History
The song was Michael's first single in almost two years, entering the UK Singles Chart in August 1990.
A dark and sombre reflection on social ills and injustice, it was hailed by critics, with James Hunter of Rolling Stone magazine describing the song as "a distraught look at the world's astounding woundedness. Michael offers the healing passage of time as the only balm for physical and emotional hunger, poverty, hypocrisy and hatred."
The single peaked at number six in the UK, but it was his ninth number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. The song remained in the Billboard Top 40 for ten weeks. It was the first song of political motivation he had released as a single since his earliest days with Wham!.
The song was the first of five released in the UK from the album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, although it was the only one of the quintet to make the UK Top 10.
Read more about this topic: Praying For Time
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.”
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“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)