Song · Seal
“Prayer For The Dying” by Seal
From the album Seal (1994)
“Prayer For The Dying” by Seal appears on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1994 and 2005. It was first released in 1994 on the album Seal. Its best result is #14 on the Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #70 alternative song of 1994 and #3,185 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (Paul Boyd). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Seal wrote "Prayer for the Dying" with Gus Isidore, and in 1994 it led the way for his second album, the self-titled record often called Seal II, out on ZTT and Sire. Trevor Horn produced it, and he builds the thing like a cathedral: layer on layer of shimmering sound, a slow, stately pulse, and that grainy, soaring voice rising through the middle of it all.
It's a hushed, hymn-like piece that never raises its fists, pop music with a sense of gravity. Steve Fitzmaurice mixed it, and Paul Boyd directed the video. It made 14 in the UK and 21 on the Hot 100, and in Canada it climbed to number two, the first of three Seal songs to stall there. A UK reissue in late 1995 paired it with "Don't Cry".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 84 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1994 | 107 |
| 1994 | 79 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1994 | 91 |
| 1994 | 48 | WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD | WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1994 | 100 |
| 1994 | 14 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 94 Songs of 1994 | 94 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1453 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1453 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1458 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1456 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1442 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1442 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1441 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
Also listed as: Prayer for the Dying.
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