezJunior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...
– audio engineering - Bill Bottrell – additional producer, remix
- Robert Salcedo – additional engineer
Credits adapted from Like a Prayer album liner notes.
Weekly charts
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
2 |
| Belgian VRT Top 30 VRT Top 30 The VRT Top 30 or Radio 2 Top 30 is a Belgian record chart that runs on the VRT, more specifically on Radio 2. The list is the new version of the old BRT Top 30, that changed along with the media group's name in 1992.... |
1 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
2 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 12 |
| French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
2 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
2 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
1 |
| Japanese International Singles Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
1 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
1 |
| US Hot Adult Contemporary | 3 |
| US Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 1 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
20 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1989) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 7 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 13 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | 1 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 6 |
| UK Singles Chart | 10 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 25 |
| US Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 10 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
2× Platinum |
| Germany Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises.... |
Gold |
| Netherlands NVPI The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry... |
Platinum |
| Spain | Gold |
| Switzerland | Platinum |
| United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Gold |
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Platinum |
See also
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Australia)
- List of RPM number-one singles of 1989 (Canada)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Europe)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Ireland)Number-one singles of 1989 (Ireland)The following is a list of the IRMAs number-one singles of 1989.- See also :* 1989 in music* List of artists who reached number one in Ireland...
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (New Zealand)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Norway)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Sweden)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (Switzerland)
- List of number-one singles of 1989 (UK)
- List of Billboard number-one singles of 1989 (US)
- List of Billboard number-one dance singles of 1989 (US)
- List of number-one singles of 2002 (Austria)
- List of number-one singles of 2002 (Germany)Number-one hits of 2002 (Germany)This is a list of the German Media Control Top100 Singles Chart number-ones of 2002.-References:* * ----...
- List of number-one singles of 2002 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles of 2002 (Netherlands)Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 2002These hits topped the Dutch Top 40 in 2002 ....