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Like a Prayer (song)

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I've listed this article for peer review because of the usual rub. Brilliant article, went through GA, can become Featured article, just needs the usual third-eye for it. Ruhrfisch is most welcome here. He's brilliant.

Thanks, — Legolas (talk2me) 10:57, 14 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Article is well-written and very comprehensive. I haven't read all of it in depth, but a few issues jump out at me.

  • The second paragraph in the intro is a bit choppy, with some awkward phrases. The prose can be tightened to give it a better flow.
  • "Like a Prayer" is used a bit repetitively in the into (for example, 3 times in the first 4 sentences; 8 times throughout the intro) Maybe it's just me, but try throwing in a couple pronouns.
  • "But she understood that as she was growing up, so was her core audience." Jarring sentence, especially because it does not follow logically from the preceding point being made.
  • "She had certain personal matters on her mind which she thought could be the musical direction of the album" Review "that" vs "which" in sentences like these. The sentence requires the former.
  • A few awkward phrases in the "Development" and "Recording" section that need fine-tuning:
  • "Together they wrote and produced the title track, while naming it "Like a Prayer" (the second clause needs adjusting);
  • "Once Madonna got the idea of how to interpose the music that Leonard developed with her thoughts, it took her just three hours to write it" (needs rephrasing);
  • "Madonna’s further inspiration for the song came from the Catholic belief of transubstantiation" (you can drop Madonna's name from the sentence);
  • In author J. Randy Taraborrelli's book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography, Leonard explained that he was not comfortable with the lyrics and the sexual innuendos present in it. He gave the example of the first verse for "Like a Prayer" which went like "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there."[9]. Needs fine tuning throughout. How about "In author J. Randy Taraborrelli's book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography, Leonard voiced his discomfort with the sexually ambiguous nature of the lyrics. In particular, he criticized the song's first verse "When you call my name, It's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there" as a possible reference to someone performing fellatio." Or something similar.
  • "Madonna and Leonard met with musician Andraé Crouch and signed his choir as one of the background vocalists." Consider rephrasing because it refers to a choir as "a background vocalist".
  • "Recording was briefly held up when Madonna and Leonard fought over the production of the bridge of the song, resulting in the singer's leaving the studio". No need for apostrophe.
  • "Pratt was eventually not fired, but as recording started for "Like a Prayer", he realized that Madonna would not forgive him so easily; she called him at late nights for his opinion, and urgently asking him to come to the recording studio, only to dismiss him." Awkward sentence construction. "urgently asking him" for example should be "urgently asked". Instead of "Pratt was eventually not fired, but as recording started for "Like a Prayer", he realized that Madonna would not forgive him so easily", how about "Although Pratt was not fired..."

There are no MOS issues that seem present. However, a thorough copy-edit is needed for clarity and flow. I'll pop in periodically to help straighten the prose, but this article has to be in queue as I've promised about 3 other editors that I would help them, and I haven't gotten to any of them yet. The the article is well-researched and comprehensive and interesting to read. You should be proud. Orane (talk) 09:03, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WP Comments

I will review the Music video section, my favorite part of the article. All comments are from a FAC reviewer's perspective. I have copy edited parts (see my diffs) and any questions I have about clarity are listed here:

