La Isla Bonita

"La Isla Bonita"
Song

"La Isla Bonita" (English: The Pretty Island) is the fifth and final single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her third studio album, True Blue, and it was released on February 25, 1987 by Sire Records. The song later appeared remixed 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.

Song information

"La Isla Bonita" was originally written by Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch, and intended for Michael Jackson for his Bad album, who, according to Gaitsch, turned it down. Working with Leonard on the True Blue album, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place, and re-wrote the song's lyrics, 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 recur throughout her career, manifesting itself in lyrics for "Who's That Girl", "Pray for Spanish Eyes", "I'm Going Bananas", "You'll See" with the version in Spanish: "Verás"; "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", "Be Careful (Cuidado con Mi Corazon)" a duet with Ricky Martin, "Sorry" and "Lo Que Siente La Mujer", which is the version in Spanish for her song "What It Feels Like for a Girl," and "Spanish Lesson" on the Hard Candy album, and concerts on the Drowned World Tour.

Much has been made of the song's reference to 'San Pedro' and the island to which the song title refers. Some believe the island is Ambergris Caye in the nation of Belize, as the song may also mention the principal village, San Pedro Town. However, Gaitsch has mentioned that at the time, Madonna was spending time in a US town of the same name, and both Madonna and then husband Sean Penn were good friends with San Pedro, California poet and novelist Charles Bukowski. Madonna herself hasn't helped speculation, referring to the song as being only a tribute to Latin America and its people, to an island and to herself. However, in much of Latin America, 'The Beautiful Island' is a nickname for Manhattan. The opening scenes of the video try to show Spanish Harlem in New York, and how the singer is longing to be home.

Madonna and the song 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.

Madonna has performed this song on her 1987 Who's That Girl Tour, 1993 Girlie Show Tour, 2001 Drowned World Tour, 2006 Confessions Tour, and in the Sticky and Sweet Tour in 2008. She also sang it at 2007's Live Earth benefit concert in London.

Chart Performance

"La Isla Bonita" was the fifth US top-five hit from the album (it reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March, 1987) and Madonna's second #1 single on the adult contemporary chart, following 1986's "Live To Tell". Internationally, "La Isla Bonita" was a bonafide worldwide hit which reached number one in various countries, including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Italy and Germany. "La Isla Bonita" was Madonna's first #1 in France, where the song spent three weeks at the top spot in July 1987, also making her the first American solo female singer to top the charts since its creation in 1984. It was also one of the biggest hits of the 80's in South Africa, where it spent 8 weeks at #1 in 1987. In Europe, it became her fourth number one hit from True Blue, topping the Eurochart Hot 100 for 3 weeks in 1987.

Music video

File:Laislabonitamusicvideo.jpg

Madonna in the music video for "La Isla Bonita" wearing a ruffled flamenco dress.

The music video was set in Los Angeles and was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed a string of her acclaimed 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 a bunch of street musicians playing on the street. Madonna listens to the music in her room. She yearns to go and join the people in the streets, to be free like them and dance, but she can't. Her piety is coming in her way. Her alter ego is shown dressed up completely to go out in the streets. Ultimately her alter-ego wins and Madonna, in a spanish flamenco dress, goes out in the streets and dances with the people.

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

Tracklisting

• Album Version (4:01)
• Extended Remix (5:22)
• Remix Edit (3:58)
• Instrumental (5:17)
• 7" Instrumental (4:21)
• Video Version/Fade (3:53)
• Remastered Version from The Immaculate Collection (3:45)

Charts

Chart (1987)	Peak Position
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	6
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	2
Eurochart Hot 100	1
French SNEP Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	2
Israeli Singles Chart	1
Italian FIMI Singles Chart	1
Japanese Oricon Weekly Singles Chart	38
Japanese Oricon International Singles Chart	1
Mexican Singles Chart	1
Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart	5
South African Singles Chart	1
Spanish Singles Chart	8
Swedish Singles Chart	3
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary	1
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	2

Chart procession and succession

Template:Succession box two to one

Live performance

Madonna has performed "La Isla Bonita" on many of her concert tours: the Who's That Girl World Tour, The Girlie Show, the Drowned World Tour, the Confessions Tour, and the Sticky & Sweet Tour.

Madonna performed "La Isla Bonita" during her Confessions Tour as a dance/tribal remix. She also has given this remix a new twist with Eugene Hutz and Sergey Ryabtsev from the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. Hutz and Ryabtsev performed the song with Madonna onstage at the London Live Earth concert on July 7th, 2007. The song was once again added to the set list of one of her tours in 2008, the 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."

Trivia

• In 2001, an extended version of "La Isla Bonita" was included on the remastered re-release of True Blue.

Other cover versions

• French punk/rockabilly band Happy Drivers recorded a cover for their 1990 album War.
• The song was covered on Dream, the debut album of TrueBliss, a New Zealand reality television pop band formed in April 1999.
• A eurodance version was recorded by the group Mad'House for the album Absolutely Mad.
• A hi-NRG dance cover of the song by Who's That Girl was released through Almighty Records. An audio sample can be heard on the official Almighty Records website.
• 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.
• Finnish power metal band Twilight Guardians covered the song for their 2006 album Sin Trade.
• 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.

Sampling

• 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), which features 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".

In other media

On the Family Guy episode The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz when discussing Madonna at the end, Peter Griffin calls her a liar for singing about an nonexistent place (La Isla Bonita) stating that he couldn't find it in a map.

External links

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