"The Millennium Prayer" is a song recorded by English singer

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, in which the words of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

are set to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne". It was released in November 1999 as a

charity single A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. George Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-made ...

in the lead-up to the new millennium, hence the name. The single became a surprise hit reaching number one in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, number two in Australia and New Zealand, number three in Ireland, and the top 20 in a number of European countries. The original adaption of "The Lord's Prayer" to "Auld Lang Syne" (a

contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this procedure (sometimes referred to as ''adaptation''), date back ...

) was created by composer Paul Field and writer Stephen Deal as the finale to the Christian musical ''Hopes & Dreams'' (a Share Jesus International production). It is the only single that credits Jesus as a lyricist. The original recording of the song, also sung by Richard, featured on the musical's soundtrack album ''Hopes & Dreams: A New Musical For A New Millennium'' released in January 1999. Paul Field had also told Richard of his wife's suggestion, "that it would make a great Christmas single for Cliff." Richard took up the suggestion and recorded a new version for release as a single in the lead up to Christmas, with Field hearing of the recording from Richard after it had been recorded. Richard's record label,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

, declined to release it amid concerns for its commercial potential, so Richard approached the independent record label

Papillon Records Papillon Records was a record label started by the Chrysalis Group (who had sold their Chrysalis Records division to EMI) in 1999 with longtime Chrysalis act Jethro Tull. Whilst Echo Records was formed to provide an outlet by new and indepen ...

for the release, with the proceeds going to the charity Children's Promise. Richard performed the song exclusively on the TV programme '' An Audience with... Cliff Richard'' before a music video had been made for it. Richard asked, during breaks, for a room with a camera and green screen; he would then record all of the footage of him to be used in the video for "The Millennium Prayer" in less than an hour. The song was beaten to the British Christmas number-one single for 1999 by

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

, having been number one for the three preceding weeks. It was also Richard's 14th UK No. 1 hit, his 112th hit overall, the third highest-selling single of his career. The song reached No. 2 in a poll of all-time worst singles in 2003 run by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. The song won the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

for the best selling single of 1999. Richard released the single with neutral view, stating it was a way in which people could unite, regardless of their belief system or religion they adhere to. The version Richard released as a single was not taken from any album, however the following year the song was included in Richard's compilation album '' The Whole Story: His Greatest Hits'' and in 2003 on his album ''

Cliff at Christmas ''Cliff at Christmas'' is the 2003 Christmas album of Cliff Richard, containing eight new songs and nine previously released songs including all of his previous hit Christmas-themed singles included. One new single was released from the album, ...

''.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millennium Prayer, The 1999 singles Cliff Richard songs Number-one singles in Scotland UK Singles Chart number-one singles UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles Charity singles Christian songs Songs written by Paul Field (Christian singer) 1999 songs