In this song she makes reference to her favorite book called "The heart is a lonely hunter" by Carson McCullers. The book is about two depressive friends who can't stand each other but they're all they have in the world so they live together to fight loneliness, until one of them gets ill and is taken away and the other one remains all alone and realizes how much he misses his friend. She said that this is her favorite book ever. She will also make reference to this book in the video for the song "Crave" (2019) where she writes "the heart is a lonely hunter" in a piece of paper and ties it to a homing pigeon.
Madonna, known mostly for her uptempo songs, writes and performs some of the greatest ballads of all time. "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is definitely one of them, lyrically one of her best. Baby Empress is in the back agreeing me! I hear the squeals of delight!
Madonna songs are often autobiographical. Madonna also gives us glimpses of her loneliness, just glimpses though. She doesn't like to stay in these moods for long, at least musically. Her artistry grows with each album. She's still that girl, just grown up and wiser. Love Tried(Bedtime Stories) shows exactly that Empress, Madonna's growth vocally, lyrically and sonically.
This song was a slow burner for me but damn i love it now, it's so lush. You just need to kick back, relax and put this on, so soothing. This album works incredibly well as a whole for me. I even put it on in situations where i felt anxious and the second half especially calms me down so well. Madonna's pen game, strong as usual. So underrated as a songwriter.
In the magazine of Icon (who Madonna have a section of her fan club who fans asked questions for her), when a fan asked about the song, Madonna talk about the song. She told that the song was inspired by a stripper she mets in a club during the mid-session of this album and she put at her own skin the spirit of this stripper for the concept of love at a period of loneliness while not working has a stripper. When she arrived in the studio, this image rest in head, she presented the idea to Dave Hall and the two conceived at this same way this melancholic song. It's was a very moody and sensual, but also one of her most beautiful ballads of her catalogue.
This is probably one of my favorite Madonna ballads. What I like and what I hear are shades of Burt Bacharach, the feel of " The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield. The string arrangement, the soft vocals definitely evoke Bacharach/ David. That's why I like it!
The lines "Love tried to welcome me....but my soul drew back....i was guilty of lust and sin...love tried to take me in...love tried to break me! ITS SO POETIC! Like genius writing skills! Also the lines "I'm usually drawn to sadness and loneliness has never been a stranger to me", makes me think that she was depressed during this period. I think she felt like alot of people misunderstood her. I feel like she wrote this album in solitude away from all of the backlash she was getting hence why the album includes "secret" which is about finding happiness and "inside of me" which is about her mother! This kind of thought pattern gives it that sort of "dreamlike" theme she was shooting for on this album.
I also can heavily relate to these lyrics because I've dealt with depression around the same time I listened to this album about 10 years ago during my madonna Journey!
I always felt that this song and the next two, Sanctuary and Bedtime Story were precursors or a taste of where she would go sonically and even how deep the subject matter is with her next studio album Ray of Light
Hi Empress! Another thing that makes this song sound like the Carpenters is the oboe solo. The Carpenters used lots of oboe in their songs. Don't know if anyone has told you, but the next two songs on the album (no spoilers) have a seamless transition just like "Dear Jessie" and "Oh Father" did on the Like A Prayer album. I would recommend listening to "Sanctuary" and "Bedtime Story" in one sitting - they go together like bread and butter. But, of course, we'll still love you no matter how you do it! Just wear your best ear buds, your best audio, whatever, and prepare to step into a whole 'nother zone! You'll see what I mean!
Think you hit the nail on the head with this reaction Empress ❤ I’ve always loved this track from the first listen. It’s deep and reflective with perfect vocals and consider it as one of her best songs. Great reaction as always ❤
This is a 10 for me. I love the strings and guitar in particular at the beginning….just those few bars are so emotive…and the rest of the song is killer ❤
Interesting that you mentioned that you thought this was a summer album right before reacting to one of her most winter songs ever, IMO! She even mentions that 'it's always winter' in the lyrics lol this one surely fits with the season. And it's one of my favorites, so special! I agree about it being personal, wait until you see some of the upcoming interviews, cuz she'll be very open about those feelings. Also, I think it's the song on the album that is her most explicit attempt to remind the public that she was human and vulnerable, after all the hate she got.
Always love this song, gorgeous vibe and so lush. She once said in an interview that she was inspired to write this after watching a stripper in Miami who was crazy talented but had sad eyes, and Madonna invented a whole backstory for her by writing this song. I'm sure part of it is autobiographical too, but I'm just glad you've thrown up 10s for this, Survival, Secret, and Inside Of Me (oh and Human Nature too? I forget about that one since it was a re-visit). Up until this point on the album, those are all my 10s as well.
