social butterfly – early years song uncovered

 

When I interviewed stage and session guitarist, Paul Pesco (Madonna, The Virgin Tour, Erotica, The Girlie Show), he revealed to me the title of a song written by Madonna that has never before been documented. The song, called Social Butterfly, dates from the pre-Madonna days when she was just another struggling musician in New York City.

in the evidence of her brilliance – Tony Shimkin speaks

Shimkin and Ciccone - getting their "beats within" out in the studio





In July 2006 I flew to New York City and met with Tony Shimkin at his office at Noble Music, a company that he established back in the early 1990s. From 1989 to 1995, Tony worked extensively for Madonna – from the Like a Prayer singles remixes, to Vogue, The Immaculate Collection, Erotica and the Bedtime Stories single remixes.

On a typically balmy summer's afternoon, in Tony’s office/studio (complete with Tony’s impressive RIAA Diamond certification for The Immaculate Collection proudly mounted on the wall), I spoke with him about his amazing career and his work with Madonna – which included an impromptu instrumental performance of Deeper and Deeper by Tony on his unplugged electric guitar. Towards the end of the interview, Tony spoke about Madonna’s song writing:

“I’d say Patrick Leonard’s best work is Madonna. William Orbit’s best work is Madonna. Mirwais’ best work is Madonna. Stephen Bray, everybody... and Shep Pettibone is best known for Madonna. I think what she does is, whatever you do, she adds a melody that’s on par, or if not, brings it to a higher level. A lot of these songs that any of these people, including myself, had written, somebody else could write a melody to it and it would be a totally forgetful song.”

the beats within: Critics have often applauded Madonna for being incredibly discerning when it comes to choosing the right collaborators; however it often comes across as a bit of a backhanded compliment, with an assumption that the credit for her music lies elsewhere.

“If you take any of those tracks and take her contribution off it, it would have a different melody and lyrics and it would never be a hit. I’m sure she can get airplay because of who she is, but people are singing her songs to this day. I have written a piece of music that I did and given it to three different singers and you’d be amazed at the difference between what each person could contribute and where one can just be head and shoulders above the others.

But what Madonna brings to a song is so unique to herself. It’s her voice too. She’s not the greatest singer in the world, but if Cathy Dennis were to sing it, it wouldn’t be as successful. It would be successful and it would still be a great pop song, but it’s the melodies she (Madonna) writes.

Deeper and Deeper is a cool piece of music, but without that melody and without that energy that is added to it. It’s really the opposite – people think that so-and-so wrote the music. The music is not the hard part to write. The hard part to write is the lyrics and the melody. That’s the hardest thing to write in the world. If I, or these other people, could write lyrics and melodies like her then these people would be supplying her with finished songs and she would just be singing them. But that’s not the case if anything she’s made their songs come to life and made them notable because she put a great lyric and melody on it. I really think it’s the opposite.

There are a million tracks out there by artists now and if you took their vocals off and gave it to her to write to it would be a huge hit. It’s as simple as that. It’s one of the hardest things to write a memorable melody, like Beatles songs. So many of their songs are just simple Blues progressions but listen to what they wrote over it, it’s legendary.”

Click here to find out more about Tony at the Noble Music website

over the borderline – Reggie Lucas speaks

This week, 27 years ago, Borderline entered the UK Top 100 singles chart.

Two weeks after its #74 debut, Borderline peaked at #56 – a position greatly improved upon by its January 1986 re-release, which reached the more-deserving #2 – held off the top spot by Billy Ocean’s four-week reign at #1 with When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going).

In 2007, I interviewed the writer and producer of Borderline, Reggie Lucas. Reggie has rarely spoken about his work with Madonna, but he shared with me his memories of writing the first of her record-breaking 37 Billboard Top Ten singles:

“I really have a simple process for songwriting for an artist that I’m producing, assuming it’s not going to be a collaborative process. Firstly, I’ll listen to the artist’s demo tape or previous records, just to get a feel for their voice and style. Then, if at all possible, I’ll attend a live performance of the artist. I was fortunate enough to be able to do both of these things with Madonna.

