Yearly Archives:

2015

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle, and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

Woke up this morning feeling good that you were gone
Hurt for a while, but I’m finally moving on
Said it, did it, hit it, quit it
Then you let it go
See you tryin’ to call me, but I blocked you on my phone
It took a minute, but now I’m feeling strong
It almost killed me, but I’m better off alone
Now you’re saying that you’re sorry, I don’t wanna know
Better face the fact you had to go

Saucy, sassy, brash, and brilliant, this is Madonna giving a grand fuck-off to those paramours who have done her wrong. With a reggae-inspired beat, it’s a departure from almost every other song she’s done. (Though a bit of the feel did make it into the ‘Erotica’ save-the-world anomaly ‘Why’s It So Hard’.)

This wasn’t a particular highlight of the ‘Rebel Heart‘ album for me, but to each their own. It has since grown on me after enjoying Madonna’s rendition of it on her current tour. As the penultimate song, it carries the weight of a finale, even if it falls a bit flat in the end.

I know you’d like it if I sat at home and cried
But that ain’t gonna happen, here’s the reason why
When we did it, I’ll admit it, wasn’t satisfied
When the gun was loaded you were never on the side
I’m popping bottles that you can’t even afford
I’m throwing parties and you won’t get in the door
Said it, get it, love it, hate it
I don’t care no more
Tell me how it feels to be ignored

For that performance, Madonna has been bringing up a special co-dancer for the last portion of it. She spanks them, kicks them in the ass, and presents them with a surprise gift (usually a banana). Guests so far have included Amy Schumer, Anderson Cooper, and, when I saw her in Boston, her ten-year-old son David who was celebrating a birthday that night. Some raised eyebrows at a kid being named the ‘Unapologetic Bitch’ but when Madonna’s your mother, well, it works.

The song itself carries a classic Madonna mantra: she’s not sorry, and she never will be. In this instance, such a stance seems justified, and the seething anger of the lyrics is tempered only by the ability of Madonna to move forward without giving her wrong-doer a second thought. Cold, brutal, and the best method of survival, it masks hidden hurt and regret, something much of Madonna’s work manages to convey. A complex notion from a complex woman, and all the more compelling because of it.

It might sound like I’m an unapologetic bitch
But sometimes you know I gotta call it like it is
It might sound like I’m an unapologetic bitch
But sometimes you know I gotta call it like it is

You know you never really knew how much you loved me, till you lost me
Did you?
You know you never knew how much your selfish bullshit cost me
Well, fuck you

SONG #115: ‘Unapologetic Bitch’ – Late Summer 2015

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle, and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

It’s only fitting that the Madonna Timeline is shifting to songs from the current ‘Rebel Heart’ era, as Madonna is out and about on her ‘Rebel Heart’ tour. A thorough review of the show I saw in Boston is forthcoming, but for now a Madonna Timeline to whet the appetite.

Originally released at the tail end of 2014 in the midst of the disastrous leak that saw most of the ‘Rebel Heart’ album exposed well before its time, ‘Ghosttown’ received universal praise, a magnificently haunting video, but little promotion. In the tumultuous scramble for how best to salvage Madonna’s greatest album since ‘Ray of Light’ it seems the powers-that-be jetted from one song (‘Living For Love‘) to another (‘Ghosttown’) to another (‘Bitch I’m Madonna‘) hoping one would instantly ignite. Of course, without any sort of singular sustained or focused promo push on a single one, each made little impact. That’s a damn shame, as ‘Ghosttown’ is easily one of the most moving songs of her last three albums.

MAYBE IT WAS ALL TOO MUCH

TOO MUCH FOR A MAN TO TAKE

EVERYTHING’S BOUND TO BREAK

SOONER OR LATER, SOONER OR LATER

 

YOU’RE ALL THAT I CAN TRUST

FACING THE DARKEST DAYS

EVERYONE RAN AWAY

WE’RE GONNA STAY HERE, WE’RE GONNA STAY HERE

 

I KNOW YOU’RE SCARED TONIGHT

I’LL NEVER LEAVE YOUR SIDE

 

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

I’LL BE YOUR FIRE WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

WHEN THERE’S NO ONE, NO ONE ELSE AROUND

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

 

WHEN THE WORLD GETS COLD, I’LL BE YOUR COVER

LET’S JUST HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

A post-apocalyptic love song, it touched on a timely theme that the entire ‘˜Rebel Heart’ album expounded upon: the survival of the soul through the act of love. Having just made it through the god-awful winter of 2015, where snow covered and ravaged the Northeast for a good four months straight, many of us could relate to what it was like having to hold onto each other to get us through the dark times.