I love a Madonna dance song but when she does a ballad right it is perfection. Vocals and lyrics are on point here. Bedtime Stories as an album always slips my mind but it’s really up in her top 🔥 🔥 🔥
She said this song was inspired by her conversation with a stripper she met in a club. This one is a stunner, I knew you would love it. I think all the songs she co-wrote with Dave Hall are the cream of the crop on this album: "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", "Inside of Me", "Human Nature", and this one. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
fun fact: she wrote this song through a perspective of a stripper she met at a club. paired with the chorus that's lifted from an anglican priest’s (george herbert) poem about god’s love. honestly a gem in her discography
One of the best songs on the album i agree about this song is personal just like human nature its autobiographical bedtime stories is her best album & the last song with babyface is the best on the album her best vocals
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs, and definitely my favorite on the album. This is a rare moment when Madonna is honest about what the lifestyle she's chosen has cost her. Fame is no substitute for love.
Sade was really popular around this time and I thought this song was channeling that vibe and sound. And I must add. Also a slow burner. There are a couple of verses that bring a tear to my eye on every listen.
Yaasss for 10’s! Another top 10 for me, probably a big factor because I can relate and feel like it’s so personal to me. It’s just a gorgeous yet sooo sad ❤👏🏼
There are so many good songs in this album. In my last video I said my top 5 of the album and cant believe I left this song out, especially since I listened to this song the most last year.
Now the best part of the album begins….. sanctuary and bedtime story swell into each other…. So you must listen to Sanctuary and Bedtime story together, don’t break it up… pump it loud… and go on the journey…. Let it vibe into your unconsciousness ….
This has always been my favorite slow jam on this album I felt this song, every once in awhile when she releases an album a track will hit me more than others this was that song from this album.
definitely one of Madonna's best ballads... "these are my hands but what can they give me?" great lyrics and melody! I also agree with you that this track is light years ahead of "I'll Remember" and "This Used to Be My Eyebrows ... I mean "Playground" -- those are a bit of a snooze 🤣
This is the first of 3 songs that are woven together beautifully on this album thematically and sonically with the final track on the album speaking for itself. Madonna has been so underrated for her ARTISTRY all of her career…Who could have a Bjork cowritten song specifically for her and end with a Babyface collaboration that became her biggest #1.. Truly legendary!
When this album dropped back in the day I thought this was a pretty song but I was much more mesmerized by the flashier songs. Over the years, I've grown to appreciate this one more and more and now it's one of my favorites on the album (at least Top 5). In an interview at the time, Madonna said the lyrics were inspired by a dancer she met at a strip club, but I think that was just the launching point for something that's clearly very personal and from-the-heart.
I moved to Tokyo when this album came out . I think this song is about going on a long journey after a hunt or a fight and then coming home to a safer place . I felt that too I felt safe and this song encapsulated that . ❤
i agree with you like 99% of the time. so funny. this used to be my playground, and i'll remember where just after erotica. very much as safe as they could be. i wasn't a fan of either. i prefer remember to playground. they were really just trying to assure the world they could like her and be safe. then take a bow was really her audition video for evita. she had to prove she could win over the adult contemporary crowd to get them into see evita. she needed that after body of evidence. she liked to have an album, film and concert to release around the same time to promote each other. this album was accessible but still had a little edge. babyface? she was obviously grabbing for top 40 spins before being herself again after evita. this was right before evita, then ray of light just after.
Like many said, i recommend to listen the two two next songs together, because the next song ''Sanctuary'' have a transition to the next track (the title track) of the album and was very fluid the transition and made very well. I'm particulary waiting for ''Sanctuary'', because ''Sanctuary'' was in my top 5 (my top 5 favorites Madonna songs was ''Hung Up'', ''Frozen'', ''Sanctuary'', ''Has to Be'', ''Like a Prayer'').
One of the best songs on this album but yes you must play sanctuary and bedtime story together on one video it will feel like a ride towards the end of the album
OF COURSE UA-cam deleted my comment because I was foolish enought to include a link... Here goes again. FUN FACT: The song is inspired, in part, by a 17th century English poem (Love III) by George Herbert. Look that up and you will see the lyrical and structural similarities. One can be literal about the song (the backing away from a lover) OR one can look at it similarly to the way George Herbert looks at love as a function of the spirit. That's very interesting when you consider this song is one of the lead-ins to Bedtime Story and, considering the next album... a continuous search by Madonna for something deeper. Great reaction, Empress. This has always been a gem to me.
I think it’s a mix of a character and herself. I remember Madonna saying in Details Magazine around the time (1995) that this song was inspired by a stripper she met in Miami.
