Talk:Like a Prayer (song)/Archive 1

Audio sample of original 1989 album version
It would be nice if an audio sample of the 1989 album version of Like a Prayer could be added. The sample currently on the page is of the icky dance remix from The Immaculate Collection.

Artwork
Would someone be kind enough to upload a picture of the "Painted" artwork version used predominantly on the 12" cover? This is one of the most interesting Madonna single artworks. BTW the same painting was also used on Blond Ambition official T shirts, you might like to mention this if you do upload the pic. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Janged (talk • contribs) 01:28, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

Irrelevent
Over the years it has been speculated that David Bowie's song "Underground" was the inspiration for "Like a Prayer". Many fans claim that Madonna heard "Underground" repeatedly on the radio while in London during 1986, and she became fond of the song's combination of pop and gospel music. The 1987 Michael Jackson song 'Man in the mirror' also combined pop and gospel music prior to "Like a Prayer". Some also cite that Prince's work on his album "Purple Rain" heavily influenced the sound of "Like a Prayer" as well.

Could somebody please tell me what relevence this has to this article? Not one of the records mentioned are anything even along the same key sonic structure as Like A Prayer. A more viable reference to the songs inspirations would be Gospel music in general. Unless excellent citations can be given, this is being removed. Apex156 (talk) 12:52, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism
I have reverted the vandlaism relating to this article. Any other uncited claims that Like A Prayer contains samples or "inspiration" from David Bowie's Underground, will be treated as vandalism and reported as such seeing the user banned. FenrirRising (talk) 14:27, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Live Performance
There are two live performance sections to this article. Perhaprs they should be merged? Hermetic Pilgrim (talk) 19:57, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Gospel choir(s)
Isn't there any more information about the choir or choirs? Who is the woman who belts out part of the song about 4 minutes in, for example? NjtoTX (talk) 05:03, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Not clear
I think the follwoing sentence is not very clear:

"In addition, the album version features bass guitar played by Randy Jackson, the 7" version has a much more complex part created and played by Guy Pratt, doubled by an analogue Minimoog bass synthesizer."

It think Pratt played on the 7" version but I'm not sure.. --Vunzmstr (talk) 17:31, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

A less prurient interpretation...
The article says that Madonna was "making love" to the saint, which despite widespread suggestion at the time doesn't seem supported by the video as I've ever found it. The source cited only says that she was kissing him.

After watching it some number of times, I think that the plot is actually something different -- really, one of the more cogent defenses of the Catholic doctrine of veneration of saints that I've run into, though I'm not a theologian. It works like so:


 * Madonna runs from a murder scene and stumbles into a church.
 * Being there, she looks at the statue of the saint, and there are signs of him crying and then he goes out into the night.
 * Falling into a trance, Madonna sees the crime; then all the church is around her inspiring her with singing. At the culminating point, one woman places a hand to her forehead as she kneels in a seemingly familiar gesture; and at that moment the saint kisses her.
 * The outcome of this is that she goes and (despite well-grounded fears about the murderer) tells her story to the police to get the innocent man freed.

Now it's true, Madonna in the video looks so nice that sexual thoughts come easily to mind, but I don't think that the saint is really supposed to be crying because he's an immobile plaster figure locked up where he can't caress her; nor does the kiss imply intercourse. The real point is, she enters the church and is inspired by the actions and beliefs that the saint represents; she absorbs the culture that the worshippers follow; and she acts on it. In this way, I think it could be taken, that the "voice" (or tradition) of the saint, stressing all of the good things that could be done in some situation, is "like a prayer"; that it brings the worshipper into a holy spirit just as if she had made the decision to pray for guidance on her own. (As contrasted with the Protestant view that veneration of saints is simply idolatry). I don't claim to evaluate this argument, but it seems to be the point of the video and perhaps of the song overall (though I always had supposed that was more about ordinary love; even so, the veneration of specific saints and the veneration of one significant other share some elements of logic). Wnt (talk) 07:45, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

