# Ya know that song "Like A Prayer" by Madonna? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247 "2005-08-23T12:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/1 "2005-08-23T12:12:25Z")
The woman in the office next door and our shared work-study student think it’s about blow jobs. I think that’s ridiculous and it’s only because the song refers to being down on one’s knees that they think that. Who’s right? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/2 "2005-08-23T12:32:09Z")
No idea. I’m not familiar with the song. Having said that, I think the word “only” in your OP is misplaced. If the song had been sung by someone else, you might have a point. But given that this is _Madonna_ we’re talking about the notion that some form of sex is really involved seems not as unreasonable as it otherwise might. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/3 "2005-08-23T12:40:39Z")
[Here are the lyrics.](http://leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=JEhm5esP3p8%3D) While I wouldn’t say it’s about blow jobs per se, I definitely think she’s talking about having sex (with the person she’s singing to) as being sort of a divine experience. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/4 "2005-08-23T13:28:18Z")
It honestly never occurred to me that it _wasn’t_ about blow jobs. On my knees / I want to take you there ? What else might it be about? Presumably not prayer itself. One would not say 'I’m praying and it’s, uhmm, like a prayer"… ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/5 "2005-08-23T13:29:22Z")
Wow, we just did a thread about this! [Sort of.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=330831) I am on the side of the song = blowjobs theory. I think the lines “In the midnight hour / I can feel your power / I’m down on my knees / I wanna take you there” are the crucial ones. At the very least, it’s being intentionally ambiguous. A comparison of a religious experience to a sexual one is the kind of thing Madonna would do, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/6 "2005-08-23T13:31:17Z")
I must admit that I never think of the song without thinking of the video, which certainly has nothing to do with blowjobs. It’s pretty much the only song which I think of only in the context of the video, btw. I just thought it was about passionate love. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/7 "2005-08-23T13:40:42Z")
Last time I saw Madonna I asked her if it was about blow jobs and she said, “mmmmm…frigt…thum…ytut…slurp” ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/8 "2005-08-23T13:43:05Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > I must admit that I never think of the song without thinking of the video, which certainly has nothing to do with blowjobs. It’s pretty much the only song which I think of only in the context of the video, btw. I just thought it was about passionate love. Odd. I never thought about the lyrics because, like **Caricci** , I always associate the song with the visual imagery of the video. Funny that she dodged one scandal, comparing prayer to head, by creating a bigger controversy (black Jesus). ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/9 "2005-08-23T14:07:52Z")
It’s about some cooze who’s a regular fuck machine. I mean all the time, morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick. Then one day she meets a John Holmes motherfucker, and it’s like, whoa baby. This mother fucker’s like Charles Bronson in “The Great Escape.” He’s diggin tunnels. Now she’s gettin this serious dick action, she’s feelin something she ain’t felt since forever. Pain. Oh wait, that’s a different Madonna song. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/10 "2005-08-23T14:27:19Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > Odd. I never thought about the lyrics because, like **Caricci** , I always associate the song with the visual imagery of the video. > > Funny that she dodged one scandal, comparing prayer to head, by creating a bigger controversy (black Jesus). It’s a pretty messed up world when the black Jesus is the bigger scandal. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/11 "2005-08-23T15:11:55Z")
Indeed! ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/12 "2005-08-23T15:19:23Z")
Black Jesus? Whoah, did I miss something? I remember when the video came out there was some controversy about it (I always thought was created in order to sell more videos), but my recollection was that the issue was Madonna using overt religious imagery in a song about sex and getting amorous with the Christ figure, I never heard anything about the race of the man playing Jesus. What did I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/13 "2005-08-23T15:32:09Z")
You can watch the entire video [here](http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/madonna/audvid.jhtml), if it’s been a while since you’ve seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/14 "2005-08-23T15:36:50Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > It’s about some cooze who’s a regular fuck machine. I mean all the time, morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick. Then one day she meets a John Holmes motherfucker, and it’s like, whoa baby. This mother fucker’s like Charles Bronson in “The Great Escape.” He’s diggin tunnels. Now she’s gettin this serious dick action, she’s feelin something she ain’t felt since forever. Pain. [Mr. Blue]how many dicks was that?[/Mr. Blue] ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/15 "2005-08-23T15:52:09Z")
A lot. ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/16 "2005-08-23T16:45:25Z")
The idea that the song is about blow jobs reminds of the Southpark episode where the guys become a Christian Rock group, and Cartman’s lyrics are full of innuendo. _I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus I wanna feel his salvation all over my face_ Anyway, I just re-read the lyrics (the other link didn’t seem to work for me, so I looked at them [here](http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~kennyz/madonna_lyrics/like_a_prayer.html) .) I don’t think the song is about blow-jobs. Yes, there’s a reference to being on your knees, but there’s also references to flying, falling, dancing, angels and (ick) children. In particular the bits sung by the chorus don’t seem to fit with a sex metaphor at all. My opinion, of course. As far as I’m concerned, Madonna in the '80s could sing about house plants and I’d think it was about sex. thwartme ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/17 "2005-08-23T17:21:51Z")
As I recall, the uproar wasn’t as much about the black Jesus figure, as much as it was about a) the implication of the Jesus figure making love to Madonna and b) the _burning crosses_ she was dancing among during the video. IIRC (no cite, sorry 🙂 ) it was noted by one pundit that she had single-handedly managed to set civil rights back 30 years. I do have to admit that that video was, to me at least, the apex of her hotness. I much preferred the brunette look to the blond. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/18 "2005-08-23T17:23:19Z")
er, “set civil rights” = “set the civil rights movement” ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/19 "2005-08-23T17:44:38Z")
The person she’s refering to is the devil (or some demon) who lured her from grace and made her fall from heaven. While blowjobs might be implied, the lyrics and video are clearly religeous in nature. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247/20 "2005-08-23T17:50:52Z")
I don’t think it’s about blow jobs, at least, not blow jobs alone. I think it’s about sex, period. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ya-know-that-song-like-a-prayer-by-madonna/318247.md?page=2)