i want you, i want you, i want you: Steve Bray reveals unreleased demo

During a telephone call with Steve Bray in 2009, he revealed to me the name of a song he co-wrote/produced with Madonna in the 1980s that has never before been reported. The title? I Want You.

Hold on, hasn’t Madonna already released a song called I Want You?

Yes - in 1995, Madonna recorded a cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You with Massive Attack for the tribute album, Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye, which also appeared later that year on Madonna’s ballads retrospective, Something to Remember.

There’s also the lesser-known Take Me (I Want You) from Madonna’s Emmy days, which was later re-titled I Want You when she recorded her Alec Head/Jon Gordon-produced solo version at Mediasound for her four-track demo tape – to be be touted around major labels by former-manager Camille Barbone.

I quizzed Steve as to whether he was referring to the early ‘80s version of the song, but he said that I Want You was an entirely new song that he co-wrote/produced with Madonna later that decade.