Oooh this song…. When I first heard it I was a teenager so back then I always skipped it because I didn’t wanna hear that shit lol. But now I’m nearing 40 and hands down this is probably one of the best songs on the album and one of the best ballads she’s ever done (the best being the original Frozen, you’ve already heard that wack new remix last year 😂). But anywho… After all these years and going through pain and heartache made me appreciate and love the son. I just get chills every time I listen to it.
Ah The Live To Tell and Badgirl of this album. Beautiful and lush and inspired by that sad Miami stripper. One of her best ballads and terribly underrated like the album itself. IMO, I feel Madonna being thee global superstar was knda conflcted about her sound at this point. She loved the then current sound of new jack swing, hip hop and RnB but also European Techno and Trip Hop. She was also very inspired by Japanese culture. The inspiration for the latter half of this album. We been vibin in these streets since Sidewalk Talk! Miss that part of journey Empress since Madonna soon about to go full on Hollywood or is it hollyweird....that's much later in the journey though. ❤
@EmpressReacts Oh why sad? Don't be! The best eras are coming still. She'll always change her sound, projects and moods but she'll always be Madonna. Like she said a few weeks ago in concert..."I will always remember the struggle and will never forget where I came from" She be back in NYC! Seeing her again next week!!!!! Center section front row in front of "Burning Up" side stage ...shoop shoop skiddlyy bee bop!!!
Starting with this song, the last stretch of this album is 🔥 The next song is one of my favorite M album tracks. Lots of poetry references in this song and the next ✌️
Yes, totally, ''Sanctuary'' was the best track of this album and my favorite song of this album, so haunting, poetic and very different then the rest of the album. The two next songs of this album was totally different then the rest of the album.
Well this was one of my favorites on the album ❤😂. You know Madonna loves to self reference in songs so you might pick up a snippet of the lyrics way down the road of the journey. I’m really interested in your opinion of Take a Bow. You can surprise me Empress!
This track is one of the best on the album. I would give it a 10 rating too. I really enjoyed how the vocals and beat dropped out during the midway point while the other instruments continued to play. Then, Madonna's voice and the beat returned, which always reminded me of the breakdown part during "Live to Tell." In my opinion, this track should have been released as a single.
@@EmpressReacts If I had my way, the single order would have been this: 1. Secret 2. Take a Bow 3. Human Nature 4. Love Tried to Welcome Me 5. Survival
Her most recent album from 2019, Madame X, had a single called “Crave” featuring Swae Lee that felt like a direct sequel to this song. Even the video felt like a throwback to this era. I wish it could have been a duet with MJ instead… oh well.
One of my favourite Madonna ballads, but apparently not autobiographical. I read that she wrote it after watching a stripper in a strip club and creating a story around her.
✨📚✨Madonna has always expressed a deep loneliness in much of her work, and in her reflections in interviews and other writing. It’s the reason she’s so passionate about togetherness and celebration, in finding freedom by sheer force of will. This song is very personal, clearly, but it’s also a meditation and recontextualisation of a different mood. An avid reader, Madonna has often found inspiration in her favourite novels and poetry, with Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath being her most beloved authors. This song references a couple of literary works. The first two lines of the chorus are paraphrased from a poem by an Anglican priest and poet named George Herbert. His poem is about God’s love, and in some elemental way, Madonna’s song is about spiritual love too. She is both feminising and somewhat sexualising the sacred, which for some sullies it, but for those who love and understand her work it both elevates the sensual and makes the sacred more accessible to us all. Here’s the original poem: LOVE (III) Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d a single thing. “A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here.” Love said, “You shall be he.” “I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear, I cannot look on thee.” Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, “Who made the eyes but I?” “Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve.” “And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?” “My dear, then I will serve.” “You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.” So I did sit and eat. -George Herbert The other literary work the song features is in the line of the chorus “my heart has always been a lonely hunter”. One of Madonna’s favourite novels is Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Carson was a woman of enormous depth and insight, and a bisexual rebel who identified strongly with outcasts and artists. It makes perfect sense Madonna would connect with her work. So this song is not only an expression of her personal pain and isolation, but an illustration of where she finds solace. In wisdom, in soulfulness, in books. One might even say in bedtime stories… Yes she is that clever.
Wow! Thanks for including the poem! Shoutout to these artists because they had just as much to do with creating the song than Madonna and the other credited writers
@@EmpressReactsAbsolutely. There’s of course a difference between fragments of reference and significant lyrical or musical contributions to a song. Credit wise it’s also public domain work, and the elements referenced are well known enough to be received widely as references and not as her own lines. She spoke openly about these influences in interviews. But yes, all art builds on the art that precedes it.