Finally, I just pick up my guitar, and start to play and sing until something seems to click. Then, I’ll create a very, very rough demo for the artist. So Borderline and Physical Attraction were written specifically only for Madonna. They went very quickly from my head, to the studio, and to the radio and charts. This is something Madonna does very well, making records quickly and without excessive fanfare. This has always been and will always be my preferred method of record production.”

the beats within: Borderline sounds almost like a 1980s update on the Motown sound. Madonna of course hails from Michigan and has spoken about how the local sounds of Motor City were ever-present throughout her childhood; citing Motown girl groups like The Supremes as influences. Were you consciously inspired by Motown when writing Borderline?

“What a great question! I’ve never even thought about this before. Motown is inspirational, generational, and cultural for me. I came under the spell of Motown music, like so many of my generation and those after, on a subconscious, intuitive, almost magical level. So I didn’t put the obvious together, Madonna’s from Flint Michigan, I love Motown so I’ll write Borderline. The reference was subliminal, unintentional and automatic.”  

the beats within: Apart from being a great pop song, the success of Borderline was partly thanks to the music video for the song that heralded the beginning of Madonna’s relationship with MTV. What did you think of the video and were you surprised at the success of the Borderline single?

“Like many other artists, songwriters, producers, etc. I was fortunate enough to have a record on the charts when MTV was in its early growth spurt. I thought the video was simple but appropriate. Madonna and Michael Jackson were perfect programming for MTV because they appealed to young people, they crossed over all sorts of demographic categories and they were all-around entertainers with singing, dancing and acting skills.”

Click here to watch the Mary Lambert directed music video for Borderline

holiday, celebrate – Bashiri Johnson speaks



Bash!

Summer has officially arrived, so let’s celebrate with percussionist, Bashiri Johnson’s memories of playing percussion on Madonna’s summer anthem, Holiday:

“My first time working on Madonna’s music was on Holiday with Jellybean as the producer on that particular session. She really struck me because she was really, really beautiful, really vivacious and she was very into everything that was going on. She was really into what I was doing and into the whole process and she was 100% aware of everything. She wasn’t like some artists, who might just hang out in the lounge, or other artists who just sit back and take everything in, or some other artists who might not even be present almost. She was definitely present at all of the sessions.”

thebeatswithin: Did you record your percussion parts on top of an existing track?

“Yeah, I did. I came in and I overdubbed my stuff to the track that was already laid down. It was a rough mix, but I wouldn’t say that it was completed. I heard her vocals and everything else was there, all of rhythm section stuff was there and I just added my bit. It wasn’t mixed yet and it might not have been fully edited yet, but it was definitely a version I could play to and I remember when I walked out of the studio it stuck with me.”

thebeatswithin: What percussion instruments did you play on the track?

“On that track I just played cowbells – the cowbell part that you can hear that goes all the way through it. I think I might have also played shakers on that track, but that track was mainly just a simple cowbell part. The great thing was that the cowbell part was really like a signature part of the song and it really helped to drive the track. As a matter of fact, a lot of people called me up to come in and play on their records because of that track. They were like, “Oh yeah, you played on that Madonna track. I need you to put some stuff on my record.” So, although it was just cowbells on the album version, I played a lot more on the remix, including congas, shakers, timbales and tambourine.”

thebeatswithin: Did you have any idea that Holiday would become not only Madonna’s breakthrough hit song, but such an enduring pop/dance anthem?

“It’s funny because I’ve played on thousands and thousands of records and there are records that you just know are going to affect people and have mass appeal. I’ve experienced that on many occasions, but the way that the music business is set up, it’s not always based on the highest quality product and sometimes other factors make a song a hit. So, even though I might be in the studio and getting goose pimples from playing on it, the machinery of the music business might not be able to follow through and make a great song a hit. But I did feel something special about that track. I felt that it was going to be a powerful track and that people were really going to be into when I worked on it.

She was talking about something that’s universal – taking a break, having fun and just letting go and releasing your stress, your cares and worries – “Take a holiday!” That’s something that’s sort of put down, but yet that’s something that’s very important to people.”

thebeatswithin: I heard the original Holiday demo by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stephens, at the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress in Washington.

“Wow! Those guys wrote some great stuff and they came up with some really, really cool ideas and cool hooks that people could really get into. That’s why I think the song was such a great success. It was a really great, well written song.”

