La Isla Bonita: Difference between revisions

"La Isla Bonita"
Song

"La Isla Bonita" (English: The Beautiful Island) is the fifth and final single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her third studio album, True Blue. The single was released on February 25, 1987 by Sire Records. The song has later appeared in a shortened version on the 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection and in its original form on the Japanese version of the 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember as a bonus track.

The song is noted for being the first Madonna song to have a Spanish influence in it with arrangements of Cuban drums and Spanish guitar, maracas, harmonicas and a mix of synthesized and real drumming. The lyrics of the song tell about a Beautiful Island and was a tribute to the beauty of the Latin people according to Madonna.

"La Isla Bonita" achieved worldwide popularity topping charts in UK, Germany, France, Belgium but reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The music video had Madonna portraying two opposite characters. The Latin style and the flamenco red dress worn by her became a new trend. The song is among one of the most performed live songs by Madonna appearing in five of her world tours including 2008's Sticky & Sweet Tour. Madonna has played this song mostly in its Spanish form with sometimes tribal or folk songs and remixes to accompany it. The song has been covered by a number of artist including French pop singer Alizée for her album Psychédélices.

Writing and inspiration

"La Isla Bonita" was written by Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch. The song was intended for Michael Jackson for his Bad album, who, according to Gaitsch, turned it down. While working with Leonard on the True Blue album, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place, and re-wrote the song's lyrics thus earning herself a co-writing credit. The song was the first Madonna song to employ Spanish motifs, going so far as to include Spanish lyrics. The Spanish theme would reoccur throughout her career, manifesting itself in lyrics for "Who's That Girl", "Spanish Eyes", "I'm Going Bananas", the Spanish version of "You'll See" called "Verás", "Be Careful" which was a duet with Ricky Martin, "Sorry", "Lo Que Siente La Mujer" - the version in Spanish for her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl," and "Spanish Lesson" on the Hard Candy album. Madonna described the song as her tribute to the "beauty and mystery of Latin American people". According to her "Latin rhythms often dominate our uptempo compositions..[..]..It's like we're possessed. We both think that we were Latin in another life

Music structure and lyrics

"La Isla Bonita" is a Spanish pop song. It is one of the characteristic works of the collaboration between Madonna and Patrick Leonard. The single mixes the sound of different instruments like Cuban drums and Spanish guitar, maracas and harmonicas and a mix of synthesized and real drumming. The song is written in the key of C minor. It is set in common time like most pop songs moving at a moderate tempo of 95 beats per minute. Madonna's vocal range spans two octaves, from G₃ to C₅. The song starts with a musical introduction, performed on a Cuban drum. Then the song descends into synthesized beats and Spanish guitar fusion. Madonna sings the chorus in the same G₃ to C₅ range. After the second chorus there is a Spanish guitar interlude whence Madonna's voice expands to G major as she sings "I want to be where the sun warms the sky" and then comes down to a C minor when she sings "loves a girl". There is another musical interlude with a harmonica and the song, after another chorus, ends with fading out and Madonna's voice uttering the words "Ei dijo que te ama (He said he loves you)".

The word "La Isla Bonita" literally translates to The Beautiful Island in English. The song has four lines sung in Spanish, a theme which Madonna later incorporated in her 1987 single "Who's That Girl". The lyrics first describe Madonna as a tourist who prays "that the days would last, they went so fast" simultaneously isolating the other Latin people as them,("you can watch them go by"). In her book Women and popular music, author Sheila Whitley said that the chorus of the song places its emphasis on the incantatory present participle ("Tropically island breeze, all the nature wild and free, this is where I long to be). The song draws connotations from the supplicant before its explicit focus on the chorus.

The first line of the song along with the title refer to an island called 'San Pedro'. Some believe the island is Ambergris Caye in the nation of Belize, as the song may also mention the principal village there called San Pedro Town. However, Gaitsch has mentioned that at that time, Madonna was spending time in an US town of the same name, and both Madonna and her then husband Sean Penn were good friends with a poet called San Pedro and novelist Charles Bukowski. Madonna herself hasnot cleared this doubt in any interview. Instead she referred the song as being a tribute to Latin America and its people, alongwith an island and to herself.

Reception

Critical reception

In a review for the album The Immaculate Collection, David Browne of Entertainment Weekly compared the song with the moves of Carmen Miranda on MTV.

Chart performance

"La Isla Bonita" debuted at number fifty-six and reached a peak of number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March, 1987. The song was Madonna's second number one single on the adult contemporary chart, following 1986's "Live to Tell". At the time of its release it was the eleventh consecutive top 5 hit for Madonna, a feat surpassed by the Beatles and Elvis, which later Madonna surpassed with her 2008 single "4 Minutes". The single also found its success on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart by peaking it.

