No other artist in history has been more under appreciated and under rated for their art than Madonna. Maybe because of the buttons she pushed and how her controversies overshadowed her work. But at the core of Madonna are her songs and videos that are untouchable in the world of pop music in the past 40 years. One day, maybe when she's gone, she will be truly appreciated. Like so many of the greatest artists in history who, in their own present, didn't know of their greatness and their greatness wasn't realized by others until their passing.
I think it captured her feelings of estrangement and helplessness after her father married their housekeeper shortly after her mother’s death. Madonna resented that and growing up never really got along with her mother in law.
She wrote that during her breakup with Sean Penn. her dad was not abusive but was not emotionally available during and after her mother’s death. He remarried their housekeeper a few years later. She and her siblings were baffled by that. Madonnas rebellious nature started then and this song is about the father figures in her life and how she got away from their dominance over her. Her dad, priests, boyfriends, and Sean, her ex husband.
Definitely in her top 3 best music videos. Yes she saw her mother's lips sewn shut. MTV tried to ban this video because of that one image but she argued and won. The image is paid homage on Madonna's 2019 Madame X album cover.
Yes…her ashen face Madame X album cover with her lips appearing sewed up by the Madame X letters is her paying homage to that traumatic open casket wake image of her beloved mother. For Madonna it has come to symbolize her struggles with censorship and for freedom of artistic expression.
33 year-old video - still relevant, still moving, still excellent production value. Anyone who has ever been curious about Madonna's music video history really should watch all of them in chronological order. The diversity of styles, images, dance, and music is astounding, particularly 1989 to 2015. Most are VERY entertaining and interesting.
She reconciled with her father understanding he was dealing with the loss of his wife and having to raise young children. He wasn't abusive but a strict disciplarian but she also credits him with this. It's a beautiful song dealing with the complexity of being a young child loosing her mother.
Yeah, similar thing in Mer Girl too? I reacted to that a couple of months ago and I remember people saying that was about her mother's death too, though it had a lot of other themes too. I need to go back to that one again..
Your reaction video is the ONLY thing i could find on this video! I really enjoyed watching your thoughts and reactions. I grew up with this song and video, but as 40 year single mom of 9 year old TODAY, I just stumbled upon this after MANY MANY YEARS. I had almost completely forgotten allabout this video until it started and brought me back! This was one of my most FAVE song/vids from her! Like you said so VERY POWERFUL! The 1st thing i did was watch it 2 more times and with the lyrics to make sure I wasn't missing anything. The 2nd thing was to look up whether she was abused or not. All I found was that she NEVER reported abuse from family, but was sexually assulted when she moved to New York. Im assuming from a stranger.. I agreed with both possible angles of forgiveness.. Was she actually forgiving, or was it coming from an abuse victims self guilt..I wonder what u thought of the abuse tho... NOT literally on Madonna, but the character in the video.. Did u get a sense of some possible sexual abuse possibly? I can't tell if the man in her bed is dad or a bf? Also with moms lips, I thought the same thing but also wondered if perhaps it was hint at "silence"? Perhaps her silence of the abuse or maybe even her own moms silence in knowing about it? I don't love that last idea and don't put much weight on it. I just wanted to put it out thereas it DID cross my mind. I know this was posted almost a year ago but if youve got a chance I'd love to hear your feedback. Either way i loved an appreciated your video very much! plz excuse my bad grammar and typos my lil ones tugging my sleeve!