Click here for more about Bashiri Johnson

fellas that were in the mood – Goh Hotoda update

Image courtesy of Goh Hotoda - check out what's at the front of the stack of vinyl records to the left of Goh





In response to my post “Goh Hotoda – we love you”, Mr Hotoda himself emailed me to let me know that he has been working on another Madonna-related project. Stay tuned for more info, as soon as I get it!

Goh Hotoda – we love you

This week, 21 years ago, Vogue was still giving good face, spending in its eighth week inside the Top 10 of the UK singles chart. The song had already been at #1 for a month – not to mention #1 in 30 other countries!

When I interviewed Goh Hotoda in 2007, he told me about mixing the song and coming up with the song’s synth string introduction.

“Even for me, Vogue was my monumental work. As my career was Chicago house music, it was only ever dance music and never crossed over to pop music. The pop music style in 1990 was still white bread candy pop with lots of reverb and many expensive effects all over the place. Our work on Vogue was very contemporary – so simple and very dry. There was nothing like it then - now, the beat style is so popular that everybody is making music like that. But that was the kind of music that I really wanted to work on for such a long time.

Madonna’s original aim was to release the song as special 12” record and so she gave us total freedom. The song was originally produced a bit different at first. I made a different introduction to the mix and recreated a different version only for club play (Bette Davis Dub). It was standard that I make a dub mix after everything was done and Tony (Shimkin) would edit them later. Shep and Madonna really liked the new introduction that I made and so we went back into the studio to re-make the video version based on my Dub Mix and Tony’s edit. The song became an untouchable hit.”

Click here to listen to Vogue (Bette Davis Dub), as mixed by Goh

bad girl guitar demo – Paul Pesco speaks

Paul Pesco - grinding his axe!

 

In 2008 an unreleased demo of Bad Girl, known as the ‘Guitar Demo’, leaked online. Due to a number of fake Madonna demos doing the rounds online and a lack of information about the origins of this demo; many believe this to be the creation of a talented fan.

In 2006 I visited the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and listened to a number of Erotica demos on the infamous ‘Rain Tapes’ and although I listened to some Bad Girl demos, the guitar demo wasn’t among them.

When I spoke to legendary stage and session guitarist, Paul Pesco, I asked him about playing guitar on the Erotica sessions:

“I actually played on a couple of other tracks that I don’t think ended up on the album. I think it was Bad Girl I played on, where I did a couple of tracks. Bad Girl had a lot more guitar. That was really cool – I thought it was awesome! I played tracks on Deeper and Deeper, Bad Girl and it may have been Thief of Hearts, I’m not sure. She ended up using Why’s It So Hard and Deeper and Deeper.

It (the sessions with Madonna and Shep Pettibone) was always great. There were a couple of engineers also. I worked with Goh (Hotoda) a lot. I was there throughout the recording of the album. By that time, I’d done dozens of sessions for Shep’s records and he’d used me a lot for stuff over the years, and I’d been friends with him. He has a very distinct production style and he knows exactly what he wants and the groove would be in there. It’s funny, for not being a musician; he’s one of those people who's very musical.

For that album I used my blue ESP Strat (Fender Stratocaster guitar) that’s been one of my main studio axes on a bunch of records. I also used my ESP graffiti Strat that has EMG pick-ups on it that I used on that album as well and actually I used that guitar for the C&C Music Factory stuff as well, the Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) guitar part – that was my ESP graffiti guitar.”

Click here to listen to the Bad Girl guitar demo.

cook and f**k – Michael Bearden speaks



Michael Bearden (second from right) with his Girlie Show bandmates - catering by Madonna

When I spoke to Michael Bearden, keyboard player on The Girlie Show and Musical Director on the Bedtime Stories and Ray of Light promo tours, he told me about an unreleased song by Madonna, titled, wait for it… Cook and F**k.

The existence of the song first came to light in 2000 when it was listed on ASCAP's online song database, after a short instrumental version of the song was performed by Paul Shaffer and The CBS Orchestra to welcome Madonna on to the stage of The David Letterman Show in November that year.