***RBS STORY TIME!!*** ...might as well leave this here.....back in Summer 1995, I was invited to Fire Island (a well known spot for Gay Men to mingle...and, 'ramble'...); I was invited by a DJ who I knew who spun at the "Pavillion", a Bar / Nightclub on the Island....I was to bunk with EIGHT Gay Men, who made it VERY clear, they were not "feeling" RBS, when I got there....they were, what some would say, 'b*tchy Queens'..... - ....on a Sunday (during that week), a fight ensued, and 3 of the Gay Men came to physical blows....I didn't know this ('cause I stayed at my Buddy's place, while he spun that Saturday Evening)....I came back, and felt some SERIOUS tension....So, I decided to pull out a 'Cool-Out' mixtape for everyone to mellow out, to.... I called it, "From Love, To Memories".... - .....It worked, but when THIS TRACK came on ("Love Tried To Welcome Me") they went *APESH*T!* ....they never heard Madonna like 'that', before, and EVERYONE was in good spirits afterwards, and they carried ON about the "...Heart Is A Lonely Hunter..." line....(8:36)... - ...The Guy who put me up at the place for the Week, THANKED ME, and asked for a copy of my Tape, to have on standby when those 'Queens' acted up again! ....ha-HAA!! ...Thanks, Madge.... ; )
I agree, very Carpenter-like, even the orchestration with the clarinet…this album would have been better without Don’t Stop and Forbidden Love. Wonder what you think of the other Forbidden Love, but that’ll take another year or so before you get to Confessions on a Dancefloor❤
It’s funny, being a fan for 40 years, when albums were released you would play the singles/remixes and popular tracks that friends and family would like and you kind of rested on other tracks. When you revisit them years later, and you’re grown and have had life experiences you appreciate them more. Hope I don’t sound like an old fart. 😂
😂this is interesting. So basically your playlist consisted of what other ppl like and if you played something they didn’t like they would be like cut that 💩 off😂
Interesting, your comparison to what you thought wasn’t landing for you on LAPrayer. This song has always been a hazy, melodramatic favorite. But definitely in the shadow of the SHOWSTOPPER yet to come. Take a bow…
A beautiful, melancholy song, but tbh not one that I ever return to. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a Depression-era novel by Carson McCullers. The story portrays a collection of outcasts in a small Southern town. The novel's title, in turn, was borrowed from a poem, but I don't recall the details.
Yah, it’s my least favourite track on the album but there seems to be a lot of love for it. I had no idea people liked it so much. I love that about M that certain songs in her catalogue resonate more with some than with others. I never say the appeal for Pray for Spanish Eyes or Rescue Me, either, but then I like some songs that aren’t as popular.
Hands down her BEST song! Lush, gorgeous, silly buttery smooth. Song aged like a fine glass of wine.
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My favourite song on this album. Pure Poetry. Sublime.
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This is my 2nd favorite song off the album after Secret.
So relatable 😢
In this song she makes reference to her favorite book called "The heart is a lonely hunter" by Carson McCullers. The book is about two depressive friends who can't stand each other but they're all they have in the world so they live together to fight loneliness, until one of them gets ill and is taken away and the other one remains all alone and realizes how much he misses his friend. She said that this is her favorite book ever.
She will also make reference to this book in the video for the song "Crave" (2019) where she writes "the heart is a lonely hunter" in a piece of paper and ties it to a homing pigeon.
interesting!!!
Madonna, known mostly for her uptempo songs, writes and performs some of the greatest ballads of all time. "Love Tried to Welcome Me" is definitely one of them, lyrically one of her best. Baby Empress is in the back agreeing me! I hear the squeals of delight!
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Madonna songs are often autobiographical. Madonna also gives us glimpses of her loneliness, just glimpses though. She doesn't like to stay in these moods for long, at least musically. Her artistry grows with each album. She's still that girl, just grown up and wiser. Love Tried(Bedtime Stories) shows exactly that Empress, Madonna's growth vocally, lyrically and sonically.
Thanks Empress for another amazing reaction and so glad to see how you reacted 💋 ❤
My pleasure 😊
I’m with you Empress. The lyrics and production slay. Sad, beautiful and real.😢❤️
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This song was a slow burner for me but damn i love it now, it's so lush. You just need to kick back, relax and put this on, so soothing. This album works incredibly well as a whole for me. I even put it on in situations where i felt anxious and the second half especially calms me down so well.
Madonna's pen game, strong as usual. So underrated as a songwriter.
In the magazine of Icon (who Madonna have a section of her fan club who fans asked questions for her), when a fan asked about the song, Madonna talk about the song. She told that the song was inspired by a stripper she mets in a club during the mid-session of this album and she put at her own skin the spirit of this stripper for the concept of love at a period of loneliness while not working has a stripper. When she arrived in the studio, this image rest in head, she presented the idea to Dave Hall and the two conceived at this same way this melancholic song. It's was a very moody and sensual, but also one of her most beautiful ballads of her catalogue.