  • "Madonna wanted the video to be more provocative than anything she had done before." Although I cannot verify this because I do not have the book, are you sure anything is accurate?
  • I am still skeptical about the expression "keep with".
  • "especially a sexual one" - awkward clause.
  • "in the ecstasy part of the plot" - "part" is not the right word. Revise also: "...that the religious ecstasy part should be included".
  • WP:LASTNAME asks to use the last name of people on subsequent references. Why do you continue to refer to Robinson by his first name instead and not "Robinson's face" etc?
  • A question about the screenshot; different people with various religious perspectives may look at this differently, but how much does a women standing in front of burning crosses add to the article? There are more symbolic scenes in the music video that can be captured and illustrated instead. Again, my personal view of WP:NFCC#8.
    • I cna understand from where you are coming from. But which other scenes would you think can be better illustrative of the provocative nature of the video? There are many I know, that's why i couldn't make up my mind and thought this was the best one. Any suggestion is fine. — Legolas (talk2me) 14:25, 4 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Can you get more specific than "to do the right thing"?
  • "Madonna to a $5 million deal to use her and 'Like a Prayer' in a television commercial for them." Are you talking about the song or the music video of "LAP"?
  • "Taraborrelli pointed out about the music actual music video that" - lolwut?
  • You seem to flip between "PepsiCo", "Pepsi-Cola", "The Pepsi Company" and simply "Pepsi". Consistency please.
  • "They called for the national boycott of Pepsi and PepsiCo's subsidiaries" - repetitive. Try "They called for the national boycott of Pepsi and its subsidiaries"?
  • "Allen Metz, one of the authors of The Madonna Companion: Two Decades of Commentary, noted that when Madonna enters the church at the beginning of the video, the line "I hear you call my name, And it feels like.... Home" is played." Is that a fact or an observation; it reads like a fact.
  • "Freya Jarman-Ivens, coauthor with Fouz-Hernández," - Author of what publication?
  • "Metz noted that when Madonna dances with the choir in the altar of the church, a young Black boy joins her." - again, fact or observation?
  • Be consistent if you will capitalize "Black" or not.
  • Possibly the most difficult thing to do would be to make sure that even readers who know nothing about Christianity, denominations, the Pope, etc are satisfied by and understand the article. Words like "divinity" and "stigmata" will leave them flipping through dictionaries and other pages on Wikipedia.

Hope this helps. This is the kind of FA topic Wikipedia needs; not that mainstream bull that plays on the radio these days. Very interesting and comprehensive article indeed. —WP:PENGUIN · [ TALK ] 17:05, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hello to both Orane and WP. I have started work on the issues pointed by you. I will tell you how I'm doing it. I normally take printout of the article, leaving out the references. And then I read it like a book. That way more prose errors and glitches appear and I strike or rewrite them in a notepad. Then I superimpose those writings in the original article. I do this after a few days of not touching the article at all, so that familiar parts become disillusioned and I can grasp issues better. — Legolas (talk2me) 08:43, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Tony? —WP:PENGUIN · [ TALK ] 11:36, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
D'uh. — Legolas (talk2me) 11:41, 10 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note – User:Moisejp has kindly volunteered to do some copy-editing on the article hence I'm refraining from editing it at present. {Gives me more time to look back.. yeahhhhh) — Legolas (talk2me) 06:35, 16 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Moisejp's comments: All right, sorry for the delay. Here are some comments from me.
Lead:

  • Three of the five first sentences begin with "Like a Prayer", and one other sentence also contains the phrase. How about something like: "Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, the track denoted a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who believed that she needed to cater more to her adult audience. The song is about a passionate young girl in love with God, who becomes the only male figure in her life. 'Like a Prayer' is pop rock and incorporates gospel music."
  • "She introduced liturgical words in the lyrics, but changed the context in which they were added." I agree with WP: Penguin above that this is one example of a very difficult religious word. (Heck, even I don't know what it means—not that I'm especially religious.) This is just an idea, but one solution might be just slightly de-emphasize some of the religious specifics. I know the religious element is very important in the article, but if you could find just the right balance of covering the religious element, but without going too deeply into certain aspects that require specialized vocabulary, it might work. Again, just an idea.
  • " 'Like a Prayer' is more memorable for its accompanying music video, which Mary Lambert directed." Sounds subjective.
  • "They boycotted products by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which used the song for a commercial. Madonna's contract with Pepsi was subsequently canceled, although she was allowed to retain her initial fee." Maybe OK and clear enough, but it'd be all the more ideal to say explicitly that she had a contract with Pepsi before saying it way canceled. (I know, the fact that the song was used in a commercial implies some kind of contract, but it's just not very explicit.)
  • "Alongside its respective album, 'Like a Prayer' has been marked as a turning point in Madonna's career." Not totally sure about this usage of "respective". Would "Alongside the album Like a Prayer, the song" be clearer? But if you feel very comfortable with how it is now, that's fine. Moisejp (talk) 19:56, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Background:

