Our Prayer

"Our Prayer / Gee"
2004 clear vinyl release of Brian Wilson "Our Prayer (Freeform Reform)" remix.
Song by Brian Wilson
from the album Brian Wilson Presents Smile
Released	September 28, 2004 (2004-09-28)
Recorded	2004, Sunset Sound Recorders
Genre	Hymn, doo-wop
Length	2:09
Label	Nonesuch
Songwriter(s)	Brian Wilson, William Davis/Morris Levy
Producer(s)	Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson Presents Smile track listing
"Our Prayer / Gee" (1) "Heroes and Villains" (2)
Brian Wilson singles chronology
"Good Vibrations" (2004) Good Vibrations2004 "Our Prayer (Freeform Reform)" (2004) Our Prayer (Freeform Reform)2004 "Walking Down the Path of Life / Love and Mercy" (2005) Walking Down the Path of Life / Love and Mercy2005

"Our Prayer" is a wordless hymn composed by Brian Wilson for American rock band the Beach Boys. It was intended for the Smile album until the project was shelved. It was then released on their 1969 album 20/20 with additional production by the Beach Boys without involvement from Wilson. As a solo artist, Wilson rerecorded and released the piece on his 2004 version of Smile in medley with the 1953 doo-wop standard "Gee".

Professors John Covach and Graeme M. Boone have written: "An exquisite exercise of harmonic virtuousity, 'Our Prayer' allowed the Beach Boys once again to show off their vocal abilities and stylistic influences earlier demonstrated on such songs as 'Their Hearts Were Full of Spring'."

I was sitting at my piano thinkin' about holy music. I poked around for some simple but moving chords. Later I sat down and wrote 'Our Prayer' in sections. The boys were overtaken by the arrangement. I taught it to them in sections, the way I usually do. The purity of the blending of the voices made the listeners feel spiritual. I was definitely into rock church music.

The wordless, a cappella piece was originally supposed to be the opening track to the Smile album. As Beach Boys historian Peter Reum explained, "Brian intended for 'Our Prayer' to be the opening track, a spiritual invocation, for 'Smile'." The title may be a reference to the 1939 traditional pop standard "My Prayer", written by Georges Boulanger and Jimmy Kennedy. As music journalist Paul Williams elaborates,