Interesting!
This is probably one of my favorite Madonna ballads. What I like and what I hear are shades of Burt Bacharach, the feel of " The Look of Love" by Dusty Springfield. The string arrangement, the soft vocals definitely evoke Bacharach/ David. That's why I like it!
Not that you mentioned it, I can there influence
The lines "Love tried to welcome me....but my soul drew back....i was guilty of lust and sin...love tried to take me in...love tried to break me! ITS SO POETIC! Like genius writing skills! Also the lines "I'm usually drawn to sadness and loneliness has never been a stranger to me", makes me think that she was depressed during this period. I think she felt like alot of people misunderstood her. I feel like she wrote this album in solitude away from all of the backlash she was getting hence why the album includes "secret" which is about finding happiness and "inside of me" which is about her mother! This kind of thought pattern gives it that sort of "dreamlike" theme she was shooting for on this album.
I also can heavily relate to these lyrics because I've dealt with depression around the same time I listened to this album about 10 years ago during my madonna Journey!
Makes sense!
The last 4 tracks all belong together on this album. This was a great album to listen to growing up in the 90’s
One of my ALL TIME FAVS from M’💯‼️💟💟
I always felt that this song and the next two, Sanctuary and Bedtime Story were precursors or a taste of where she would go sonically and even how deep the subject matter is with her next studio album Ray of Light
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One of her greatest produced records…. Why this wasn’t the take a bow follow up I will never know
Same thoughts, should've been the follow up.
Hi Empress! Another thing that makes this song sound like the Carpenters is the oboe solo. The Carpenters used lots of oboe in their songs. Don't know if anyone has told you, but the next two songs on the album (no spoilers) have a seamless transition just like "Dear Jessie" and "Oh Father" did on the Like A Prayer album. I would recommend listening to "Sanctuary" and "Bedtime Story" in one sitting - they go together like bread and butter. But, of course, we'll still love you no matter how you do it! Just wear your best ear buds, your best audio, whatever, and prepare to step into a whole 'nother zone! You'll see what I mean!
Noted!
The 90's Live to tell's sister. Both autobiagraphical, both superb lyrically and vocally. Also you can hear some latin influence in it. Amazing
yep i hear it
Think you hit the nail on the head with this reaction Empress ❤
I’ve always loved this track from the first listen. It’s deep and reflective with perfect vocals and consider it as one of her best songs.
Great reaction as always ❤
Thank u! We’re always a vibe 🥰🥰
Perfect song for winter, the lyrics, vocals, production...stunning
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OMG this has always been one of my very favorite personal songs from Madonna!
Lotsa love!!! DAMN SURE A SOLID 10!!💙🩵💜
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This is a 10 for me. I love the strings and guitar in particular at the beginning….just those few bars are so emotive…and the rest of the song is killer ❤
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Interesting that you mentioned that you thought this was a summer album right before reacting to one of her most winter songs ever, IMO! She even mentions that 'it's always winter' in the lyrics lol this one surely fits with the season. And it's one of my favorites, so special! I agree about it being personal, wait until you see some of the upcoming interviews, cuz she'll be very open about those feelings.
Also, I think it's the song on the album that is her most explicit attempt to remind the public that she was human and vulnerable, after all the hate she got.
😂wow since you pointed that out it is ironic. I agree about the “ I have feelings too” approach. And can’t wait until the interview s
Fantastic. ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤
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I forgot this Madonna era..yessssss sublime..it as an era it was an era!! Right after i graduated high school...
Always love this song, gorgeous vibe and so lush. She once said in an interview that she was inspired to write this after watching a stripper in Miami who was crazy talented but had sad eyes, and Madonna invented a whole backstory for her by writing this song. I'm sure part of it is autobiographical too, but I'm just glad you've thrown up 10s for this, Survival, Secret, and Inside Of Me (oh and Human Nature too? I forget about that one since it was a re-visit). Up until this point on the album, those are all my 10s as well.
I love a Madonna dance song but when she does a ballad right it is perfection. Vocals and lyrics are on point here. Bedtime Stories as an album always slips my mind but it’s really up in her top 🔥 🔥 🔥
She said this song was inspired by her conversation with a stripper she met in a club. This one is a stunner, I knew you would love it. I think all the songs she co-wrote with Dave Hall are the cream of the crop on this album: "I'd Rather Be Your Lover", "Inside of Me", "Human Nature", and this one. 🔥🔥🔥🔥
It’s soooo good🔥🔥
fun fact: she wrote this song through a perspective of a stripper she met at a club. paired with the chorus that's lifted from an anglican priest’s (george herbert) poem about god’s love. honestly a gem in her discography
So interesting!