Internationally, "La Isla Bonita" was a worldwide hit reaching number one in various countries, including the UK, Canada and Germany. In Canada the song debuted at number seventy-four for the issue dated April 4, 1987 and reached the top of the chart in its tenth week on the issue dated June 6, 1987 staying on the chart for twenty-five weeks. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. The single was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 250,000. "La Isla Bonita" was Madonna's first number-one song in France, where it spent three weeks at the top spot in July 1987. In Europe, it became her fourth number one hit from True Blue, topping the Eurochart Hot 100 for three weeks in 1987. The song also peaked the charts in Switzerland, Belgium and Austria along with reaching the top-five in Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, ,Norway and Sweden.

Music video

File:Laislabonitamusicvideo.jpg

Madonna, dressed in a red Spanish flamenco style dress, portrays the passionate second character dancing in her room, in the music video for "La Isla Bonita".

The music video was set in Los Angeles and was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed a number of her 1980's videos including those for "Borderline" and "Like a Prayer". Benicio del Toro appeared in the video as a background character. The video world-premiered on MTV on March 6, 1987. The video starts with showing a number of Latin people dancing in a Spanish barrio. Madonna watches them from her window. She plays two different characters in the video; a boyishly-dressed Catholic woman and a colourful Flamenco dancer. The characters are quite opposite in their portrayal which is emphasized by two opposing settings for the characters. Firstly, the shows a sparsely decorated room, with an altar, pictures of Hispanic people on the wall. Madonna plays a pale pious girl in a white petticoat and short hair brushed back. She cries in her room and reluctantly ignores the invitation of the Latinos in the street to join them. The austerity and the passivity of the first character is however contrasted vividly with the passion and activity of the second character. Madonna in this portrayal wears a red voluminous extravagant Spanish style dress with a decolletagé and middle parting in the skirt while wearing red carnations in her hair. Complementing this passionate look, the second setting features a bright red room with red candles and candelabra. While the spiritual and submissive Madonna watches the Latinos and prays in her room, the passionate Madonna dances and leaves the room to join the dancers in the streets.

While both settings seem to suggest that the Madonna character(s) live in the barrio and may be Latina themselves, the portrayal of Madonna in the dancing scenes (lush, flashy, colourful) contrasts with the Latinos in the street (sparsely worn out dresses). She dances around and even flirts but does not get really involved with them as the last scene shows Madonna dancing off the screen. The video symbolises the link between Latino Culture and Catholicism. The two Madonna characters symbolize the restrained and passionate side of Catholicism, which author Rettenmund has described as Madonna's take on the religion. The Latinos in the video are portrayed as stereotypes as in people with no care in the world, unemployed adults, school deprived children and a crumbling barrio. However, the music video was critically appreciated for its utilization of Hispanic fashion as an icon of beauty and romanticism. Collen McDanell, in his book Material Christianity, noted Madonna's use of Catholic objects in the video like the candlestands and home shrines, thereby giving them a new meaning according to her own. Author Douglas Kelner noted, "such 'multiculturalism' and her culturally transgressive moves turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her to large and varied youth audiences". Madonna's Spanish look in the video became popular and appeared in the fashion trends at that time in the form of boleros and layered skirts accessorising with rosary beads and crucifix like the video.

• Director: Mary Lambert
• Producers: David Naylor, Sharon Oreck
• Director of Photography: Bryan Loftus
• Editor: Glenn Morgan
• Production Company: O Pictures

Live performance

Madonna performing "La Isla Bonita" wearing a black hat atop a gypsy cart in 2008's "Sticky & Sweet Tour" - November 20, 2008 at Marconi Plaza, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Madonna has performed "La Isla Bonita" on most of her world tours including 1987's Who's That Girl Tour, 1993's Girlie Show Tour, 2001's Drowned World Tour, 2006's Confessions Tour, and in the Sticky and Sweet Tour in 2008-09. She also sang it at 2007's Live Earth benefit concert in London.

In the Who's That Girl tour, "La Isla Bonita" was performed as a part of the encore. Madonna came out on the stage in a bright red dress like the video and performed the song assisted by her backup singers Nikki Richards, Donna De Lory and Debi Mazar. A latino dancing with Angel Ferreira was also included. In 1993's Girlie Show tour Madonna again performed the song after "I'm Going Bananas". After finishing that song with some Spanish words she started "La Isla Bonita". Madonna was dressed in a blue and white striped shirt while Nikki and Donna wore a similar outfit, but in black and red. One of the musicians walked around bare chest playing the acoustic guitar. During her 2001's Drowned World Tour, Madonna performed "La Isla Bonita" in the Latin segment of the show, wearing a revealing black senorita's dress and trousers, hair tied back and playing a Spanish guitar. She asked the crowd to join her while singing "olé ola" with the song. Madonna performed "La Isla Bonita" during the Live Earth benefit concert where she was joined by members of gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello for a crazed hoedown version of the song. Gogol Bordello subsequently joined her for her 2006's Confessions Tour where the song was played as a dance/tribal remix with interventions from Eugene Hutz and Sergey Ryabtsev from Gogol Bordello. Madonna appeared on the stage in a purple white leotard with open hair and started singing the song. In the middle of the song she is joined by her backup dancers who along with Madonna go along the whole length of the stage singing the chorus. The performance ends with Madonna tiring up and lying down on the stage. The video backdrops behind showed a tropical paradise like the island San Pedro mentioned in the song. The song was once again added to the set list of her 2008-2009's Sticky & Sweet Tour, as part of the Gypsy segment of the show, featuring the Arkady Gips band and the Romani-Gypsy folk song "Lela Pala Tute." The performance had Madonna wearing a short black skin tight dress and knee high boots with pink fluorescent beads and necklaces. Along with "Lela Pala Tute", there was a Mediterranean Street party with Greek dancing, another gypsy song called "Doli, Doli" and flamenco solo performance.

