Madonna turns 62 today, and to celebrate we’re highlighting 5 songs the Material Girl has released during her career that we think deserve a little more attention.
Since releasing her first single Everybody back in 1982 Madonna has had over 75 singles, 14 albums, and a mountain of collaborations. Her latest work is a collaboration with Dua Lipa and Missy Elliot, but she’s worked with teamed up with Prince, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, and many others. Plus her career has produced lots of rare tracks and odd bits and pieces.
While Madonna has heaps of iconic songs like Into the Groove, Vogue, Like a Virgin, Hung Up, and Holiday, we thought it would be interesting to go for a deep dive into her discography.
1. Guilty by Association – 1996
Madonna teamed up with alt-country singer Joe Henry to cover a tune from songwriter Vic Chesnutt and raise funds for the charity Sweet Relief. The organisation raises funds for musicians who need assistance due to medical and disability challenges. The album saw artists including REM, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins and Indigo Girls record songs written by Chesnutt who was a quadriplegic after being injured in a drink-driving accident.
Joe Henry is Madonna’s brother-in-law, he’s married to her sister Melanie. He’s released 15 albums of music and produced records for Aimee Mann, Bettye LaVette, Allen Toussaint, Elvis Costello, Salif Kieta, Joan Baez and many others. He also has written songs with Madonna including Don’t Tell Me, Jump, and Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You. Madonna’s Don’t Tell Me is based on his song Stop which appears in his 2001 record Scar.
2. I’ll Remember – 1994
Maybe people forget this beautiful song because it sounds very similar to Rain, which featured on the singer’s album from 1992. Following the release of her Erotica record, the Sex book and her role in the erotic thriller Body of Evidence Madonna’s career was very sex focused. This ballad which featured on the soundtrack to the movie With Honors saw the performer toning it down.
Madonna wrote the song with longtime collaborator Patrick Leonard and Richard Page – who was lead singer of 80’s band Mr Mister. With Honors was the debut drama film from director Alek Keshishian, who had previously directed Madonna’s documentary Truth Or Dare: In Bed With Madonna. He’d later team up with Madonna to co-write the film W.E. which she directed.
3. Angel – 1985
Angel first appeared in 1984 on Madonna’s Like a Virgin album and it was released as single the following year. It was a number 1 hit in Australia, and second highest single of the whole year, beaten only by charity single We Are the World.
We loved the song back at the height of Madonna-mania in the mid 1980’s but since then it’s never gotten a lot of love. It didn’t even get a video, the official video is a mashup of previous clips. Madonna performed the song on her first tour The Virgin Tour, but it was cut from the video release of the concert, and she’s never included it in her set list again.
4. You’ll See – 1995
In 1995 Madonna released Something To Remember a compilation of ballads from her career to date. Madonna had released The Immaculate Collection, a greatest hits compilation in 1990, but it didn’t feature many of her slower songs.
The album featured some new songs including two collaborations with producer David Foster. David Foster has commented on their work together and said he was surprised when he got the call asking if he’d be interested in working with Madonna, he didn’t think he was “hip enough”. The video was a continuation of her previous hit Take a Bow. The song was also recorded in Spanish. The song has been covered by Dame Shirly Bassey and Susan Boyle.
5. Rescue Me 1990
Another Madonna song that never got a video, Rescue Me appears on her first Greatest Hits compilation The Immaculate Collection. The collection has two new song Justify My Love which saw Madonna collaborate with Lenny Kravitz and this killer dance tune. It was released as a single in early 1991 and came with some great dance mixes.
The song was created with Shep Pettibone who she had worked with on Vogue. They would later work together on Madonna’s next album Erotica. The song got to number 15 in the Australian charts.
Happy Birthday Madonna!
OIP Staff
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