One of the best songs on the album i agree about this song is personal just like human nature its autobiographical bedtime stories is her best album & the last song with babyface is the best on the album her best vocals
My Detroit Lions won today and I'm seeing Madonna tmrw night. Its going down in D town!!! 😁❤
Nice extended weekend for you 💯😂
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs, and definitely my favorite on the album. This is a rare moment when Madonna is honest about what the lifestyle she's chosen has cost her. Fame is no substitute for love.
This is my favorite Madonna album
Can't wait till you get to the song and music video for Bedtime Story
Can’t wait ‼️
Sade was really popular around this time and I thought this song was channeling that vibe and sound. And I must add. Also a slow burner. There are a couple of verses that bring a tear to my eye on every listen.
Ooo I can hear the influence bow
Queen of Ballads 👑
Yaasss for 10’s! Another top 10 for me, probably a big factor because I can relate and feel like it’s so personal to me. It’s just a gorgeous yet sooo sad ❤👏🏼
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There are so many good songs in this album. In my last video I said my top 5 of the album and cant believe I left this song out, especially since I listened to this song the most last year.
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Now the best part of the album begins….. sanctuary and bedtime story swell into each other….
So you must listen to Sanctuary and Bedtime story together, don’t break it up… pump it loud… and go on the journey….
Let it vibe into your unconsciousness ….
Hello this song as Bad Girl I immediately made them mine and they are among my favorites since forever
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The last three songs to come...you better just get ready.... she definitely saved the best to last
Absolutely love this song. My favorite on Bedtime Stories. ❤❤❤
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This has always been my favorite slow jam on this album I felt this song, every once in awhile when she releases an album a track will hit me more than others this was that song from this album.
definitely one of Madonna's best ballads... "these are my hands but what can they give me?" great lyrics and melody! I also agree with you that this track is light years ahead of "I'll Remember" and "This Used to Be My Eyebrows ... I mean "Playground" -- those are a bit of a snooze 🤣
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One of my all time favorite songs. ❤❤❤
This is the first of 3 songs that are woven together beautifully on this album thematically and sonically with the final track on the album speaking for itself. Madonna has been so underrated for her ARTISTRY all of her career…Who could have a Bjork cowritten song specifically for her and end with a Babyface collaboration that became her biggest #1.. Truly legendary!
...biggest number one in the US....😉
I love when M is her only back-up singer.....no shade on our girls Niki and Donna...but there's a few songs just her❤
Love hearing your assistant in the background! Hope you and your family are all doing great.
wow thanks! we're doing well
When this album dropped back in the day I thought this was a pretty song but I was much more mesmerized by the flashier songs. Over the years, I've grown to appreciate this one more and more and now it's one of my favorites on the album (at least Top 5). In an interview at the time, Madonna said the lyrics were inspired by a dancer she met at a strip club, but I think that was just the launching point for something that's clearly very personal and from-the-heart.
One day, you'll be alone with this song.. and it'll hit you hard 💔
Dang I hope not😹
My fav song on the album tbh 🩷
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Though often autobiographical, not always and a lot of times it may be about people she knows.😊
Ohh empress. Glad you liked this gem! One of my favs. I wished you’d like forbidden love more. But I’m happy You like this one 😅😘
I moved to Tokyo when this album came out . I think this song is about going on a long journey after a hunt or a fight and then coming home to a safer place . I felt that too I felt safe and this song encapsulated that . ❤
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i agree with you like 99% of the time. so funny. this used to be my playground, and i'll remember where just after erotica. very much as safe as they could be. i wasn't a fan of either. i prefer remember to playground. they were really just trying to assure the world they could like her and be safe. then take a bow was really her audition video for evita. she had to prove she could win over the adult contemporary crowd to get them into see evita. she needed that after body of evidence. she liked to have an album, film and concert to release around the same time to promote each other. this album was accessible but still had a little edge. babyface? she was obviously grabbing for top 40 spins before being herself again after evita. this was right before evita, then ray of light just after.
We’re a vibe 😍😘
Like many said, i recommend to listen the two two next songs together, because the next song ''Sanctuary'' have a transition to the next track (the title track) of the album and was very fluid the transition and made very well. I'm particulary waiting for ''Sanctuary'', because ''Sanctuary'' was in my top 5 (my top 5 favorites Madonna songs was ''Hung Up'', ''Frozen'', ''Sanctuary'', ''Has to Be'', ''Like a Prayer'').
One of the best songs on this album but yes you must play sanctuary and bedtime story together on one video it will feel like a ride towards the end of the album
Noted!