Cover versions

French pop singer, Alizée performed the song during her first promotional tours in Europe in 2003, but it wasn't until 2008 that a new studio version was recorded and included on the special edition of her album, Psychédélices in Mexico. The song so far has gone on to become Alizée's first top ten single on the Mexico national top ten airplay chart alongwith reaching number two in her native France. French punk/rockabilly band Happy Drivers recorded a version for their 1990 album War. An eurodance version was recorded by the group Mad'House for their album Absolutely Mad. Commercial Club Crew released several dance cover remixes of the song. A hip hop/reggae style cover of the song was released in 2005 by Squeeze Up featuring Rod Fame and Teishan. Indie psychedelic folk singer/songwriter Jonathan Wilson recorded a cover for the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation Through the Wilderness. German punk band Bitume included a cover of the song for their 2008 album Punkrock Motorcity. American heavy metal band System of a Down has performed part of this song in their live shows on guitar.

In 1999, female singer Deetah used elements of the song in her single "El Paraíso Rico". The song was sampled by rapper Black Rob, in his 2000 song "Spanish Fly" (included in his Life Story album) featuring Jennifer Lopez. In the chorus of the song, Lopez sings the part which samples "La Isla Bonita". In 2004, rapper Mase sampled and interpolated it for his song "My Harlem Lullaby".

On the Family Guy episode The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz when discussing Madonna at the end, one of the characters Peter Griffin calls her a liar for singing about a nonexistent place (La Isla Bonita) stating that he couldn't find it in a map. Madonna and the song also appeared in Japanese TV commercials for the "Mitsubishi F-23 Hi-Fi Video" VCR, as part of her ongoing commercial commitment to Mitsubishi in Japan at the time.

Formats and tracklisting

• 7" Single Sire 928 378-7 1987

1. La isla bonita (Remix) 3:58
2. La isla bonita (Instrumental Edit) 4:20

• 12" Maxi Sire 920 633-0 1987

1. La isla bonita (Extended Remix) 5:20
2. La isla bonita (Instrumental) 5:14

Credits and personnel

• Madonna – lyrics, producer, vocals
• Bruce Gaitsch – guitars (spanish and acoustic)
• Patrick Leonard – drum programming, keyboards, lyrics, producer
• Johnathan Moffett – drums
• Michael Verdick – audio mixing, engineer

Charts, peaks and certification

Chart positions

Chart (1987)	Peak Position
Australia Kent Music Chart	6
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Belgian VRT Top 30	1
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	2
Eurochart Hot 100	1
French SNEP Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	2
Italian FIMI Singles Chart	2
Norwegian Singles Chart	5
Swedish Singles Chart	3
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1

Certifications

Country	Provider	Certification	Sales/shipments
United Kingdom	BPI	Silver	250,000+

Chart procession and succession

Template:Succession box two to one

Notes

• Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. Billboard books. ISBN 0823076776.
• Clark, Carol (2002). Madonnastyle. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711988749.
• Dean, Maury (2003). Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush: A Singles Un-Cyclopedia. Algora Publishing. ISBN 0875862071.
• Fouz-Hernández, Santiago (2004). Madonna's Drowned Worlds. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754633721. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Hart, Lynda (1993). Acting out: feminist performances. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472064797. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Kellner, Douglas (1995). Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern. Routledge. ISBN 0415105706.
• McAleer, Dave (2004). Hit Singles: Top 20 Charts from 1954 to the Present Day. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0879308087.
• McDanell, Colin (1998). Material Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300074999.
• Rettenmund, Matthew (1996). Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars, and Trends of that Decadent Decade. Macmillan. ISBN 0312144369.
• Rodŕiguez, Clara (1989). Puerto Ricans: Born in the U.S.A. Routledge. ISBN 0044970412.
• Tetzlaff, David (1993). Metatextual Girl. Westview Press. ISBN 0312123891. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
• Whiteley, Sheila (2000). Women and popular music: sexuality, identity, and subjectivity. Routledge. ISBN 0415211905.
• Zollo, Paul (2002). Hollywood remembered: an oral history of its golden age. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0815412398.

External links

• Mad-Eyes.net - "La Isla Bonita" Single Page