  • "The year 1988 had been a quiet one for Madonna, on the recording front." Kind of awkward phrasing? I'm not sure how you want to rephrase it, but it shouldn't be too hard to improve on. If you decide to keep it as it is, I think you should definitely get rid of the comma.
  • "Feeling the need to try out something different, Madonna wanted the sound of her new album to indicate what could be popular in the music world." Is "indicate" the right verb here? Do you mean something like "push the boundaries of" (or something along those lines but less strong)?
  • "Thoughtfully, she sifted through her personal journals and diaries, and began considering her options." Do you need "Thoughtfully" here, and is it the best word? For me, "thoughtfully" usually means "showing consideration for others" but I can't say for certain that its usage here is definitely wrong—it's just not how I would probably spontaneously use it.
  • "She had certain personal matters on her mind which she thought could be the musical direction of the album." I'm not sure if you care, but you use the exact same sentence in "Oh Father" and "Dear Jessie"—but if that doesn't bother you, then fine. Moisejp (talk) 20:13, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Development:

  • "Both of them wanted to bring their unique style to the project, and the first step they took was developing completely different music for the title track." I guess you mean "completely different" in relation to each other, but maybe this could be clarified. Or do you mean "completely different" in relation to what she has done before?
  • "Together they wrote and produced the title track, while naming it 'Like a Prayer'; it became the first developed song for the Like a Prayer album." Consider removing "while" or possibly even the whole phrase "while naming it 'Like a Prayer' "? I'm not sure the best, clearest solution, but if you consider "title track" as indirectly naming the song, you have "Like a Prayer" mentioned three times in the sentence.
  • "She described 'Like a Prayer' as the song of a passionate young girl 'so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life.' " If it were me, I would say "She has described" but it may be a question of style. (But grammatically speaking, I do think you pretty much need the "has". There's no time expression such as "in 1989" indicating when in the past this utterance occurred.)
  • The second paragraph is another case where the difficult, specialized religious words get in the way of easy understanding. Again, one solution might be to keep the overall religious element in the article, but to whatever extent possible try to find a balance of de-emphasizing the overly difficult aspects, if that's possible. Moisejp (talk) 20:34, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Recording:

