What does everybody think of this song? I'm having trouble getting into it. It's quite a strange song - not sure what it is...a lack of melody?

Penny for your thoughts...

Brilliant. My two idols on the same track. Love it.

On a less "hysterical fan" level - I actually think that their voices really compliment each other. It sounded so "Prince" and it fitted so well on the Like a Prayer album which is one of my favourites.

Love Song was originally going to be a 'Camille' track.
But at some point during the recording process Prince
changed his mind. If you speed the track up until his
vocals sound in the right 'Camille' pitch, you'll hear
that the track was originally a faster & more upbeat song.
Unfortunately, Madonna's vocals were recorded after
the decision had been made to use the track slowed down,
so she sounds like a chipmunk, but you get the idea.
[This message was edited Wed Feb 12 1:47:21 PST 2003 by BorisFishpaw]

BorisFishpaw said:

Thanks for this Boris - never knew that!

x

Their voices go well together and the song is very minimalist (in classic 80s Prince style), but it is not the greatest Prince song around. Nor is it the worst. It just sort of sits there and sings to you and then goes away.

It's OK though I don't feel i'll be missing anything if i never hear it again.

I think i'll die another day..

Interviewer: You and Prince wrote "Love Song" together, which is a wonderful song. Did you and he work together or did he give you a track?

Madonna: No, he didn't give me a track. We sat down and just started fooling around. We had a lot of fun. What happened is that he played the drums and I played the synthesizer and we came up with the original melody line; I just, off the top of my head, started singing lyrics into the microphone. And then he overdubbed some guitar stuff and made a loop of it and sent it to me, and then I just started adding sections to it and singing parts to it. And then I sent it back to him, and he'd sing a part to it and add another instrument and send it back to me...it was like this sentence that turned into a paragraph that turned into a little miniseries. So it was great. It was a completely different way to work. And because of our schedules and everything, and he was in Minnesota and he likes to work there and I like to work here. So we kind of sent it back and forth. He's great. He's a real interesting...unique talent.

Interviewer: And it was an easy connection from the beginning for the two of you?

Madonna: Yeah, it was. We started out being real admirers of each other's work. And, you know, we're already successful so we didn't have to prove anything to each other. We were on the same level. And I don't think he's had that same opportunity with other people that he's worked with. Because generally he tends to dominate everything.

Interviewer: "Act of Contrition," the closing track of Like a Prayer, has backwards masking and other mysterious elements. Did he have anything to do with that one as well? The credits only say, "Produced by the powers that be."

Madonna: Yeah, he did. He played guitar on it. He also played guitar on "Keep it Together."

Interviewer: I noticed on "Act of Contrition" that you have the choir from "Like a Prayer" reversed on that.

Madonna: Yeah, we turned the tape and played everything backwards.

Interviewer: Your idea?

Madonna: Yeah. And then, of course, the whole thing, the saying of the prayer (on "Act of Contrition") and everything, that was totally conceived of in the studio, in the control room. Pat put out a microphone, and I just started fooling around; and that was free-form, too. Whatever was on my head. It's totally unedited.

Interviewer: You, Prince and Michael Jackson were all born in the same year, 1958--

Madonna: I know. Isn't that weird? And I think Michael's birthday is right near mine, in August...there are so many Leos in my life. I'm August 16.

Interviewer: The three of you have had such an enormous effect on popular music. Yet recently it seems that both Prince's and Michael Jackson's connection with the world has weakened while yours has strengthened and become more intimate and personal. Do you feel that?

Madonna: Yes. I think because I stay in touch with the world, and I think that Michael Jackson and Prince have really isolated themselves. And they live very isolated lives. There's so much fearfulness and so much inhibition that comes with when you become a celebrity and you're in the public eye all the time; I think you really have to fight that temptation to go into hiding and surround yourself with people who protect you and keep life out from you. I don't want to live that way. I don't want to crawl into a hole. I don't want to go around with six bodyguards, you know?

Interviewer: You don't wear disguises or anything?

