Prince Played Guitar on This No. 1 Hit Madonna Song

Madonna and Prince made some of the most famous songs of the 1980s. The Purple One even played the guitar on one of the Queen of Pop’s No. 1 hits. During an interview, a famous songwriter revealed some of Prince’s guitar work was excluded from the final version of the song.

Why this Madonna song doesn’t include all of what Prince wrote for it

Madonna started out as a dance-pop artist. As her career went on, she incorporated different genres into her music. Her album Like a Prayer incorporates funk, pop-rock, baroque pop, and psychedelic music. That album produced a number of very different hits, including the title track, “Cherish,” “Express Yourself,” and “Keep It Together.” Madonna worked with Patrick Leonard on the album. Leonard previously co-wrote her hit “La Isla Bonita.”

During an interview with Billboard, Leonard revealed Prince played the guitar for the intro to the title song from Like a Prayer. “What happened is, [Madonna] sent him something to play on and he played on it and sent it back,” he recalled. “And we didn’t feel that what he did served it. But that piece, that beginning, is him.” Prince was not credited for his contribution to “Like a Prayer.”

Patrick Leonard doesn’t think Prince contributed to this part of the song

While Leonard said Prince played the guitar on part of “Like a Prayer,” Leonard doesn’t think played all of the guitar riffs on the song. “Recently, I listened to [the song ‘Like a Prayer’] — I hadn’t heard it [in] years,” Leonard revealed. “There’s a heavy rock guitar that’s in the bridges — I don’t think it’s Prince. There’s a heavy guitar in the choruses and when I heard it, I thought: ‘Did we use his guitar in those bridges?’

“Because the sound is similar to the first sound [in the opening], but it’s not exactly the same,” Leonard said. “But I know for a fact that we did use that [Prince] thing as the intro, because we just thought it was crazy and really cool. I seem to recall that that’s all we used, but I could be wrong.”

The way the world reacted to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ and its parent album

“Like a Prayer” became a major hit. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 16 weeks. The song’s parent album became a hit as well. The album topped the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 77 weeks.

“Like a Prayer” was a hit in the United Kingdom as well. The Official Charts Company reports the track hit No. 1 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for 13 weeks. Like a Prayer topped the chart there as well, remaining on the chart for 73 weeks.

While Prince wasn’t credited for his work on “Like a Prayer,” the classic hit wouldn’t be the same without his contribution.