The song is credited on ASCAP to Madonna and Michael Bearden and so I asked Michael about the origins of the country-sounding song:

“This song actually started during the rehearsals for The Girlie Show. We rehearsed a long time for that show and after so many days of playing the same thing over and over again, you get a little stir crazy. One day M said, “Okay everybody, let’s do that one again”. As everybody started to re-set, I just started to play this country, Floyd Kramer-esque type piano and Niki Haris started singing the song we just finished in a southern, twangy voice. Niki is unbelievably talented! The band naturally just fell into the vibe and so did Madonna. About a week or two later, I started it up again. M was in a mood and the lyrics just evolved into Cook and F**k. I don’t remember the entire verse but I know that Cook and F**k refers to how women please their men. Trust me, it got much worse! (Laughs)

How it became registered was supposed to be a joke. M was appearing on The David Letterman Show one night and Paul Shaffer (the show’s Musical Director) called me (I often sub for him on the show) and asked what the band should play for Madonna’s walk-on. Instead of the usual Like a Virgin or something like that, I asked if I could do something as an inside joke. Paul loved the idea and I dictated the chords and the style to Paul over the phone and he executed it on the show brilliantly, as usual. M was indeed surprised and laughed about it on air. She knew that song was my doing. Because it aired on network television, it was registered.”

live to tell – Patrick Leonard solo piano version

Patrick Leonard's actual hands - yes really!

Click here to watch a true musical genius at work – producer Patrick Leonard’s stunning solo piano performance of Live to Tell, live at the Seth Riggs Summer Vocal Program in July 2008.

It will burn inside of you!

i have a tale to tell – Marc Moreau speaks

This week, 25 years ago, Live to Tell was sitting at its #2 peak on the UK pop singles chart. The song was her fourth single to narrowly miss out on the top spot – the international novelty hit, Rock Me Amadeus, by Austrian pop musician, Falco, was at #1. Incidentally, one of the four runner-ups (Warner UK’s shameless, yet genius, post-Live Aid re-release of Holiday) missed out on the top spot because Madonna’s other summer '85 anthem, Into the Groove, was implanted at #1.

Having dominated pop music in 1985, with a hyperactive rush of pure pop brilliance, Madonna’s much-anticipated, first single release of 1986 was the haunting ballad, Live to Tell – just one of many Madonna songs that would re-write the rules of pop music.

Co-written and produced with Pat Leonard, fresh off the road with Madonna on The Virgin Tour, Live to Tell sounded like nothing else being played on pop radio and nothing like what the world thought a Madonna song, or a pop song for that matter, should sound like – the first of many times that Madonna's music would defy expectation. With lyrics by Madonna, Live to Tell wiped some of the sneers off the faces of those who had mocked her earlier pop/dance hits.

I know where beauty lives
I’ve seen it once, I know the warmth she gives
The light that you could never see
It shines inside, you can’t take that from me

In 1989, Marc Moreau began working as a studio engineer at Pat Leonard’s studio in LA. On his second, or third day in the studio Marc began working as second engineer to Brian Malouf and Bill Bottrell – engineers on Madonna’s forthcoming I’m Breathless album. Marc would continue to work as a studio engineer with Pat and Madonna up until Ray of Light.

When I spoke to Marc, he spoke about Madonna’s songwriting and recalled a conversation with Pat Leonard about Live to Tell.

“Their first song broke a lot of rules. I mean, it was a ballad, it was like six minutes long, which is two minutes longer than the record company – they were screaming about that! It has this big spot in the middle, where it just breaks down to almost nothing and then comes back. I remember Pat talking about it once and he said, “It pretty much violates every rule that you have for a single!” But yet she loved it and she stuck to it and backed it all the way and they (Warner Bros Records) were starting to give this young producer, Pat, a bunch of grief about the song and she stuck to her guns on it and it was a huge, huge hit. It broke all the rules. I could see how that would cement them together from that point on to be able to make the next records that they did.

Madonna could go to that emotional place, which I think separates her from a lot of pop artists. She can dig up some stuff about herself, and it’s real stuff, and can put it out there emotionally, as well as have the fun, “Let’s go party!” songs and not a lot of artists can sort of do that and let you get in there and get real for a bit.”