Madonna: No, no. I go running everyday in my neighborhood. People bother me all the time, but it's important for me to stay in touch with--it sounds cliched--with the street. I go to movie theaters. I can't deal with separating myself that way. I didn't struggle my way out of Michigan so I could crawl into a hole.

Interviewer: Both you and Prince have concentrated in your work on the separation in our lives between sexuality and religion. Has this been a conscious attempt in your life, to connect these two forces?

Madonna: Yes, absolutely. And I think that's the problem in relationships. That's why everyone has affairs and they cheat on their wives or their husbands. People separate things. They have someone they idolize, and then they idolize them so much that they put them on a pedestal and see them as so virginal and holy that they can't have fun with them. And then they have to find people to have fun with and get low-down and dirty. They don't let the id in themselves come out, know what I mean? I think you have to put the two together with people. You have to let both of them surface. And it has so much to do with being honest with yourself and the people you're with. Say, "This is me and this is what I want."

"Love Song" is a great song,really moody and dramatic.I think Prince and Maddy's voices blend well on this tune.However,the lyrics are kinda repetitive,and the song could have used another verse or two.


In September 1987,Prince asked Madonna to co-star in 'Graffiti Bridge' with him.Perhaps this song was gonna appear in the movie? Maybe they were gonna be singing it to each other (presumably during a break-up scene)?

I have never heard this song!
I am a fan of Madonna, but I never bought that album. I don't remember ever hearing it. If I have heard it, then I have forgotten it.

I couldn't get in2 this song 4 some reason, I probably listened 2 it once or twice then that was it

I think this track is a non-starter. It doesn't go anywhere. Not his best effort.

wendy said:

You're a fan of Madonna,but you never bought her 'Like A Prayer' album??? That's blasphemy!!

geezus

"love song" was a disappointment, a mediocre song imho

Never did anything for me. I don't hate it but it's just bearable...

DavidEye said:

I'm definately NOT a fan of Madonna, and even i have it.It's an essential album, probably her best, but this is one of the weaker tracks on it.

i was just groovin to this a couple of days ago. i definitely didn't appreciate it when it was out, but now i like!
funniest moment on the track: when madonna says "embrace-moi" and p goes, "huh?" that's pure brilliance!

It's OK, pretty standard fodder for the time period it is from.

That was after his peak really, so it's not one of his best - bit of a snooze-fest to be honest.

love song together with 101 makes up his finest girlssongs

This song is kinda hard 2 listen,,,hard to groove with.

I dislike it alot.

in reading this thread i have found so many new and interesting ways to say a song sucks. just say it guys, come on!

IAM said:

Aight,,,it sucks

Harlepolis said:

and that's how it's done...

DavidEye said:

That's an awesome album. I'm NOT a Madonna fan - I guess you could call me a really, really casual Madonna appreciator - but 'Like A Prayer' is one of my very FAVORITE albums of all the music I own. Some really great songs on that one.

Though I never got much into "Love Song". It's OK but not the best on the album, IMO.


stupid spelling edit
[This message was edited Wed Feb 12 14:04:03 PST 2003 by SnowQueen]

Kind of ironic, as big of a Prince AND Madonna fan as I am, this song has never really done all that much for me.

Not good enough for a Prince album, but good enough for a Madonna album.

Jt puts on flame shield...

I absolutely love this song! I really dig the machinery sounds for percussion and weird shit like that. I also think it's really funny that Prince sings the high part and Madonna sings the low part. Same thing would happen with me.


I love the spoken/french parts. OUI!!! I really dig counterpoint melodies, so I like how the vocal lines intertwine, and go from Q&A to backing each other up. So very cool.

I just love all the crazy random music in it too. IMO, it's brilliant. The brass section is pretty groovy. I love the part when it goes MIIIND, with the volume swelling up, and when he says "what?". I dig that.

At the very end, right before Madonna says "This is not a love song that I want to sing", when he says "Yeeeaaah" in the background, I love how that sounds. Some of Prince's best vocalizations are on this song.

This is of course, My Humble Opinion.

jtgillia said:

you really think some of the stuff on HIS 1989 album is better than Love Song?


Arms Of Orion?

Not Worth the Hype of there Names IMHO.just kinda there.