Intended by lyricist Hal David to convey a woman's concern for her beau who's serving in Vietnam, "I Say a Little Prayer" was recorded by Dionne Warwick in a 9 April 1966 session. Although Bacharach's recordings with Warwick typically took no more than three takes (often only taking one), Bacharach did ten takes on "I Say a Little Prayer" and still disliked the completed track feeling it rushed. The track went unreleased until September 1967 when it was introduced on the album The Windows of the World which largely consisted of older material; it was Scepter Records owner Florence Greenberg rather than Bacharach who wanted "I Say a Little Prayer" added to that album. ^[2] from which it had a single release in October 1967 as the intended B-side of the newly recorded track "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls": however the brisk sound of "I Say a Little Prayer" which Bacharach disliked proved to be the comeback sound for Warwick as "I Say a Little Prayer" became the original favored side reaching #4 that December on the Billboard Hot 100 - Warwick's first Top Ten appearance since "Message to Michael" in the spring of 1966 - and also #8 on the Billboard R & B Chart and #4 on the Canadian Charts. "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" would become a hit subsequent to the success of "I Say a Little Prayer" reaching #2 in February 1968: Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer"/"(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" single would receive gold certification from the RIAA for sales of a million units becoming the only certified gold single of the first phase of Warwick's career.

"I Say a Little Prayer" b/w "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", became one of the most successful double-sided hits of the Rock era. Like several Bacharach compositions, both sides contains passages written in unusual time signatures. The verses of "Prayer" are constructed of 2 successive measures of 4/4, a measure of 10/4 (using 4/4 + 2/4 + 4/4), and 2 final measures of 4/4. The chorus is in 11/4 (using 4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4).