I think you're right. I'm going to go ahead and change it to "showing the Saint Kissing Madonna." not only because you make a good point, but because that's actually what is stated in the quoted material. Whether they "made love" or not isn't cemented by the material and I def think it was intentionally left open for interpretation. PhoenixPrince (talk) 23:36, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Another cover
There has also been a cover of this song by Tori Amos, shouldn't it be added under other covers section? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Plaidrox101 (talk • contribs) 00:18, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * We can has source? W IKIPEDIAN PENGUIN  (♫♫)  22:37, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Split into music video article
I was just reading about article size at WP:LENGTH and noticed that this page is currently at 53K of readable prose, while articles should be between 30-50K. Even more so, the music video section alone is 17K, which covers 32% of the entire page. It ocurred to me that the music video section could be split into a separate article, in a similar fashion to Michael Jackson's Thriller, Runaway and Eternal Flame. I also put it together quickly in one of my sandboxes to see how I would like look like. Xwomanizerx (talk) 00:24, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Support — Could not agree with this more than I do! Excellent idea! Your sandbox itself is 26 bytes. And on top of that, the video is Madonna's most iconic, and should have its own article. I actually don't see any need for a discussion in this, I say you should just go ahead and do it. ℥nding · start 03:44, 8 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Oppose for now. I don't find the video to be anywhere nearly as iconic as Thriller, and think splitting the page would ruin it. It looks wonderful and complete the way it is now.-- CallMe Nathan  &bull;  Talk2Me   05:24, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Besides that being WP:CRYSTAL, who compared this video to Thriller? The reason I opened this discussion is because the length of the article is over the limit. Xwomanizerx (talk) 05:30, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, you mentioned Thriller right here, so that's where I got it from. Also, as of now, I think splitting it would ruin the quality and completeness of the article.-- CallMe Nathan  &bull;  Talk2Me   05:32, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * You compared the quality and/or legacy of this video to Thriller. I only listed it as an example of a music video having its own page. Apart from that, I think it's done quite well in "Thriller (song)" and the "completeness" of the article does not suffer. Xwomanizerx (talk) 05:38, 8 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Comment - Honestly, I've thought about it. To be honest, its Legolas who really counts here. He's the one that over-hauled the entire article, so I only think its fair if his opinion matters most. If he thinks its a good idea, then I'll reconsider my oppose. How's that sound?-- CallMe Nathan  &bull;  Talk2Me   08:32, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Neutral While I think there is enough info for the video to get its own article, the page is only over by 3k, which isn't really that bad. It isn't great either, of course, but maybe the porse could be trimmed down a little here and there to get it into the acceptable range. Crystal Clear x3 08:21, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Neutral I think that whilst there is enough information for a new article, and the music video is probably her most famous and one of the worlds most iconic. This should be up to Legolas, he revised this page and it is only 3k more than it should be, and it would take away from the overall article, so before any decisions are made, he needs to respond. Thanks --FeuDeJoie (talk) 11:59, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment I was thinking of a split for a long time, and now that the discussion has come, I think we should wait till the article steam rolls its GA status. Then consider splitting. As it is, I will be pruning some things off the article, and so will be changes per the GA reviewer, hence lets come back to this decision after the GA is attained. Kapish everyone? Then I will remove the tag for now. — Legolas ( talk 2 me ) 12:36, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Keep it together, but prune the length.TCO (talk) 04:07, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Release date
I do not see any reference to the release date in the body of the article and only the lead and infobox show this info, but without any source. — WP: PENGUIN  · [ TALK ]  10:34, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Mark Bego's biography makes reference to it, I have added it. The line goes "... It was not before March 21, when the video was released and the single hit the stores that the mayhem began &mdash; both began instant hits." — Legolas ( talk 2 me ) 11:06, 14 November 2011 (UTC)