OF COURSE UA-cam deleted my comment because I was foolish enought to include a link...
Here goes again. FUN FACT: The song is inspired, in part, by a 17th century English poem (Love III) by George Herbert. Look that up and you will see the lyrical and structural similarities. One can be literal about the song (the backing away from a lover) OR one can look at it similarly to the way George Herbert looks at love as a function of the spirit. That's very interesting when you consider this song is one of the lead-ins to Bedtime Story and, considering the next album... a continuous search by Madonna for something deeper. Great reaction, Empress. This has always been a gem to me.
Wow thanks for the fun fact
I think it’s a mix of a character and herself. I remember Madonna saying in Details Magazine around the time (1995) that this song was inspired by a stripper she met in Miami.
See this song always gave me Sade vibes, I could see her singing this song for some reason. Love your reactions as always!
Thank u!
Oooh this song…. When I first heard it I was a teenager so back then I always skipped it because I didn’t wanna hear that shit lol.
But now I’m nearing 40 and hands down this is probably one of the best songs on the album and one of the best ballads she’s ever done (the best being the original Frozen, you’ve already heard that wack new remix last year 😂). But anywho… After all these years and going through pain and heartache made me appreciate and love the son. I just get chills every time I listen to it.
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Love the reactions! Keep up the good work, Empress ❤
Thank you!!
Ah The Live To Tell and Badgirl of this album. Beautiful and lush and inspired by that sad Miami stripper. One of her best ballads and terribly underrated like the album itself. IMO, I feel Madonna being thee global superstar was knda conflcted about her sound at this point. She loved the then current sound of new jack swing, hip hop and RnB but also European Techno and Trip Hop. She was also very inspired by Japanese culture. The inspiration for the latter half of this album. We been vibin in these streets since Sidewalk Talk! Miss that part of journey Empress since Madonna soon about to go full on Hollywood or is it hollyweird....that's much later in the journey though. ❤
Dang I’m getting sad 😢
@EmpressReacts Oh why sad? Don't be! The best eras are coming still. She'll always change her sound, projects and moods but she'll always be Madonna. Like she said a few weeks ago in concert..."I will always remember the struggle and will never forget where I came from" She be back in NYC! Seeing her again next week!!!!! Center section front row in front of "Burning Up" side stage ...shoop shoop skiddlyy bee bop!!!
Starting with this song, the last stretch of this album is 🔥 The next song is one of my favorite M album tracks. Lots of poetry references in this song and the next ✌️
Yes, totally, ''Sanctuary'' was the best track of this album and my favorite song of this album, so haunting, poetic and very different then the rest of the album. The two next songs of this album was totally different then the rest of the album.
Well this was one of my favorites on the album ❤😂. You know Madonna loves to self reference in songs so you might pick up a snippet of the lyrics way down the road of the journey. I’m really interested in your opinion of Take a Bow. You can surprise me Empress!
But this song wasn't about her, it's was the thinking of a stripper she mets in a club, she confirmed herself in the Icon magazine interview.
That's one of my favorite things about Madonnas albums. Her taking lyrics from other songs & putting them into a song.
Interesting!
This track is one of the best on the album. I would give it a 10 rating too. I really enjoyed how the vocals and beat dropped out during the midway point while the other instruments continued to play. Then, Madonna's voice and the beat returned, which always reminded me of the breakdown part during "Live to Tell." In my opinion, this track should have been released as a single.
We’re always a vibe 🥰 what single would you release?
@@EmpressReacts If I had my way, the single order would have been this:
1. Secret
2. Take a Bow
3. Human Nature
4. Love Tried to Welcome Me
5. Survival
Her most recent album from 2019, Madame X, had a single called “Crave” featuring Swae Lee that felt like a direct sequel to this song. Even the video felt like a throwback to this era. I wish it could have been a duet with MJ instead… oh well.
Interesting
One of my favourite Madonna ballads, but apparently not autobiographical. I read that she wrote it after watching a stripper in a strip club and creating a story around her.
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✨📚✨Madonna has always expressed a deep loneliness in much of her work, and in her reflections in interviews and other writing. It’s the reason she’s so passionate about togetherness and celebration, in finding freedom by sheer force of will. This song is very personal, clearly, but it’s also a meditation and recontextualisation of a different mood. An avid reader, Madonna has often found inspiration in her favourite novels and poetry, with Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath being her most beloved authors. This song references a couple of literary works. The first two lines of the chorus are paraphrased from a poem by an Anglican priest and poet named George Herbert. His poem is about God’s love, and in some elemental way, Madonna’s song is about spiritual love too. She is both feminising and somewhat sexualising the sacred, which for some sullies it, but for those who love and understand her work it both elevates the sensual and makes the sacred more accessible to us all. Here’s the original poem:
LOVE (III)
Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d a single thing.
