Prayed For You

Album: Everywhere But On (2019)
Charted: 36
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • 6-foot-7-inch Arkansas native Matt Stell played college basketball for Drury University for four years on an athletic scholarship. He taught himself to play guitar and sing while at college, moonlighting at local venues under a pseudonym (Paul Wayne Walker) so his basketball coach wouldn't find out.

    In 2014, Stell moved to Nashville after signing a publishing deal with Wide Open Music. This ballad is the lead single from his major label debut EP, Everywhere But On.
  • Stell wrote "Prayed For You" with Allison Veltz and producer Ash Bowers. The song finds him longing to find his lifetime companion.

    Every single day, before I knew your name
    I couldn't see your face, but I prayed for you
    Every tail light fade in the goodbye rain
    Girl even today, I prayed for you
  • It was Allison Veltz, who came up with the idea for the song. A week prior to their session, Veltz had met the man who would later become her husband. Still riding high, she offered up the chorus hook.

    This is bigger than I could fathom
    I didn't know you from Adam
    But I prayed for you


    Stell and the other songwriters then developed the idea, thinking not only about their relationships, but the times they created opportunities for good things to happen.
  • Stell told ABC Radio the references to prayer are about being grateful for His blessings. "In terms of the religious component of that, I owe a big debt of gratitude to everyone around me and a higher power because the cards have fallen in my favor in such a way that I don't deserve it at all," he said.

    "It's really a gratitude thing, and a perseverance thing," Stell added. "And to me those are lessons I took from the church house."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"

Lou Gramm - "Waiting For A Girl Like You"They're Playing My Song

Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.

Michael W. Smith

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

David Sancious

David SanciousSongwriter Interviews

Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

The Punk Photography of Chris Stein

The Punk Photography of Chris SteinSong Writing

Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.