Album dossier / 1989

Like a Prayer

Madonna · Pop/R&B

Written and produced with Patrick Leonard at Johnny Yuma Recording in Burbank, the title track was composed in about three hours and the whole album in under two weeks -- Leonard has said 'we wrote a song a day, and we didn't change them,' often keeping Madonna's first vocal take as the final one. The gospel choir, led by Andrae Crouch, was recorded separately and layered in post-production, while the record's famous door-slam intro guitar -- and possibly the bridge riffs -- came from tapes Prince sent from Minneapolis for the song 'Like a Prayer' itself, distinct from his full duet with Madonna on 'Love Song.' Leonard has called the recording sessions personally fraught ('the divorce album,' with sessions taking far longer than usual amid Madonna's real-life marriage breakup), and has stressed the analogue-tape spontaneity of the vocal and production as the record's lasting strength.