I LOVE Madonna (part 2)

The Music.

(from the sleeve notes of ‘Something to Remember’ released November 7th, 1995)

"So much controversy has swirled around my career, that very little attention ever gets paid to my music. The songs are all but forgotten."

Can I have an A - MEN!!!! This is the main reason I love this woman. Her music. Not everything is a success (What the hell was she thinking with ‘One More Chance’?) but when she is on, boy is she on. She has recorded, what will go down in history as, some of the best pop music ever.

So I will celebrate what I think are the 25 best Madonna songs so far. Let me know if you feel I have been totally idiotic and left off something you think should be on here.



25 - Dress You Up A confident, fun and sexy floor filler. (album - Like a Virgin)

24 - Skin Why this wasn’t released as a club single I will never know. (album - Ray of Light)

23 - Till Death Do Us Part Dark and personal lyrics to a light poppy beat makes it all the more disturbing (album - Like a Prayer)

22 - Drowned World/Substitute For Love Grows better and better with each listen. (album - Ray of Light)

21 - La Isla Bonita I can smell the salt and coconut suntan lotion when I hear this song (album - True Blue)

20 - X-Static Process A small and quietly beautiful record where she duets with herself. Stuart Price can do anything. (album - American Life)

19 - Into The Groove - A song about dancing (or sex depending on which groove she means). Timeless. (album - Like a Virgin UK edition)

18 - Live to Tell Her first mature record. Still fresh today and musically and lyrically risky (album - True Blue)

17 - Impressive Instant One of the most silly and infectious dance floor fillers ever. (album - Music)

16 - Nothing Fails A beautiful almost acoustic love song, then out of nowhere that choir!!! The heart soars. (album - American Life)

15 - Express Yourself The female anthem and one of her funkiest tracks. (album - Like a Prayer)

14 - American Life Under rated. (album - American Life)

13 - Candy Perfume Girl Madonna at her most lyrically interesting, and rockiest. (album - Ray of Light)

12 - Keep it Together Pure soul and funk, and great message. (album - Like a Prayer)

11 - Erotica Makes me wanna go out to a sex club. (album - Erotica)

10 - I Love New York This is probably her most joyous record since Ray of Light. You can just imagine her smiling away in the recording booth and dancing around laughing as she sings of her love for the city that made her a star. Bonus points for she manages to use the word ‘dork’. Pure brilliance!! "Other cities always make me mad, other places always make me sad. No other city ever made me glad except New York!!! I love New York!!!" (album - Confessions on a Dance Floor)

9 - Holiday Madonna’s first message song, and in fact her first chart hit, and still the most relevant. One of those songs that could life the darkest heart. You just wanna grab the person next to you on the dance floor and hug them while jumping around in circles singing along at the top of your voice. Everyone was so disappointed she did not sing this in her last tour. I still remember hearing this on the radio in the car when I was 9, and I was hooked. A bouncy little whirl without end!!! “holiday!! Celebration!! Come together in every nation!” (album - Madonna)

8 - Don’t Tell Me How many people thought they had purchased a defected CD when they first heard this. Music stores reported many people trying to return the CD only to be told it was intentional. Brilliant use of guitar and stop/start mixing. This was a surprise it was even released as it was not the most obvious commercial choice for a single, but proved to be a big success, I even think it was played on country radio in the states. Showed that the audience were yearning for something a little different. “Tell the bed not to lay, like the open mouth of a grave”. (album - Don't Tell Me)

7 - Oh Father One of the most haunting songs she has recorded. Although she has claimed to not have a great singing voice, her honesty in this recording makes up for lack of range. One of the stand outs on a brilliant album. Stunning work and painful in its confession and anger! “Maybe someday, when I look back I'll be able to say, you didn't mean to be cruel. Somebody hurt you too” (album - Like a Prayer)

6 - The Beast Within/Justify My Love Technically a remix, but one of her best. Like the musical equivalent of The Exorcist, but with less violence and more seduction. Controvery when this came out, and religious groups called her anti-semetic until she pointed out she was just reading the bible. The original was a long slow orgasmic climax of a song. Gives you dirty thoughts just listening to it. What ever the controversy the remix and the original were sexy brilliance. “Poor is the man, whose pleasures depend, on the permission of another” (album - justify my Love single)

5 - Mer Girl She sang this in one take in the recording studio, and it is like listening to a private therapy session. When I heard this I realised just how she had set herself free. She was no longer bound to pop’s conventions. She was making music for herself. William Orbits production sets the serious and personal mood. This is probably her best song that no one knows “I ran from my house, that cannot contain me, from the man that I cannot keep” (album - Ray of Light)

4 - Gone The last song on the Music album and the best. A guitar driven ballad explaining why she keeps going, and what drives her to continue even when her critics try to beat her down. Like ‘Mer Girl’ this finds Madonna at her most personal and what am amazing way to end an album. All the more poignant since the American Life controversy and U.S. backlash towards her. “Turn to stone, lose my faith, I’ll be gone before it happens” (album - Music)

3 - Ray of Light I would not be surprised if she was actually flying at the speed of light while singing this. The chorus leaps over buildings and takes you to dizzying heights. This is what happiness sounds like if you were able to capture happiness in a song. This also showed of her new post-Evita vocal range. To think Celine Dion’s – ‘My Heart Will Go On’ beat it for best song at the Grammy’s. What a huge mistake. “And I feel like I just got home” And so did we. (album - Ray of Light)

2 - Let it Will Be The highest point on Confessions of the Dance Floor. From the music productions, to her voice, and lyrics. I can't understand why it was not released as a single, even just for the clubs and DJ’s. This is pure dance floor perfection. “Now I can see things for what they really are, I guess I'm not that far, I'm at the point of no return. Just watch me burn” (album - Confessions on a Dance Floor)

1 - Like a Prayer I am sure you are not surprised. I pretty much think this is everyone’s favourite Madonna track. From the guitar riff/heaven’s angels opening, to the gospel choir’s knees up dance-a-thon at the end. This is where she became an icon and proved her musical worth to her harshest detractors. Most critics who thought she was a flash in the pan, had to eat their words and finally see her as more than a gimick. This is the song you don’t want to ever end, you want it to go on forever and keep you dancing at the church of Madonna far into your next life. (album - Like a Prayer)

26 - 75 are in the comments!!