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Rating: In 1992, Madonna had released "Erotica," her most provocative, ambitious, outrageous, and experimental album.
The result was disastrous: critics spoke of empty sensationalism and for the first time in nearly a decade, the public didn't enthusiastically follow Ciccone's choices; even some die-hard fans glossed over it and didn't purchase the album.
With 5 million copies sold, it was (and still is) the least sold album of Madonna's career (although today critics tend to strongly reevaluate it as pioneering and innovative).
Two years later, Madonna, being the good chameleon and shrewd manager of her music, reinvented herself for the umpteenth time: she released "Bedtime Stories" and decisively changed her look and sound.
While "Erotica" was cold and detached, "Bedtime Stories" is warm and enveloping. Just look at the two cover photos to realize the change: in "Erotica," we see a drawn Madonna simulating a gesture of pleasure with parted lips (on the back, you could even see the singer voluptuously sucking a big toe) while on "Bedtime Stories," there's a photo of the artist in a close-up smiling serenely in a robe: on the back, she's seen lying on a bed.
The entire album is marked by a very warm sound, pulsing with embracing rhythms and influenced by R'n'B sounds. Madonna abandoned previous collaborators and enlisted help from Nelly Hooper, Babyface, and for one track, Bjork.
The result is uneven: some songs sound saccharine ("Forbidden Love") or tired and monotonous ("I'd Rather Be Your Lover", "Don't Stop") while others align with simple and melodic pop standards ("Inside Of Me").
However, there's part of the album that contains some Madonna gems: the very experimental "Bedtime Stories" co-written with Bjork, which is a description of an erotic dream, where the singer makes heavy use of electronics, creating a dark and dreamlike atmosphere. The track was the third single from the album and was supported by the most expensive video in Madonna's history. However, the single's success was quite limited because the track was too avant-garde for the pop standards of the time.
Another beautiful track is "Secret", one of Madonna's absolute masterpieces: a syncopated beat runs through the entire track and the singer, with her usual warm timbre, sings about a love secret that will never be revealed in the song, leaving the listener free to interpret the song's meanings, just as every true work of art should do. The support video for "Secret" (the first single from the album) is a splendid black-and-white clip shot in the streets of New Orleans: the track achieved good success both critically and publicly, reaching the 3rd position on the U.S. singles chart.
A noteworthy mention also goes to "Take a Bow", perhaps Madonna's most famous ballad: the track is to this date, Madonna's most successful single in the United States. It managed to remain number one on the Billboard chart (the U.S. singles chart) for seven weeks: in Europe, the success was less, and it didn't manage to enter the UK chart (one of the few instances where Madonna missed the target, with around sixty singles placed there: "Take a Bow" is one of the few excluded from the favor of the British).
Another track worth mentioning is "Human Nature": in the song, the old lioness lashes out against U.S. conservatism, fiercely defending her previous work "Erotica" and going on to sing "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me". In this cheerful slow-dance piece, Madonna defends her artistic freedom and claims the possibility for herself to talk about sex. Additionally, Madonna accuses the listener, saying that if she had been a man, the "Erotica" uproar wouldn't have happened. The song was the fourth and last single from the album and was supported by a video featuring the singer in black latex and high heels parodying herself in the "Erotica" video, demonstrating a strong dose of irony.
Time has proven her right in seeing precisely in her tenacious will to break sexual taboos in Western pop music her most characteristic and original trait.
Overall, "Bedtime Stories" is a calm and relaxing album, which in the mentioned tracks reaches some of the artist's climaxes, but unfortunately, in the rest of its production, it is too standardized and lacks originality.
The album had a fairly good success with critics and the public, reaching the top 3 in major world charts and selling about 6 million copies, a much greater success than the 5 million of "Erotica" (in fact, times had changed, the record industry was going through a deep crisis from which it has never recovered, and in 1992 20 million albums could still be sold, while by 1994 an album that managed to sell 10 million copies was already considered a bestseller).
