Our Prayer

"Our Prayer" is a wordless hymn by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1969 album 20/20 and their never-finished Smile project.[1] Composed by Brian Wilson, it was originally planned to be the introductory track on Smile. He later rerecorded the piece for his 2004 version of Smile in medley with the 1953 doo-wop standard "Gee".

"Our Prayer"
Hymn by the Beach Boys
from the album 20/20
ReleasedFebruary 10, 1969
RecordedSeptember 19, 1966   November 17, 1968
StudioColumbia and Capitol, Hollywood
GenreHymn
Length1:07
LabelCapitol
Composer(s)Brian Wilson
Producer(s)The Beach Boys
Licensed audio
"Our Prayer" on YouTube

Background and recording

I was sitting at my piano thinkin' about holy music. I poked around for some simple but moving chords. Later I sat down and wrote 'Our Prayer' in sections. ... I was definitely into rock church music.

Brian Wilson, writing in the liner notes of the 1990 reissue of Friends and 20/20[2]

"Our Prayer" is a wordless, a cappella piece that Wilson originally composed for the band's Smile album.[3] The title may be a reference to the 1939 traditional pop standard "My Prayer". It was originally simply titled "Prayer".[3]

"Prayer" was tracked during the Smile sessions on September 19 and October 4, 1966, at Columbia Studio.[4] Wilson later wrote, "The boys were overtaken by the arrangement. I taught it to them in sections, the way I usually do."[2] On the session tape, Wilson announces, "This is intro to the album, take one." Al Jardine is heard remarking to Wilson that the piece could be considered its own track, but Wilson rejects the suggestion.[5] This information makes "Prayer" the only part of Smile that is known to have had a definitive placement on the album.[6] At another point in the session, Wilson asks for a hash joint and remarks, "Do you guys feel any acid yet?"[6]

After Smile was scrapped, the track was revisited for inclusion on the 1969 album 20/20 and renamed "Our Prayer". Additional vocals were overdubbed onto the original recording by Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Bruce Johnston on November 17, 1968, at Capitol Studios.[7]

Composition

Music journalist Paul Williams wrote,

It's a wonderful wordless beginning for a record that for the most part uses words the same way it uses strings and keyboards—for their sounds. This is in sharp contrast to Pet Sounds where most of the songs have titles and lyrics that evoke specific situations and feelings. Smile's radicalism begins with and centers around the fact that it is abstract, whereas all previous Beach Boys records and most rock-and-roll songs are concrete in their imagery. They have words, and those words generally tell a story.[8]

Musicologists John Covach and Graeme M. Boone wrote: "An exquisite exercise of harmonic virtuousity, 'Our Prayer' allowed the Beach Boys once again to show off their vocal abilities and stylistic influences earlier demonstrated on such songs as 'Their Hearts Were Full of Spring'."[9] Philip Lambert described the piece as "every technique of chromatic harmony [Wilson] had ever heard or imagined."[10]

Personnel

Per band archivist Craig Slowinski.[4]

The Beach Boys

Cover versions

Samples

  • 2013 – Odesza, "Keep Her Close", My Friends Never Die

References

Citations

  1. Lambert 2007, p. 47.
  2. Leaf, David (1990). Friends / 20/20 (CD Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  3. Badman 2004, p. 147.
  4. The Smile Sessions (deluxe box set booklet). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records. 2011.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. Carlin 2006, p. 112.
  6. Howard, Ed (July 28, 2003). "Smile: The Definitive Lost Album". Stylus. stylusmagazine.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012.
  7. Badman 2004, p. 231.
  8. Williams 2010, p. 84.
  9. Boone 1997, p. 51.
  10. Lambert 2016, p. 90.
  11. Roberts, Martin (2019). Cornelius's Fantasma. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-5013-3017-9.

Bibliography

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