Editing Maiden's Prayer (section)

==In country music==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Maiden's Prayer
| cover      =
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys]]
| album      =
| B-side     = Takin' It Home  
| released   = May 1941
| recorded   = February 24 1941<ref>{{Citation|title=78 Record: Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys - Maiden's Prayer (1941)|url=http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/06205|access-date=2021-07-20}}</ref>
| studio     = WBAP Studio, Blackstone Hotel, Fort Worth, Texas<ref>{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=Tony|title=Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0195139895|location=New York|pages=965}}</ref>
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Western swing]]
| length     =
| label      = [[Okeh Records|Okeh]] 06205
| writer     = [[Bob Wills]]
| producer   =
| prev_title = [[Take Me Back To Tulsa]]
| prev_year  = 1941
| next_title = Twin Guitar Special
| next_year  = 1941
}}
The American musician [[Bob Wills]] heard "Maiden's Prayer" played on a fiddle while he was a barber in [[Roy, New Mexico]],<ref>McWhorter, ''Cowboy Fiddler'', pp. 59–60: "Bob said, 'He played "[[New Spanish Two Step|The Spanish Two-Step]]" and I locked the door where he couldn't get out and nobody else could get in, and I made him stay there until he taught me that and "Maiden's Prayer." Finally he nodded. I didn't know whether he needed to go to the bathroom or if I was doing it right, but I let him out.' That Mexican taught him those two tunes."</ref> and arranged the piece in the [[Western swing]] style. Wills first recorded it as an instrumental in 1935 ([[Vocalion]] 03924, released in 1938),<ref name=PFII>[http://countrydiscography.blogspot.com/2010/02/bob-wills-part-ii.html Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies: Bob Wills – part II] Retrieved 2 January 2012</ref><ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/song/maidens-prayer-t2711179 "Maiden's Prayer", Bob Wills with music sample], AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2012</ref> and it quickly became one of his signature tunes. Later, it became a [[standard (music)|standard]] recorded by many [[Country music|country]] artists, including [[Buck Owens]] on his number-one 1965 album ''[[I've Got a Tiger By the Tail (album)|I've Got a Tiger By the Tail]]''.<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/ive-got-a-tiger-by-the-tail-r93471 "''I've Got a Tiger by the Tail'', Buck Owens review with chart and music sample], AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2012</ref> The tune is still a standard in the repertoire of Western swing bands.

Wills wrote lyrics for "Maiden's Prayer" and recorded it again in 1941 ([[Okeh]] 06205) with vocals by [[Tommy Duncan]].<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/song/a-maidens-prayer-t931306 "A Maiden's Prayer", Bob Wills with music sample], Allmusic. Retrieved 1 January 2012</ref> His lyrics reflect the title, and the song, as written by Wills, opens with:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">Twilight falls, evening shadows find,
There 'neath the stars, a maiden so fair divine.
The moon on high seemed to see her there.
In her eyes is a light, shining ever so bright,
She whispered a silent prayer.</poem>

"Maiden's Prayer" was released in May 1941, and quickly hit number 1 on June 28, 1941, in [[Billboard (magazine)|The Billboard]]'s "[[Country music|Hillbilly]] and Foreign Record Hits Of the Month".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=28 June 1941|title=Hillbilly Recordings – Month Ending June 28, 1941|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/40s/1941/BB-1941-06-28.pdf|magazine=The Billboard|location=Cincinnati, Ohio|page=94|access-date=17 July 2021}}</ref> 

Relatively few country singers have [[Cover version|covered]] "Maiden's Prayer" with vocals, but they include [[Ray Price (musician)|Ray Price]] on his [[tribute album]] ''San Antonio Rose'' (1962)<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/san-antonio-rose-r109544 ''San Antonio Rose'' Ray Price review with music sample], Allmusic. Retrieved 1 January 2012</ref> and [[Willie Nelson]] on his album ''[[Red Headed Stranger]]'' (on the 2000 CD reissue but not the 1975 LP).<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/red-headed-stranger-r93336 ''Red Headed Stranger'' Willie Nelson review with chart and music sample], Allmusic. Retrieved 1 January 2012</ref> Both singers used the lyrics written by Wills with minor variations, e.g. the maiden is an Indian in Price's version. Also the [[Everly Brothers]] recorded a rendition of the song in 1973.<ref>[[The Everly Brothers]], The Masters, Eagle Records, 1997</ref>

Wills recorded the song a third time on the 1963 album ''Bob Wills Sings and Plays''.<ref name=PFII /> When he was inducted into the [[Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1970, "Maiden's Prayer" was one of the works cited.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}