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{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.}

You took a pretty picture and you smashed it into bits,

Sank me into blackness, and you sealed it with a kiss.

If only I could let you go, why do I need you so?

Neatly dove-tailing with the latest news that William Orbit has scored the soundtrack for her next directorial effort, workingly titled W., ‘Amazing’ is one of the last collaborations Madonna shared with Mr. Orbit. From 2000’s Music, it was one of the only two cuts they produced together for that album.
While the worst of his work with her is treacly and uninspired (‘Time Stood Still’ and ‘Runaway Lover’ for example), the best of it shimmers and soars (‘Frozen’, ‘Ray of Light’ – hell, the entire Ray of Light album).

It’s amazing what a boy can do,

I cannot stop myself.

Wish I didn’t want you like I do

Want you and no one else…

A movie score could be the perfect bit of alchemy to set his ambient sonic moodscapes to flight, doing for W. what Trent Reznor did for The Social Network. Of course, this is all guesswork and speculation at this point – Madonna has been characteristically quiet during her creative mode. (Though I wish she would get back into the studio and make some new music.)

You took a poison arrow and you aimed it at my heart,

It’s heavy and it’s bitter and it’s tearing me apart.

If only I could set you free,

You worked your way inside of me.

‘Amazing’ is one of the brighter, poppier moments of the Music album, but like most Madonna songs it has an ambivalence that runs throughout it. She was about to marry Guy Ritchie at the time, but based on this song (and the eventual outcome of the marriage) things were not completely smooth-sailing. No one captures that push-and-pull better than Madonna.

It’s amazing… Love you and no one else…

Song #35: ‘Amazing’ – Fall 2000