In any bar in Los Angeles there are eight people, all men, elegantly dressed, sitting around a table. They are having a lively discussion, and the language doesn’t match their outfits. The topic of the discussion is the meaning of Like a Virgin by Madonnaand two totally opposite visions of the text emerge.
One of the men believes that the song is about a girl looking for increasingly satisfying forms of sex, while the other says that the song is about the fragility of feelings. The discussion is grotesque, and it doesn’t take long to heat up.
It looks like a scene from a movie. And indeed it is.
It was clear from the start that it would be a controversial song
On 18 September 1984 Madonna took part in the very first edition of the MTV Video Music Awards. The singer, who would soon become an icon of her own, had just come off an incredible year, boosted by the success of her first album. However, despite the singles on the first album, Madonna decides to perform an unreleased song at the VMA’s. This is the first time the world has listened Like a Virginready to become one of the most controversial songs of the 80s (and beyond).
The performance is iconic, controversial and caused a lot of discussion at the time. Not so much for the title of the song – which caused a lot of discussion anyway – but for the performance itself: live on television Madonna appears in a wedding dress, with the words “Toy Boy” clearly visible, and ends the song by simulating an orgasm. “It’s a disaster”, they think from higher up, “they will destroy it in the media”. The authors of the song think so too. Yes, because Like a Virgin is not a song written by Madonna.
The song will be officially released a month and a half later, chosen as the launch single for the album of the same name.
The story of Like a Virgin: the song Madonna never wrote
The song is one of many coming from the drawer of the I-Tena duo of authors composed of Billy Steinberg e Tom Kelly. To be honest, the song has been in that drawer for quite a while, since no record company wants to offer it for their artists, mainly because of the lyrics. And then the title.
To avoid any misunderstanding: Steinberg and Kelly are not two naive people. They have already written So Emotional per Whitney Houston e True Colors per Cyndi Lauper. And then again Alone from the Heart e Eternal Flame from the Bangles. In short, they know how to do it with female voices, as all of the songs just mentioned went to number 1 in the US. And guess who hasn’t reached a #1 hit in the US yet? Exactly, exactly Madonna.
The Sire Records (the singer’s label, owned by Warner) does not miss the opportunity, especially because for an artist like Madonna, controversy is more of an opportunity than a risk. And so if the title of the song was already scandalous in itself (at least for those years), imagine it associated with the name Madonna, who had already been accused of blasphemy for the choice of her stage name (in reality Madonna is the real name of singer, baptized herself Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone). Madonna, the biblical virgin, singing “Like a Virgin”.
In reality, the genesis of the song is far from immediate. Billy Steinberg wrote the lyrics, inspired by a difficult moment in his life, but there is no music yet. Together with Tom Kelly he senses that the song has potential, but they can’t make it work. The verses would work too, but that chorus sounds weird. The two understand that the problem lies in the interpretation: one cannot sing a phrase he recites “like a virgin” in an impetuous and rock way, it wouldn’t be credible. Must falsify it. And so they do. Although the result of the demo (sung by Kelly) seems ridiculous to both of us, they know that with the right voice everything could change.
So they put it in the famous drawer, waiting for the right voice which will not be long in arriving.
The legendary also enters the scene Nile Rodgers of Chic, in charge of producing Madonna’s second album. Rodgers immediately sets the record straight: it’s done the old fashioned way. No synthesized tracks (which characterized the first album), the songs will all be played by musicians. And then he calls in a couple of the same Chics, always ready to take up the instruments and make history.
It will become Madonna’s first single to reach number one in the United States. Spoiler: he won’t be the only one.
The meaning of Like a Virgin by Madonna
Let’s go back to the discussion in that bar in Los Angeles, at that table where the discussion is taking place the meaning of the lyrics of Like a Virgin by Madonna. The two interpretations are actually both sensible, given that there is a clear distinction between who wrote the text and who interpreted it.
The author Billy Steinberg has repeatedly said that the text was born after the end of a very important romantic relationship. After the disappointment, Steinberg then met another woman, and felt like he was reborn. Like a Virgin, therefore, in the sense that with the new partner everything seemed to have the flavor of the first time. Here’s how Billy Steinberg himself told the genesis of the text:
“I remember writing the lyrics to Like a Virgin while driving in a red pickup truck that I owned. I had been in a very emotionally difficult relationship that had finally ended and I had met a new person. I remember writing that lyric feeling clear and new – I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it – I made it through this very difficult time.”
There is certainly a downside Madonna’s provocative personalitywhich with his performance (see the performance at the VMA’s above) he definitely has loaded with sensuality the entire song.
In this regard, it is interesting to read the text trying to forget the sung version. Read in isolation, the text is clearly a romantic song. But then the Queen of Pop comes into play. And in pop you don’t become monarchs by chance.
The lyrics to Like a Virgin
I made it through the wilderness
Somehow I made it through
Didn’t know how lost I was until I found you
I was beat, incomplete
I’d been had, I was sad and blue, but you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel shiny and newLike a virgin
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
When your heart beats next to mineGonna give you all my love, boy
My fear is fading fast
Been saving it all for you, ‘cause only love can last
You’re so fine and you’re mine
Make me strong, yeah you make me bold, oh your love thawed out
Yeah, your love thawed out what was scared and coldLike a virgin (Hey)
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
With your heartbeat next to mineYou’re so fine and you’re mine
I’ll be yours ‘til the end of time ‘cause you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel I’ve nothing to hide
Cultural legacy (between controversies and provocations)
As anticipated, Like a Virgin was at the center of numerous controversies, both for the ambiguous meaning of the lyrics and for Madonna’s provocative performances. Those who were present at the Rome concert in 2009 remember, for example, when the singer dedicated the song to Pope Benedict XVI, presenting the song thus: “I dedicate this song to the Pope, because I am a daughter of God. All of you are also children of God”.
Since its release in 1984, the song has been targeted above all by Catholics, due to the aforementioned juxtaposition between the artist’s name and the title of the song. Many believed that Madonna was mocking their faith. The singer’s response? None, except other provocative titles such as Like a Prayer.
He PMRC
It is also worth mentioning that the song has been the subject of discussion among celebrities processes conducted by Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). This is certainly not the place to retrace the history of the PMRC, but for those who don’t know it, it is enough to know that it was a committee formed by a group of women (almost all wives of high-ranking exponents of the American government of the mid-1990s). 80). These, led by Tipper Gore (Al Gore’s wife), wanted to ban the marketing of music with content deemed violent, anti-Christian or “dangerous”.
Artists of the caliber of also returned to the center of the controversy Prince e Frank Zappa (who was one of the major opponents of the PMRC), as well as Madonna. Ironically, although Like a Virgin was targeted by the PMRC, it was not included in the list of offending songs, as the lyrics were all in all innocent. However, it was included in the list of songs Dress You Up by Madonna, which in itself seems like a decidedly ridiculous choice when reading the text.
Fortunately, the PMRC was unable to ban anything, but it did get the obligation specify whether a particular record contains violent lyrics, sexual references or vulgar language. Thus was born the era of the Explicit Content label, still mandatory by law today. The paradox? As often happens when trying to do prohibition, albums with that label tended to sell much more, as young people found them more appealing.
Maybe it would have been more interesting and constructive to sit at that table in that bar in Los Angeles.
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