Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (1984)

"Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" is the seventh single released by the British/American pop group Scritti Politti, ...

"Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" is the seventh single released by the British/American pop group Scritti Politti, issued in the UK on Virgin Records in February 1984. It later appeared on the album Cupid & Psyche 85 (released in June 1985) and was produced by Arif Mardin. The song's subtitle is a reference to "I Say a Little Prayer", Aretha Franklin's biggest UK hit; Mardin had also produced Franklin.

The single was Scritti Politti's breakthrough hit in the UK singles charts, where it peaked at #10 in a 16-week chart run. It was also a Top 30 hit in Australia and New Zealand.

Music Videos

Two videos were shot for the song. The first, shot in 1984, was directed by John Scarlett-Davis, who also directed the videos for "Absolute" and "The Word Girl" and features the dancing of Michael Clark. A second music video was released for the US in 1986, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and featuring model Veronica Webb (who also appeared in the video for "Perfect Way"). Both versions were featured on a video compilation simply titled "Scritti Politti", released on VHS, Betamax and Laserdisc by Virgin Music Video in 1986. The 1984 version is simply titled "Wood Beez", while the 1986 version is titled "Wood Beez - USA".