The Millennium Prayer

"The Millennium Prayer"
Single by Cliff Richard
from the album The Whole Story - His Greatest Hits
Released	November 15, 1999
Format	CD single
Recorded	August 1999, Skratch Studio/Surrey & Whitfield Street Studios/London
Genre	Pop
Length	4:41
Label	Papillon Records
Writer(s)	David Arch, Stephen Deal, Paul Field, Anne Skates & Nigel Wright
Producer	Nigel Wright
Cliff Richard singles chronology
"The Miracle" (1999) "The Millennium Prayer" (1999) "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (2001)

"The Millennium Prayer" is a 1999 charity single by Cliff Richard. The song features Richard singing the words of the Lord's Prayer to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne". It was not written to be entered into the charts, instead being written to form part of the Share Jesus International production, Hopes and Dreams by writer Stephen Deal and composer Paul Field. While Richard did not sing during the production tour, he did feature on the CD released containing the songs from the production. The version released into the charts was a re-recording.

"Millennium Prayer" was released by an independent record label, Papillon Records, after Richard's own label EMI refused to release it. Proceeds of the single went to aid charity Children's Promise.^[1] It was panned by the critics and many radio stations refused to play it.

Richard performed the song exclusively on An Audience with... Cliff Richard, before a video had been made for it. Richard reportedly 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, having been number one for the two preceding weeks. It was also Richard's fourteenth #1 hit, and the third highest-selling single of his career. However, a 2004 VH1 poll labeled it the worst number one record of all time.^[2] The song also reached number 2 in a similar poll in 2003 run by Channel 4.^[3] The song won the Ivor Novello award for the best selling single of 1999 but it was not awarded to Deal and Field until 2002 due to a legal wrangle.

References

1. ^ The Millennium Prayer
2. ^ Sir Cliff tops worst hit list | the Daily Mail
3. ^ All-Time 'Worst Ever' Singles?

Preceded by "King of My Castle" by Wamdue Project

UK Singles Chart number-one single December 4, 1999 - December 18, 1999

Succeeded by "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun" by Westlife