Vogue (song)

• A tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood, it became Madonna's first big hit of the 90s, reaching number one in the UK and the U.S.

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Chart success

Aided by both a single version and an extended remix, as well as a black and white video directed by David Fincher, the song shot to number one in every territory in which it was released. In the UK, the song knocked Snap!'s "The Power" off the number one slot and stayed there for four weeks, continuing a trend of club/pop crossovers going to number one. In the U.S., the single reached multi-platinum status. In Australia, it was released as a double A-Side to "Keep It Together", and it went to the top spot.

Massive airplay and sales demand in response to the popular music video (discussed below) in April 1990 made way for "Vogue"'s #39 debut the week of April 14. The song made it to #1 by it's sixth week, knocking Sinéad O'Connor out of the top spot, where "Nothing Compares 2 U" had ruled for four weeks. "Vogue" kept several singles in May 1990 from reaching #1, and was slow to descend off the chart, finally exiting the top 40 nine weeks after it left the top spot.

The success of "Vogue" boosted the sales of the I'm Breathless album, and combined with Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour, generated massive publicity for the Dick Tracy movie.

All Billboard information has been observed from charts and articles published by and through Billboard.

Music video

Madonna in a scene from the Vogue music video.

The video, directed by David Fincher, is widely considered one of Madonna's best. In 1993, Rolling Stone magazine listed the video as the twenty-eighth best music video of all-time. It was the third time Fincher and Madonna collaborated on a video (the first being 1989's "Express Yourself" and the second being 1989's "Oh Father").

Filmed in black-and-white, it recalls the look of 1930s Hollywood films with the use of artwork by the Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, and an Art Deco set design. Many of the scenes are recreations of photographs taken by noted photographer Horst P. Horst. Some of the close-up poses recreate noted portraits of such stars as Veronica Lake and Marlene Dietrich. (Additionally, several stars of this era are name-checked in the song's lyrics) Also the paintings were used on the design of the Open Your Heart video. There was some controversy surrounding the video because in one scene Madonna's breasts can be seen through her sheer blouse, as seen in the above picture. MTV wanted this part cut out, but Madonna refused and the video aired with the shot intact^{[citation needed]}; this was in fact a common shirt for women in the 1930's too. The video features the dancers from her Blond Ambition Tour and documentary Truth or Dare. The back-up singers in the video are Niki Haris and Donna DeLory, who have done back up for Madonna on numerous occasions. Niki Haris is also featured in the limousine scene in Madonna's "Music".

A live version of "Vogue", performed in the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, also proved popular. It featured Madonna and her dancers dressed in an 18th-century France theme, with Madonna bearing resemblance to executed French Queen Marie Antoinette. The performance was considered risqué, as Madonna and her dancers flashed their undergarments during their routine, and at one point Madonna pushed the faces of two male dancers into her breasts.

In 2004, Madonna opened her Re-Invention Tour with "Vogue", again using an 18th century-influenced theme. That version is included on the track setlists on I'm Going to Tell You A Secret

Official Versions

• Album Version - 4:50 (Shorter than the The Immaculate Collection version)
• Video Version - 4:50
• The Immaculate Album Edit - 5:18 (Longer than the I'm Breathless version)
• The Immaculate Video Edit - 5:18
• Single Mix - 4:21 (Altered introduction, but same version as the I'm Breathless version)
• 12" Version-8:26 (Used for "Vogue" remix video (edited), included in the "Royal Box" collection)
• Bette Davis Dub-7:28
• Strike-A-Pose Dub-7:36

Trivia

• One can clearly hear Madonna overdubbing the second half of each stanza in the "rap" section of the song. The timbre of her voice and the recorded atmosphere are not matched well enough to disguise that the vocal parts were altered after the fact. Presumably a rewrite of the rapped words would be the reason for the overdubs.
• An edit from The Immaculate Collection is featured on the soundtrack of The Devil Wears Prada. It is used over the montage in which Anne Hathaway's character starts dressing in fashionable clothing rather than the conservative preppy look she had hitherto been sporting. The song is also included on its soundtrack, rather than Jump.

Hollywood star names

The lyrics of the song reference the names of several Hollywood stars, in this order:

• Greta Garbo
• Marilyn Monroe
• Marlene Dietrich
• Joe DiMaggio
• Marlon Brando
• James Dean
• Grace Kelly
• Jean Harlow
• Gene Kelly
• Fred Astaire
• Ginger Rogers
• Rita Hayworth
• Lauren Bacall
• Katharine Hepburn
• Lana Turner
• Bette Davis

Nine of the stars were alive at the time the single was released: Greta Garbo (who died less than a month after "Vogue" was released), Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, and Lana Turner. As of August 2006, Bacall is the only one alive.

External links

• Vogue Lyrics

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