Like a Prayerby Madonna

Title Tracks show! Listener suggestion. www.madonna.com

Happy birthday to this song, released on this date in 1989. "I hear your voice It's like an angel sighing I have no choice, I hear your voice Feels like flying..." -- Watch the official video for this great song: www.youtube.com

For Neva! "Not the typical KEXP song... but Madonna's "like a prayer" really resonated with me as I was 10.... made me question so many things and what a powerful message from a powerful woman" Madonna cites Patti Smith as a huge inspiration to her

#281 --Best Opening Tracks -- Madonna wrote the song with her long-time collaborator Patrick Leonard. The gospel vocals were recorded by The Andraé Crouch Choir, who also appeared on Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror'. For the intro, Leonard used guitar recordings by Prince, who had been asked by Madonna to contribute to the track.

HBD to Madonna, born this day in 1958. -- Watch the official video for this great song: www.youtube.com

Released on this day in 1989!

1989! The music video for "Like a Prayer", portrays Madonna witnessing a young white woman being killed by a group of white men. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety, seeking strength to go forth as a witness. The video depicts a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata. It also features the Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses and a dream about kissing a black saint. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested against its broadcast. Protestors boycotted products by Pepsi, who had used the song in their commercial. The company canceled their sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to retain the $5 million fee. #losers www.kexp.org/donate

By request. Decade - the 80s! www.madonna.com

July 19 at Climate Pledge Arena! www.madonna.com

1989! The music video for "Like a Prayer", portrays Madonna witnessing a young white woman being killed by a group of white men. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety, seeking strength to go forth as a witness. The video depicts a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata. It also features the Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses and a dream about kissing a black saint. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested against its broadcast. Protestors boycotted products by Pepsi, who had used the song in their commercial. The company canceled their sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to retain the $5 million fee. #losers www.kexp.org/donate

There is very little that says 1989 quite like this. "Madonna wanted to write about personal matters on her mind at the time, and for 'Like a Prayer', she chose topics she had never shared with the general public. She looked into her personal journals and diaries, and later recalled: "What was it I wanted to say? I wanted the album to speak to things on my mind. It was a complex time in my life." www.smoothradio.com You know the video is calling your name right now! www.youtube.com

1989! The music video for "Like a Prayer", portrays Madonna witnessing a young white woman being killed by a group of white men. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety, seeking strength to go forth as a witness. The video depicts a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata. It also features the Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses and a dream about kissing a black saint. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested against its broadcast. Protestors boycotted products by Pepsi, who had used the song in their commercial. The company canceled their sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to retain the $5 million fee. #losers

The music video for "Like a Prayer", portrays Madonna witnessing a young white woman being killed by a group of white men. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety, seeking strength to go forth as a witness. The video depicts a church and Catholic symbols such as stigmata. It also features the Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses and a dream about kissing a black saint. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested against its broadcast. Protestors boycotted products by Pepsi, who had used the song in their commercial. The company canceled their sponsorship contract with Madonna, but allowed her to retain the $5 million fee. #losers

Madonna spoke about how her religious faith inspired this song: "Once you're a Catholic, you're always a Catholic—in terms of your feelings of guilt and remorse and whether you've sinned or not. Sometimes I'm wracked with guilt when I needn't be, and that, to me, is left over from my Catholic upbringing. Because in Catholicism you are born a sinner and you are a sinner all of your life. No matter how you try to get away from it, the sin is within you all the time"