The Lord's Prayer (Sister Janet Mead Song)
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"The Lord's Prayer" is a
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
setting of the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...
with music by Arnold Strals recorded in 1973 by the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n nun Sister Janet Mead. Mead was known for pioneering the use of contemporary rock music in celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass and for her weekly radio programs. The recording was produced by Martin Erdman and originally released by
Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...
in Australia. After reaching number three on the charts in Australia, it went on to become an international hit, selling nearly three million copies worldwide and making the upper reaches of the pop charts in countries as diverse as
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,
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,
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. In the United States, "The Lord's Prayer" was picked up for American distribution by
A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
(catalogue number 1491, b/w "Brother Sun and Sister Moon"). It was certified
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for sales of one million copies. The single entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on 23 February 1974, charted for 13 weeks and reached a peak of No. 4 during
Holy Week Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...
in April. The record also reached No. 2 on the
Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
singles chart. It made Mead the first Roman Catholic nun to have a hit record in the United States since Jeanine Deckers ("
The Singing Nun Jeanne-Paule Marie "Jeannine" Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), better known as and often called The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries, was a Catholic Church in Belgium, Belgian Catholic singer-songwriter and former member ...
"), hit No. 1 with " Dominique" in late
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
. It also became the only song to hit the Top 10 in which the entire lyrical content originated from the words of the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. More specifically, it is the only Top 10 hit with words attributed to
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
.


Accolades

Mead was nominated for a
Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
for Best Inspirational Performance (although she lost to
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
's ''
How Great Thou Art "How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on an original Swedish hymn entitled "" written in 1885 by Carl Boberg (1859–1940). The English version of the hymn and its title are a loose translation by the English missionary Stuart K. Hine f ...
'') and also became the first Australian artist to sell one million US copies of a record produced in Australia. She donated all of her royalties from the recording's international sales to charity and her record label used their share of the proceeds to build a new state of the art recording studio. Mead re-recorded "The Lord's Prayer" in 1999 for her album ''A Time to Sing''.


Chart history


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Sales certification


Cover versions

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...
covered "The Lord's Prayer" in the style of Sister Janet Mead in 1980. His version was a non-album track and was used as the B-side of his re-recording that year of " When a Child Is Born."


Popular culture

*Mead's version was
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in the
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stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
'' Disaster!''.


References


External links

* Q Stereo
973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias ( Domestic of the Schools in the East), continues the op ...
1973 singles Contemporary Christian songs A&M Records singles 1973 songs Festival Records singles {{Christian-song-stub