I Say A Little Prayer

Album

Sounds of the Sixties: 60’s Gold, Volume 3

Label

Scepter Records

Genre

Brill Building

Duration

4:00

Composer(s)

Burt Bacharach, Hal David

Entered Chart

Oct 21, 1967

Peak Date

Dec 9, 1967

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Scepter 12203

B-Side

(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls*

Intended by lyricist Hal David to convey a woman's concern for her man who's serving in the Vietnam War,[3] "I Say a Little Prayer" was recorded by Dionne Warwick in a 9 April 1966 session. Although Bacharach's recordings with Warwick typically took no more than three takes (often only taking one), Bacharach did ten takes on "I Say a Little Prayer" and still disliked the completed track, feeling it was rushed. Dionne Warwick, 1966 The track went unreleased until September 1967, when it was introduced on the album The Windows of the World and it was Scepter Records owner Florence Greenberg rather than Bacharach who wanted "I Say a Little Prayer" added to that album.[3] When disc jockeys from the United States began playing the album track in October 1967, significant airplay led Scepter Records to release the track as a single, backed with newly recorded track "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls". The brisk sound of "I Say a Little Prayer" that Bacharach disliked proved to be a million-selling hit for Warwick, as "I Say a Little Prayer" reached No. 4 that December on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 8 on the Billboard R&B chart, No. 4 on the Canadian chart and No. 3 on the Record World Top 100 chart. "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", the B-side would become another hit for Warwick reaching No. 2 in February 1968 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Record World chart. Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" single would receive gold certification from the RIAA for sales of a million units in January 1968. "I Say a Little Prayer" b/w "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" became one of the most successful double-sided hits of the rock era. Like several Bacharach compositions, both sides contain passages written in unusual time signatures. The verses of "Prayer" are constructed of two successive measures of 4/4, a ten-beat sequence using 4/4 + 4/4 + 2/4, and two final measures of 4/4. The chorus is in 4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4