I would sit in the dim gray rooms of early morning, typing away on my lap-top, its glowing screen the only portal to light, and I remember feeling like that winter would never stop. Storm after snow-storm left us shut in, my regular trips to Boston canceled over and over again. It was the longest I’d been away from that favorite city in over a decade. I felt isolated, removed.

I listened to this song like a mantra. When tears threatened, it quelled them. When anger arose, it calmed me. Some songs were made for helping us get through things.

TELL ME HOW WE GOT THIS FAR

EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF

EVERYTHING’S GONE TO HELL

WE GOTTA STAY STRONG, WE’RE GONNA HOLD ON

 

THIS WORLD HAS TURNED TO DUST

ALL WE’VE GOT LEFT IS LOVE

MIGHT AS WELL START WITH US

SINGING A NEW SONG, SOMETHING TO BUILD ON

 

I KNOW YOU’RE SCARED TONIGHT

I’LL NEVER LEAVE YOUR SIDE

 

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

I’LL BE YOUR FIRE WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

WHEN THERE’S NO ONE, NO ONE ELSE AROUND

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

 

WHEN THE WORLD GETS COLD, I’LL BE YOUR COVER

LET’S JUST HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

How did we get through it? Andy was here. And JoAnn made a visit. And even in the midst of snow, my work pal Ginny and I would brave the road to Starbucks for a mid-day escape of laughter and fun and vital escape. Pumping gas or shopping for groceries, I’d look into the eyes of strangers and feel a sympathetic understanding, some sense of ‘we’re-all-in-this-together’ that made things better. I’m not usually so attuned to others, so willing to let down my guard and shared in an experience, but sometimes it gets you through the day – and a terrible winter.

Madonna was reaching out too, in her music was a new warmth and vulnerability not quite there on her otherwise-scorching ‘MDNA’ album and its predecessor ‘Hard Candy’. The ‘Rebel Heart’ era was ushering in a red-hot yet heartfelt woman who seemed to feel rather keenly the need to connect again. We were all ready for it.

I KNOW WE’RE ALRIGHT

‘CAUSE WE’LL NEVER BE ALONE IN THIS MAD MAD, IN THIS MAD MAD WORLD

EVEN WITH NO LIGHT

WE’RE GONNA SHINE LIKE GOLD IN THIS MAD MAD, IN THIS MAD MAD WORLD

 

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

I’LL BE YOUR FIRE WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

WHEN THERE’S NO ONE, NO ONE ELSE AROUND

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

 

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

I’LL BE YOUR FIRE WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

WHEN THERE’S NO ONE, NO ONE ELSE AROUND

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

 

WHEN THE WORLD GETS COLD, I’LL BE YOUR COVER

LET’S JUST HOLD ONTO EACH OTHER

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN

WHEN IT ALL FALLS, WHEN IT ALL FALLS DOWN

WE’LL BE TWO SOULS IN A GHOSTTOWN 

Though the song made the aforementioned lack of impact, it came with one of the most beautiful videos of Madonna’s career, featuring Terrence Howard and telling a hopeful story of being the last few people left standing, and coming together in the midst of a ruined world.

Madonna has made a life of rising from the ashes of any burnt-out shell of destruction – whether said doom was of her own making or someone else’s. She’s rebounded from all sorts of calamitous scandals, from caustic relationships, from failed marriages, and from personal and professional failures. That resiliency is at the core of ‘Ghosttown’ – it’s raw, it’s romantic, and it’s the only road to salvation she’s ever known.

SONG #114 – ‘Ghosttown’ ~ Late Winter/Early Spring 2015