Last curiosity: with "Bedtime Stories" Madonna casts her last look (although relaxed and melancholic) on sexuality: the singer was preparing for "Evita," but above all for the great metamorphosis of "Ray of Light," which represents the beginning of Ciccone's spiritual phase and the almost total abandonment (at least for the time being) of her opinions on sexual taboos.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Survival (03:31)
Verse:
I'll never be an angel
I'll never be a saint it's true
I'm too busy surviving
Whether it's heaven or hell
I'm gonna be living to tell, so
Bridge:
Here's my story [my story]
No risk no glory [no glory]
A little
Chorus:
Up and down and all around
It's all about survival
(verse)
Here's my question [my question]
Does your criticism [criticism]
Have you caught up in what you cannot see
Well if you give me respect
Then you'll know what to expect, a little
(chorus, repeat)
(verse)
(bridge)
(chorus, repeat 3 times)
[Up and down and all around]
I'll never be an angel
[Up and down and all around, survival]
[Up and down and all around]
I'll never be a saint it's true
[Up and down and all around, survival]
(repeat and fade)
02 Secret (05:05)
Things haven't been the same
Since you came into my life
You found a way to touch my soul
And I'm never, ever, ever gonna let it go
Bridge:
Happiness lies in your own hand
It took me much too long to understand
How it could be
Until you shared your secret with me
Chorus:
Mmm mmm (skip for the first two times)
Something's comin' over, mmm mmm
Something's comin' over, mmm mmm
Something's comin' over me
My baby's got a secret
You gave me back the paradise
That I thought I lost for good
You helped me find the reasons why
It took me by surprise that you understood
You knew all along
What I never wanted to say
Until I learned to love myself
I was never ever lovin' anybody else
(bridge)
(chorus, repeat)
(bridge)
(chorus, repeat)
Mmm mmm, my baby's got a secret
Mmm mmm, my baby's got a secret
Mmm mmm, my baby's got a secret for me
Mmm mmm, mmm mmm, mmm mmm
05 Inside of Me (04:11)
I can't stop thinking of you
The things we used to do
The secrets we once shared
I'll always find them there
In my memories
But this heartache isn't going anywhere
In the public eye I act like I don't care
When there's no one watching me
I'm crying
Chorus:
I will always have you, inside of me
Even though you're gone
Love still carries on
Love, inside of me
I keep a picture of you
Next to my bed at night
And when I wake up scared
I know I'll find you there
Watching over me
Bridge:
When my world seems to crumble all around
And foolish people try to bring me down
I just think of your smiling face
And I'm flying
(chorus)
You'll always be inside of my heart
Inside of me
(bridge)
(chorus)
I will always have you, inside of me
Even though you're gone
Love still carries on
Love still carries on
I will always feel you
You'll always be inside of my heart
I'll always have you inside of me
I will always have you
09 Sanctuary (05:02)
(Spoken:)
Surely whoever speaks to me in the right voice
Him or her I shall follow
Who needs the sun, when the rain's so full of life
Who needs the sky
It's here in your arms I want to be buried
You are my sanctuary
Who needs the sun, when the rain's so full of life
Who needs the sky, when the ground's open wide
It's here in your arms I want to be buried
You are my sanctuary
Who needs a smile, when a tear's so full of love
Who needs a home, with the stars up above
It's here in your heart I want to be carried
You are my sanctuary
Who needs the light, with the darkness in your eyes
Who needs to sleep, with the stars in the sky
It's here in your soul I want to be married
You are my sanctuary
(Spoken:)
And the earth was void and empty
And darkness was upon the face of the earth
Is all of this pain so necessary
You are my sanctuary
(Spoken:)
Surely whoever speaks to me in the right voice
Him or her I shall follow
As the water follows the moon, silently
Who needs the sun [with fluid steps]
Who needs the sky [around the globe]
Who needs to sleep [I hear your voice]
You are [you are] my sanctuary
You are [you are, you are]
You are [you are] my sanctuary
10 Bedtime Story (04:53)
Today
Is the last day
That I'm using words
They've gone out
Lost their meaning
Don't function anymore
Let's get unconscious honey
Today, is the last day
That I'm using words
They've gone out, lost their meaning
Don't function anymore
Traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, to the arms of unconsciousness
Traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, to the arms of unconsciousness
Let's get unconscious honey
Let's get unconscious
Let's get unconscious honey
Let's get unconscious
Words are useless
Especially sentences
They don't stand for anything
How could they explain how I feel
Traveling, traveling, I'm traveling
Traveling, traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, traveling, I'm gonna relax
Traveling, traveling, in the arms of unconsciousness...
Let's get unconscious honey
Let's get unconscious
Let's get unconscious honey
Let's get unconscious
And inside
We're all still wet
Longing and yearning
How can I explain how I feel?
Traveling, traveling
Traveling, traveling
Traveling, traveling, in the arms of unconsciousness
And all that you ever learned
Try to forget
I'll never explain again
11 Take a Bow (05:21)
Take a bow, the night is over
This masquerade is getting older
Lights are low, the curtains down
There's no one here
[There's no one here, there's no one in the crowd]
Say your lines but do you feel them
Do you mean what you say when there's no one around [no one around]
Watching you, watching me, one lonely star
[One lonely star you don't know who you are]
Chorus:
I've always been in love with you [always with you]
I guess you've always known it's true [you know it's true]
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye [bye bye], say good-bye
Make them laugh, it comes so easy
When you get to the part
Where you're breaking my heart [breaking my heart]
Hide behind your smile, all the world loves a clown
[Just make 'em smile the whole world loves a clown]
Wish you well, I cannot stay
You deserve an award for the role that you played [role that you played]
No more masquerade, you're one lonely star
[One lonely star and you don't know who you are]
(chorus, repeat)
Say good-bye [bye bye], say good-bye
All the world is a stage [world is a stage]
And everyone has their part [has their part]
But how was I to know which way the story'd go
How was I to know you'd break
[You'd break, you'd break, you'd break]
You'd break my heart
I've always been in love with you
[I've always been in love with you]
Guess you've always known
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye [bye bye], say good-bye
Say good-bye
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Other reviews
By The_dull_flame
'Bedtime Stories' is warm and enveloping, pure pop pleasure.
'Bedtime Story' is pure avant-garde, a piece written by none other than Bjork, and perhaps the best on the album for its experimentalism.
By pluto1992
This album is about a return; the return of a woman battered by what 'Sex' and 'Erotica' were.
Her 'Bedtime Stories' are beautiful songs put together with art and taste.
By Darius
"I’ll never be an angel, I’ll never be a saint it’s true, I’m too busy surviving."
"Human Nature is the response to all the critics who fiercely criticized her image as a femme fatale and sexual manipulator."
By Danny The Kid
"The voice is pathetic, truly pathetic: flat, tragically ill-suited to communicate anything."
"They call you the queen of pop, but you are not, you never have been, and you never will be."