“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here.”
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
“Who made the eyes but I?”
“Truth Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.
-George Herbert
The other literary work the song features is in the line of the chorus “my heart has always been a lonely hunter”. One of Madonna’s favourite novels is Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Carson was a woman of enormous depth and insight, and a bisexual rebel who identified strongly with outcasts and artists. It makes perfect sense Madonna would connect with her work. So this song is not only an expression of her personal pain and isolation, but an illustration of where she finds solace. In wisdom, in soulfulness, in books. One might even say in bedtime stories… Yes she is that clever.
Wow! Thanks for including the poem! Shoutout to these artists because they had just as much to do with creating the song than Madonna and the other credited writers
@@EmpressReactsAbsolutely. There’s of course a difference between fragments of reference and significant lyrical or musical contributions to a song. Credit wise it’s also public domain work, and the elements referenced are well known enough to be received widely as references and not as her own lines.
She spoke openly about these influences in interviews. But yes, all art builds on the art that precedes it.
***RBS STORY TIME!!*** ...might as well leave this here.....back in Summer 1995, I was invited to Fire Island (a well known spot for Gay Men to mingle...and, 'ramble'...); I was invited by a DJ who I knew who spun at the "Pavillion", a Bar / Nightclub on the Island....I was to bunk with EIGHT Gay Men, who made it VERY clear, they were not "feeling" RBS, when I got there....they were, what some would say, 'b*tchy Queens'.....
- ....on a Sunday (during that week), a fight ensued, and 3 of the Gay Men came to physical blows....I didn't know this ('cause I stayed at my Buddy's place, while he spun that Saturday Evening)....I came back, and felt some SERIOUS tension....So, I decided to pull out a 'Cool-Out' mixtape for everyone to mellow out, to.... I called it, "From Love, To Memories"....
- .....It worked, but when THIS TRACK came on ("Love Tried To Welcome Me") they went *APESH*T!* ....they never heard Madonna like 'that', before, and EVERYONE was in good spirits afterwards, and they carried ON about the "...Heart Is A Lonely Hunter..." line....(8:36)...
- ...The Guy who put me up at the place for the Week, THANKED ME, and asked for a copy of my Tape, to have on standby when those 'Queens' acted up again! ....ha-HAA!! ...Thanks, Madge.... ; )
😂😂😂love that this track was a healing track also is this the same fire island that ja rule was apart of? And lastly that lane was 🔥
@@EmpressReacts ..no Dear, Ja was part of the FYRE FESTIVAL.....a very, VERY different thing from Fire Island, lemmetellya! ...ha-HAA!! 🤐
@@RBS_ 😂😂😂oh okay
Right after my first love..breakup...this was after Erotica....
I agree, very Carpenter-like, even the orchestration with the clarinet…this album would have been better without Don’t Stop and Forbidden Love. Wonder what you think of the other Forbidden Love, but that’ll take another year or so before you get to Confessions on a Dancefloor❤
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It’s funny, being a fan for 40 years, when albums were released you would play the singles/remixes and popular tracks that friends and family would like and you kind of rested on other tracks. When you revisit them years later, and you’re grown and have had life experiences you appreciate them more. Hope I don’t sound like an old fart. 😂
I'm an old fart, and yes I agree.
@@Joelsellers29 Hi old fart. 💙
😂this is interesting. So basically your playlist consisted of what other ppl like and if you played something they didn’t like they would be like cut that 💩 off😂
Interesting, your comparison to what you thought wasn’t landing for you on LAPrayer. This song has always been a hazy, melodramatic favorite. But definitely in the shadow of the SHOWSTOPPER yet to come. Take a bow…
A beautiful, melancholy song, but tbh not one that I ever return to.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a Depression-era novel by Carson McCullers. The story portrays a collection of outcasts in a small Southern town.
The novel's title, in turn, was borrowed from a poem, but I don't recall the details.
...read my comment, Sir Todd... you're SPOT ON, about that Book.... ; )
I mean, it’s not THE ballad on this album, but it’s still a 10. 😉
On the Album cover she's really upside down.
This might be one of the only skips on the album for me. It’s a near perfect album. 90s M was the best.
This is my least favorite song on this album. But it does play well with the themes Madonna likes to play with in the future...
Yah, it’s my least favourite track on the album but there seems to be a lot of love for it. I had no idea people liked it so much. I love that about M that certain songs in her catalogue resonate more with some than with others. I never say the appeal for Pray for Spanish Eyes or Rescue Me, either, but then I like some songs that aren’t as popular.
still in filler land
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