83 SCORE: 7.906 2015 PLACEMENT: UP 1 - 84 of 210 (7.551) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 22 (@eatyourself @HEARTCORE @djmakemewet @tylerc904 @Future Lover @AllGagaLike @Phonetics Boy @elear @Ana Raquel @Andy French @fatyoshi @torontodj @Aester @NightmareBoy @BreatheBox @Daniel_O @Sideout @joeee @Epic Chocolat @Mister_G @Lila @japanbonustrack) LOWEST SCORE: 2.5 x 1 (@ABoy’sGot2Suffer4Fashion) MY SCORE: 7/10 I would normally have a text graphic ready to go but I totally blanked on the fact that this was never a single and I'm still working on transferring Photoshop over to my new laptop, so have a cheeky fanmade single cover to tide y'all over. So this is a bit of an oddity! A Marvin Gaye cover reimagined by Massive Attack and performed by Madonna. How did this come about? Massive Attack were initially approached to contribute to a tribute album for Marvin Gaye called Inner City Blues, where the premise was other artists picking one of his songs and reimagining them. They had initially tapped Chaka Khan to do the vocals... only to find Chaka kept flaking on the studio sessions ("My colon is clean baby I don't give a shit." - Chaka Khan on turning up to the studio.), and then they tried to get Aaron Neville, only to end up encountering too much legal red tape. So they had a song, but no one to sing it. Enter Nellee Hooper, who was fresh off of working with Madonna on Bedtime Stories, who suggested that she would be up for jumping into the track. A quick forty eight hours later in New York and they had her vocals to take back to the UK to finish work on the track, and... the rest is history. I think this is a great little artefact in Madonna's discography, and always a bit of a left turn delight for new fans to discover as well, and the way the track is reimagined around the original's strings just lends it perfectly to a mood Madonna nails every time. That heat, that yearning, that melancholy. There's maybe a little less passion than the original, but there's a whole lot more sadness, and we love a bit of sad drama, don't we females? Despite it never being a single, the song did get a video, and also appeared on ballads compilation cum gee-pee pacifier Something To Remember. It has never been performed live, thus joining the mountain of tracks that Madonna could brush off for a B-Sides/Rarities set. Enjoy the video below, in which Madonna is both sad and sexy in a bedroom. Been there, sis. The former more than the latter, tbh. I've also included the original for anyone who is curious.
"Swim" being on 'Ray Of Light' has really helped it outlast so many far better songs in her discography.
Lucky Star Borderline Burning Up Holiday Material Girl Like A Virgin Dress You Up Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Live To Tell True Blue La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer Express Yourself Till Death Do Us Part Promise To Try Cherish Oh Father Vogue Erotica Deeper And Deeper Bad Girl Waiting Thief Of Hearts Words Rain Secret Human Nature Sanctuary Bedtime Story Take A Bow Drowned World/Substitute For Love Swim Ray Of Light Skin Nothing Really Matters Sky Fits Heaven Frozen The Power Of Goodbye To Have And Not To Hold Mer Girl Music Impressive Instant I Deserve It Don't Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl Paradise (Not For Me) Gone American Life Hollywood Love Profusion Nobody Knows Me Nothing Fails Intervention X-Static Process Die Another Day Easy Ride Hung Up Get Together Sorry Future Lovers Forbidden Love Jump Isaac Give It 2 Me Miles Away Devil Wouldn't Recognize You Living For Love Devil Pray Ghosttown Bitch I'm Madonna (Feat. Nicki Minaj) Rebel Heart Medellín (Feat. Maluma) God Control Crave (Feat. Swae Lee) I Don't Search I Find Into The Groove Crazy For You Justify My Love Rescue Me You'll See Beautiful Stranger
This getting painful. I’m glad to see American Life start losing something as I think it’s a bit over-represented at this point, but Mother and Father would not have been the song I’d go with at this point. Furthermore, I still have a handful of 6-7 scoring songs that I’d like to see leave ASAP. Maybe tomorrow...
Mother and Father doesn't hold even the tiniest of candles to Promise To Try and Mer Girl (I can already feel the American Life apologists sharpening their knives, but whatever), not even close, but the live rendition from the Re-Invention Tour is an absolute gem and never fails to give me chills.
...really? Also, I love Beautiful Stranger but I have to question why it's outlasted I Want You in particular.
Mother and Father isn't the song from American Life I wanted to go yet. I love the bouncy synths and the way the production keeps changing. I gave it 8. I've gone off I Want You over the years but it's still very good. I gave it 7.5.
I‘m a little shocked that we will only reach an average of 8.0 after ten more eliminations. So you tasteless flop whores believe that not even a third of her discography belongs to the „very good - great“ range? Ok.
This isn't how everyone approached their scoring. Many people voted on a curve based on the songs in the rate, not based on all of the recorded music they have heard.
I also just want to say that while I feel like I've been basically coming across like this with every elimination, I actually am enjoying the rate, nn. It has me on such a hard M kick and rating everything together at one time has definitely solidified just how deep my appreciation for her catalogue goes and how even now, having spent seventeen years absorbing this woman's artistry, I'm still finding new things to appreciate about both it and her. She really is The One.
This is me too. I’m actually at a point where anything that goes now is fine, because it made the top 100, which, having such a big back catalogue there’s so much ground to cover, a top 100 best Madonna songs is actually fitting.
