Madonna: Like a Prayer Meaning

Song Released: 1989

Covered By: Glee Cast

Like a Prayer Lyrics

Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home

Chorus:

When you call my name it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour I can feel your...

1. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 23rd 2011 !⃝

   it have a a double meaning, one about oral sex the other about god and the fact that madonna is worshiping a black man and the burning crosses.
   every song can have more than one meaning

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jan 13th 2011 !⃝

   The last 2 posts hit the nail on the head 110% right. She is calling out to the devil. Many songs out there were there is similar meanings when played backwards wake up people (she is singing about oral sex) you having a laugh.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 30th 2010 !⃝

   Like a prayer listed in reverse or backwards she is referring to the devil calling out to satan. I bet you never knew that she is a freemason.
4. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Dec 23rd 2010 !⃝

   "Life is a mystery" part when played backwards says "Devil I worship you"
5. Susan7

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Oct 23rd 2010 !⃝

   I think it may also be referring to someone in an incestuous relationship.
   "Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone
   I hear you call my name
   And it feels like home
   (Feeling alone, someone she is familiar with, trying to convince her that it's ok, it's love)
   
   "When you call my name it’s like a little prayer
   I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there
   In the midnight hour I can feel your power
   Just like a prayer you know I’ll take you there"
   (Speaks of being called on to give oral sex, knowing she can give the release of orgasm, but the older man is obviously in control, insistent)
   
   "I hear your voice, it’s like an angel sighing
   I have no choice, I hear your voice
   Feels like flying
   I close my eyes, oh God I think I’m falling
   Out of the sky, I close my eyes
   Heaven help me!"
   (Quietly having her name called out, but knowing she doesn't have a choice (even though it may bring some pleasure) The feeling of guilt, feeling like she is doing something very wrong, asking for forgiveness from God)
   
   Like a child you whisper softly to me
   You’re in control just like a child
   Now I’m dancing
   It’s like a dream, no end and no beginning
   You’re here with me, it’s like a dream
   Let the choir sing
   (Still in the submissive state, being told to "dance" (have sex) feeling surreal, that it will always be that way, and that there is nothing that can be done to change it, also not remembering how life was before it started)
   
   "Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there
   Just like a muse to me, you are a mystery
   Just like a dream, you are not what you seem
   Just like a prayer, no choice your voice can take me there"
   (Again, speaking about the clandestine relationship, also that others either can't or don't seem to know about it, and that even though at time it may seem exciting, there is really no choice to make it stop.)
6. Tyler77

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jul 20th 2010 !⃝

   Clearly the song is about oral sex, and Madonna is saying that she feels giving oral sex is like a religious experience. The references to 'like a child' and 'now I'm dancing' refer to her state of ecstacy in giving pleasure to another. 'In the midnight hour' is a famous song about sex by Wilson Pickett ('I'm gonna kiss you, and hold you, and do all the things I told you, in the midnight hour') and 'I can feel your power' is a reference to the traditionally dominant role of the male - or possibly a crude sexual reference to the size of his member.
   Other lyrics refer to the fact that she feels that this is where she belongs and has found an escape from the isolation that is the human condition - 'Life is a mystery, everyone must walk alone, I hear you call my name, and it feels like home' in sexual pleasure and union.
   The controversial video has little relationship to the song; pop videos are usually created by film-makers and not the artist.
7. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Jun 26th 2010 !⃝

   Assholes it is not about oral sex....you lower Madonna with this crap about blowjobs which by the way you love...fags

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   May 22nd 2010 !⃝

   It's about oral sex
9. anonymous

   • 1
   • 2
   • 3
   • 4
   • 5

   click a star to vote

   Apr 22nd 2010 !⃝

   Maybe she just felt like praying.
10. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Apr 16th 2010 !⃝

    The song was written from a Submissive's point of view during a scene with her Dom. She's on her knees at her Dom's feet because he controls her (like a child). She has no choice but to let him have control over her because she is his Submissive. He takes her to a place, in her mind, through the pleasure he gives her.
11. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 16th 2008 !⃝

    It's one of those songs that's deliberately ambiguous as to whether it's about God or a lover. There are a lot of other songs that are the same way. I prefer the religious interpretation but the other one is obviously deliberately there too.
12. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Mar 15th 2008 !⃝

    I think madge is a whorebag biscuit (look it up in the urban dictionary!) she is on about giving a bloke a cheeky blowy and would just like a bit of appreciation from her chap....she is either shit at giving head or the bloke is a dick cheers
13. anony

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Feb 1st 2008 !⃝

    Oh this song is about the fact that you realize you are a whore one day and that your name is from the blessed virgin Mary and you have blasphemed throughout your crappy career. then you really realize you are screwed because you make a music video where there are burning crosses all over and you are making out with a priest. Then to make matters worse you name your only daughter after a beautiful site of an apparition of Mary, Lourdes, just to rub in the fact that you are a horrible human being. yep that's what it's about.
14. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jan 25th 2008 !⃝

    I believe it is a song about God and hearing His voice and about injustice. When we hear Gods voice in our hearts and we see something in the world that is wrong like the man being falsely imprisoned for the stabbing of the woman, we should speak the truth to set him free. Thus the nails in the hands because of the cross of Christ and bearing His wounds, accepting Him in our lives and thus any persecution as a result. I believe the man in prison represents Jesus because she was challenging the fact that he was not white like in all the pictures in the world pretty much, instead he was dark skinned being a Jew(some are dark skinned). I think she was challenging some Christian theology but she in real life practices a religion similar to Judaism (Practiced by Jews). "I want to take you there," I believe can be referring to taking God into every situation of our lives, thanks for reading!
15. anonymous

    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

    click a star to vote

    Jun 30th 2007 !⃝

    I think it's about a girl who is madly in love with a guy and wants to give him oral sex

Latest Articles

• 
  Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable
• 
  Dolly, we need you
• 
  The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media
• 
  The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s
• 
  Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
• 
  Let’s Go to the Hop - Ignore That Door’s Four Bunnies and a Beatbox