Lucky Star (Madonna song): Difference between revisions

For other uses of "Lucky Star", see Lucky Star.

"Lucky Star"
Song
B-side	"I Know It" "Everybody" (Japan)

"Lucky Star" is the fifth single by American singer-songwriter Madonna and was released in August 1984 by Sire Records. It appears on her 1983 debut studio album, Madonna, and on the 1990 hits compilation The Immaculate Collection.

Song history

"Lucky Star" was penned by Madonna and produced by Reggie Lucas. The song was released as the last single from her debut album in August 1984, charting in the top ten in multiple countries—ultimately peaking at number four in the United States, becoming Madonna's first top five charting single. The song's chorus is famed for incorporating the famous Mother Goose nursery rhyme "Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight…"

The song was originally released in September 1983 in the UK, but failed to make an impact on the charts (it debuted on the UK bubbling under chart at #171), though it eventually climbed to #14 on the UK singles chart after being re-promoted following the Top 10 success of "Holiday". The UK 7" single - in a 'Sunglasses' sleeve - is one of Madonna's rarest single releases and sells for around £500, while the 'Sunglasses' 12" is more common but still desirable and sells for £100.

The single's B-side was the album version of "I Know It," a song written by Madonna. On the German 7" vinyl single, the song "Think of Me" was included as the B-side. Again, like "I Know It", "Think of Me" was also originally included on Madonna's debut album. Some maxi-singles also featured "Borderline" as a B-side.

Music video

File:Luckystar music video.jpg

A split screen from the music video showing Madonna in her boy-toy look, and flanked by her backup dancers

The music video was filmed in February 1984 in Los Angeles and was directed by Arthur Pierson. The video showed Madonna dancing around with her backup dancers (her brother Christopher and friend Erica Bell), dressed in black on a white background.

The video exploited her "Boy Toy" image and featured Madonna with a wild haircut and dressed in black punky clothes, that she would later describe as 'rags'. Styled by designer Maripol. The video is also famous for showing off her much talked about belly button. Madonnas brother Christopher wrote about the experience in his book "Life With My Sister Madonna" He wrote the video was shot at the old Charlie Chaplin studio. He and Erica where only paid $200 hundred dollars for dancing and have not received any royalties at all. After the shoot they all went and "danced the night away" at studio One which is above Rose Tattoo. Two versions of the video were released commercially: an extended version using an edited remix of the song was released on Madonna's first 1984 video collection Madonna (which also included "Burning Up", "Borderline", and "Like A Virgin"), and a shorter version using the album edit of the song was released on the 1990 compilation The Immaculate Collection.

• Director: Arthur Pierson
• Producer: Glenn Goodwin
• Director of Photography: Wayne Isham
• Art Director: Madonna
• Production Company: Faultline Films

Live performances

Madonna has performed "Lucky Star" during three of her concert tours, firstly on 1985's The Virgin Tour, again on 1987's Who's That Girl World Tour, and most recently 2006's Confessions Tour, featuring the bassline of following song "Hung Up".

Trivia

• Madonna re-recorded this song in 1990 for The Immaculate Collection but this version was later abandoned and a remix of the original was used. (This 1990 version has surfaced on the internet - the backing track appears to be the same.)
• This video was ranked number fifty on MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made.
• This song was featured in the movie Running on Empty in the scene where River Phoenix's character is in music class.
• This song was featured twice in the movie Snatch. First as character Bullet Tooth Tony is shot and second as he assaults another man. Upon hearing this he proclaims: "I love this track."

Personnel

• Vocals by Madonna.
• Arranged by Dean Gant
• Synthesizers by Dean Gant, Programming- Ed Walsh.
• Electric and acoustic pianos by Dean Gant
• Guitars by Reggie Lucas, Ira Siegal and Paul Pesco.
• Drum programming by Reggie Lucas and Leslie Ming.
• Tenor saxophone by Bobby Malach.
• Background vocals by Gwen Guthrie, Norma Jean Wright, Madonna, Brenda White and Chrissy Faith.

Credits

• Written by Madonna
• Produced by Reggie Lucas.
• Remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez.

Chart performance

"Lucky Star" became Madonna's first Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. More importantly, the single was the first of 16 consecutive Top 5 hits on the chart for her, a feat that surpassed even The Beatles' record. The track also had modest showings on both the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts.

The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at #49, the week of August 25, 1984, becoming Madonna's highest debuting single at that time. The single experienced notable strides during its journey up the chart, finally peaking at #4 the week of October 20, 1984. "Lucky Star" remained in the Top 10 for 5 weeks, in the Top 20 for 8 weeks, and in the Top 40 for 12 weeks.

In the UK, the song was a moderate success, peaking within the Top 20 in March 1984. The original release, in Sept 1983, missed the Top 100. "Lucky Star" is one of only seven Madonna singles to miss the UK Top 10 (Everybody - 1982, Take A Bow - 1994, Oh Father - 1996, One More Chance - 1996, Love Profusion - 2003 and Miles Away - 2008 being the others).

In Australia, the first territory where Madonna had enjoyed immediate chart success, the single performed rather modestly, only reaching #36 in November 1984. This can perhaps be attributed to the large Australian sales of the parent album throughout the year and the release of the "Like a Virgin" single within weeks of "Lucky Star"'s chart debut.

Chart (1983)	Peak Position
U.S. Hot Dance Club Play	1
UK Singles Chart	171

Chart (1984)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales	6
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	19
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	42
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	3
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	36
Canadian Singles Chart	16
Irish Singles Chart	19
South African Singles Chart	4 (1986)
UK Singles Chart	14

Official versions

Original versions

• Lucky Star (Album Version) 5:37
• Lucky Star (Immaculate Collection Version) 3:37

Remixes

• Lucky Star (Extended Dance Remix) 7:15
• Lucky Star (El Gato Remix) 7:24

Included on

• Madonna
• The Immaculate Collection
• Snatch Original Soundtrack
• The Confessions Tour

References

• "Chart Performance of Madonna Records - A Compiled History" (2004). MLVC.ORG: Charts Retrieved from http://charts.mlvc.org/CHThist.php on December 9, 2005.
• "Holiday" (2004). Madonna: Single Summaries Retrieved from http://www.madonnanation.com/charts/ on December 9, 2005.
• Mad-Eyes.net - "Lucky Star" Single Page