  • "Madonna and Leonard met with musician Andraé Crouch and signed his choir as one of the background vocalists." I agree with Orane above that "as one of the background vocalists" is problematic.
  • "Madonna and Leonard met with musician Andraé Crouch and signed his choir as one of the background vocalists. Since Crouch was the leader of the Los Angeles Church of God choir" The second sentence reads awkwardly since you have just mentioned the choir in general terms, and now you mention "the Los Angeles Church of God choir" as though it was the first mention of the choir. Also, I wasn't sure everything that was implied in the word "Since". I understand that he's the leader of the choir, so he wants to take responsibility for what they sing. Hmm, I guess it's because I wasn't 100% sure you were talking about the same choir, because of the issue I mention above. So, if there's a possibility that it wasn't the same choir, I was a little confused whether the emphasis was less him taking responsibility for the content of what they sing, and more him having to uphold his reputation in the religious community—just a subtle difference, but if just made me stop and think.
  • "he researched the lyrics of the song". Maybe OK, but is "researched" the best word? Kind of sounds like he went to the library and did a bunch of searching of I don't know what about the lyrics. Suggestions: "scrutinized" or "studied". Just a thought.
  • "Recording was briefly held up when Madonna and Leonard fought over the production of the bridge of the song, resulting in the singer's leaving the studio." To clarify: this was the bridge of the song as recorded by the choir? Moisejp (talk) 21:10, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The next day, Leonard hired guitarist Bruce Gaitsch and bass drum player Guy Pratt as musicians for the song. Pratt had in turn hired some additional drummers who were supposed to reach Jonny Yuma in the morning." The time line is very unclear here. I think you mean that Leonard you mean that Leonard hired Gaitsch and Pratt at some point in the past but they were meant to come in the next day? "Pratt had in turn hired" also supports this interpretation. If you don't mean that, then "had in turn hired" is problematic.
  • "However, the person cancelled at the last minute" Which person? Ah, I guess from the next line we find out it's Pratt? This is confusing—at first I thought it was one of the additional drummers.
  • "he realized that Madonna would not forgive him easily; she called him at late nights for his opinion, and urgently asking him to come to the recording studio, only to dismiss him." I think it would be better to spell out more explicitly that Madonna was doing these things because she was angry with him. I guess from the context it's relatively clear, but I think it could just be a little clearer.
  • "Madonna had her own opinion of how the different musical instruments should be played to achieve the sound that she envisioned." Would this be clearer at the start of the next paragraph? When I first read it and didn't see anything after it, I thought it was an incomplete idea.
  • "She wanted drummer Jonathan Moffet to 'do less of the high-hat in the middle eight, and more of a fill towards the end. Guy, I want duck eggs [semibreves] on the end, and Chester, bring in your guitar on the second verse.' " The change from she to I is a little awkward.
  • Maybe the sentence above would be a good place where instead of using a direct quotation you could paraphrase it. It's true you do have wiki-links, but there's a lot of specialized musical jargon in there. If you paraphrased it you could use different, easier expressions. (Hmm, now that I look at it again, I see that hi-hat is the name of the kind of symbols, so maybe there's no other way to say it?) Moisejp (talk) 21:59, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Composition:

  • "Author Lucy O'Brien explained how the song's lyrics describe Madonna receiving a vocation from God:" I may be splitting hairs here, but if it was me I would try to find a verb that more objectively conveys her subjective interpretation. Words like "explain" and "note" could be interpreted as saying "it's a definite fact that the lyrics describe Madonna receiving a vocation from God, and O'Brien explained how". But if you disagree with me, I don't have a really strong opinion about this. Hmm, "explain" could kind of be in the grey zone. There may be words that would be worse.
  • "The album version featured bass guitar played by Randy Jackson, while the 7" version had a different introduction by Pratt, doubled by an analogue Minimoog bass synthesizer." Wouldn't the present tense be better here? If you have a copy of the album or the 7" single, they still feature these things. Moisejp (talk) 22:26, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Artwork:

  • "However, once Ciccone presented her with a packaged version of the 12-inch single, where the painting was included along with the scent of patchouli, she was impressed." "...and decided to use it."? Moisejp (talk) 22:32, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Critical reception:

  • "O'Brien felt that the most remarkable aspect of 'Like a Prayer' was Madonna's usage of liturgical words." Maybe here's another place where, if possible, you could use an explanation of "liturgical" rather than using the word itself.
  • "In a review for The Immaculate Collection compilation album, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the “frothier” texture of the song added poignancy to its spiritual lyrics." So the "frothier" aspect is in reference to the Shep Pettibone remix version? Do readers need to be reminded of this here? Just a thought.
  • Hmm, I think I also mentioned this in my GA review for "Oh Father", but for me a Critical reception section, if possible, should try to show some structure. For example, when I copy-edited "Dear Jessie", I put all the Beatles references together. I'm not saying it's necessarily possible to always do it perfectly, but if you can try to look for themes or repeated phrases or ideas within the different quotations and references, and then using transition word like "similarly" and "likewise" and "also" and "in the same way" group the reviews into some kind of order, it just seems more satisfying for the reader. Right now it just seems like a bunch of random reviews in no particular order. Or, just for example, a Critical reception section could be organized by reviews that focus on the music, and then ones that focus on the lyrics. Again, that's just an example, but I'm saying there are different ways to organize. Of course, in the case of "Like a Prayer", all the reviews are positive, so you can't organize by separating the positive and the negative reviews, but that would be another example. Moisejp (talk) 22:57, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Chart performance:

Oh, I just had a guess—does it ensure the whole thing stays on the same line? Moisejp (talk) 23:17, 24 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Music video#Development:

  • "[Lambert] listened to the song with Madonna a number of times and came to the conclusion that the religious ecstasy part should be included." This seems like an incomplete idea to me, because presumably Lambert couldn't make an decisions without getting Madonna's consent, right? After this sentence I was expecting something like "...and she convinced Madonna that it was a good idea." (It previously said that Madonna's ideas were a little different.) So after I read this sentence I thought, "So what if Lambert thought this? It's Madonna that's got to come to this conclusion, more so than Lambert." Moisejp (talk) 04:25, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Synopsis:

  • Throughout this section you talk about Madonna's character as being "a girl". Is there a reason why she's not described as a woman?
  • "She escapes to a church and sees a caged saint who resembles the black man on the street." Is the caged saint a statue? If so, this should be clarified.
  • Does the interracial love affair aspect of the story end up in the video? If so, I couldn't tell where from the synopsis. Moisejp (talk) 04:38, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pepsi commercial:

  • "the global media buy and unprecedented debut of this long awaited single will put Pepsi first and foremost in consumer's minds". This should be "consumers' minds". Is this error in the source material? If so, maybe you should use [sic].
  • "A week later, the ad was premiered during The Cosby Show." Is it worth mentioning that at the time The Cosby Show was the most popular show in the USA in terms of weekly viewership? You'd have to confirm that in 1989 it still was, but I think the point is that Pepsi didn't premier it at any old show, they premiered it at the most expensive time of the week, which emphasizes the investment they were putting in it. Moisejp (talk) 04:53, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Reception and protests:

  • "Taraborrelli pointed out about the music actual music video that 'Madonna danced with such abundance in [it], as if she knew that she was about to cause a commotion, and couldn't wait to see how it would unfold.' " This is another spot where I wouldn't use "pointed out". It sounds too much like we're stating what follows it to be a fact, but really it's just his opinion. Something like "argued"/"believed"? Moisejp (talk) 05:17, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Themes and analysis:

  • "In that respect, Madonna alluded herself to be one from Harlem, but also refers to her own name as the divine returning to the Church." I think the first part of the sentence is pretty straightforward, but the second part of the sentence might need to be spelled out more.
  • "Nicholas B. Dirks, author of Culture/power/history, argued that Madonna falling into a dream is the most important point of the narrative as it signified that 'Madonna is really not putting herself in place of the redeemer, but imagining herself as one.' " I don't really understand this distinction. What would "putting herself in place of the redeemer" mean? And what kind of redeemer does she imagine herself as? I'm not sure there's enough context given here.
  • I think WP:Penguin mentioned this above, but in the Synopsis section you use a small b for black, but in Themes and analysis you use a big B.
  • "During the second chorus, as the crime scene is shown in detail, an identification is established between Madonna and the victim." I wasn't sure whose interpretation this goes with. Robert McQueen Grant's? If so, I don't follow how this sentence falls into the author's larger interpretation. More explanation may be required here (or the sentence could be dropped?).
  • "Benson described the erotic scene between the saint and Madonna"—so there was an erotic scene in there? Did I miss it in the Synopsis section? All I caught from the section was that there was a kiss on the forehead.
  • Overall, I felt this section jumps around from theory to theory a little too fast, without, in some cases, giving the reader a chance to really understand the writer's interpretation, because not enough context is given. I'm not saying that the best solution is necessarily to beef up all the descriptions with lots more details, because the section would get too long. A couple of ideas: 1. Possibly focus on the most compelling interpretations, and cut out the more minor ones (if there are any), giving you a little more space to develop the ones you keep more. OR 2. Really think about the transitions from one reviewer's interpretation to the next. If you could make it clearer in what ways each reviewer's ideas were similar or different, it might be easier to grasp the essential of each one. But I realize these suggestions would probably take a lot of work and thought to implement. You could keep the section as it is—it does have lots of interesting points and is in some ways pretty good. I'm just expressing my opinion about how it could be even better. Moisejp (talk) 05:51, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cover versions:

  • "In the United States, the song debuted at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, while entering the Hot Digital Songs chart at number ten, with sales of 87,000 copies." It "debuted" at number 27 and "entered" at number ten, but more importantly, what positions did it eventually reach?
  • "DJs Meck and Dino did a mash up of his 2007 single 'Feels Like Home' with 'Like a Prayer' " Just to confirm, does "his" refer to Dino's (or Meck's)? Moisejp (talk) 06:36, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Legacy:

  • I don't know if you want to do this or not, but it's just a thought (totally up to you). As you probably know, the 2004 Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs was updated in 2010, and most songs slipped down a few positions. In my recent collaborations for Blonde on Blonde and "Visions of Johanna#Legacy", for comprehensiveness, we mentioned both rankings. Again, just a thought. In the 2010 list, "Like a Prayer" was No. 306. Moisejp (talk) 06:49, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • "The author asserted that the video metaphorically 'attacked' the Church's demand for female compliance, indicted the Church's precept of a dichotomy between body and spirit, and at the same time assailed the Church's denial of female spirituality." This is another bit that uses pretty specialized religious vocabulary.
  • "As author Judith Marcus argued in her book Surviving the Twentieth Century, Madonna used the church to make her point on victimization. For Marcus, the main impact of the video lies in the fact that Madonna emerged from the role of a victim by "empowering" herself. The author asserted that the video metaphorically "attacked" the Church's demand for female compliance, indicted the Church's precept of a dichotomy between body and spirit, and at the same time assailed the Church's denial of female spirituality.[124] Campbell noted that the video does not follow any definite narrative, although there is a plethora of images in it." Are these few sentences relevant enough to Legacy? They seem like they would maybe fit better in the discussion of the video (in Themes and Analysis).
  • How about this, is it relevant enough to Legacy? "The main topic discussed was the fact that there can be different metaphorical meanings of the song, as the word 'like' can be taken in separate contexts. Shirley explained that although when one thinks of 'Like a Prayer', they would first think of its visual aspects, but for him the lyrics are far more important as they reinforce the postmodern nature of the video.[125] The ambiguity of the word 'like' blurs distinctions between a human lover and God, evident strongly in the line "Like a child, you whisper softly to me".[125] This was further explained by Katz, who added: 'The music of 'Like a Prayer' is probably a mitigating one, blunting and softening the harder edges, the more challenging content of the lyrics and the video.' "
  • "This was further explained by Katz, who added: 'The music of 'Like a Prayer' is probably a mitigating one, blunting and softening the harder edges, the more challenging content of the lyrics and the video.' " This idea seems dense to me, and once you finally understand it, its relevance to the previous sentence doesn't seem that worthwhile.
  • For me, in the second two thirds of this paragraph, the most relevant point to her Legacy is simply that she had reached a level where university professors were holding seminars to discuss her lyrics. That's what I got out of that chunk of text. The specific conclusions that the professors reached, to me anyways, don't seem to add anything to her Legacy. Moisejp (talk) 07:16, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I guess that's everything for now. I haven't looked at any of your sources, just at your prose. If I have time to look at your sources later maybe I will, but I'd like to wait and see—it depends how long before you take this to FAC and how busy I am with other stuff. Cheers, Moisejp (talk) 07:19, 25 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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