*David Fincher* is one of the most talented directors! *Madonna* talking about the song to Craig Rosen, author of The Billboard Book of Number One Albums: "' _Oh Father ' is like the second half of 'Live to Tell', in a way. It was a combo package-it was about my father and my husband. I was dealing with male authority figures once again. That is a great source of inspiration in my writing._ " " *Oh Father* " is possibly Madonna's highest artistic achievement, in terms of cinematographic videos. It features three story lines - her mother's death when she was a child, her difficult relationship with her father, and her abusive relationship with her husband, Sean Penn. In other hands, the object might have been treated in a soap opera-like manner. Fincher avoids this by referencing Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941). Although the Orson film and the Madonna video tell very different stories, they are both interested in how childhood experiences impact the actions of adults, especially two individuals who came from humble beginnings and have become famous and wealthy beyond. than imaginable. But more than this, Fincher adopts Gregg Toland's photography to create a monochrome chiaroscuro world to give the subject the solemnity and seriousness it deserves. Throughout “Oh Father” shadows show how the older Madonna and her father are still hurt by the past, her younger self enacting the same drama over and over again. As an anthem to the moment just before her mother's death, when she was a happy child, just as Charles Foster Kane was on her sleigh, this is Madonna's most compelling musical and aesthetic statement. *Madonna* stated that the end of the video was her way of " _trying to embrace and accept the death of her mother." In an interview for MTV's "Breakfast with Madonna," host Kurt Loder said he thought the video was "unbelievable" and asked Madonna if her father had seen it, to which the star replied, "Honestly, no. I know if you saw it. And I'm afraid to ask him._ "
Such a great song, such a great video. Madonna is such a great, consummate songwriter, singer and song and album producer. She can never be dublicated, never be replaced she is "The Real Queen of Pop and Rock and Roll". All I want to say is that this woman who lost her mother at a very young age, her best friend when she was very young, and the love(s) of her life through the years has become the one and only "The Queen of Pop and Rock and Roll" with her amazing talent, hard work, dedication, self confidence, and brilliance, what she has accomplished is beyond most people's wildest dreams. And believe me there are very few people who can be such a good example for making dreams come true and success for people, and Madonna exactly is one of them, and with her very well deserved success I think she's a national treasure of The US. A broken little girl trying to find her way through the storms, writing her songs on a cauch in a few hours, and writing and producing them with amazing composers, singing them, performing them. She has such a proper and strong character though once I listened to an interview of hers made in The UK in 1986 she said something like these "when she sat her mind up like she is going to write 4 songs that weekend, she ended up as it is. And she has to deserve the money she earns (that's why she left Patrick Hernandez's band and Paris years ago), that was how her father raised her (them)." In the video after she sings "I never felt so good about myself..." and with the fire in her eyes turn her back to all, and then her appearance next to her father and each other looking at each other deep in the eyes is everything, forgiveness. I have learned so much from you, Madonna you are one of a kind. This song and video are about the two man she loved(s) the most her father, and her then husband (who she divorced a few months almost a year ago) the great actor Sean Penn. Of course in the years to come new men were added to her heart, her second husband the great British film director Guy Ritchie, and their son Rocco John Ritcihe and so on. Such a beautiful heart, such a talent, a very well deserved success, and career. I do remember in an interview about this album, when she was asked about who wrote the lyrics or she ever got any support while writing the lyrics she simply answered: "I wrote all the lyrics myself".
This single ended her string of 16 top five hits. I think she had something of a relationship with David Fincher. He convinced her to release this as a single.
When this album was released, I truly gravitated to this track due to the context of the lyrics and growing up in an abusive relationship with my father. When the single was released, I purchased cassette singles for my friends and said this sums up a part of my life. This video is quite epic and a cinematic masterpiece. I truly love the imagery that Madonna's videos bring to her music.
It's interesting that you offered an alternative interpretation of enabling the abusive relationship by making excuses for them. I've never thought of it that way before! Thanks for the reaction!
Madonna has the distinction, despite the negativity towards her as being the highest selling female artist of all time. There is a reason for that. Her music is powerful, emotional, and deep. It always has been, and always will be. She deserves all the accolades of someone who has been bringing the music we have wanted now for 44 years. I was 2 when she dropped. I was 4 when she blew up on the MTV stage. And it has been on ever since then. Janet will always be my #1 artist. But I never can wait for a Madonna album to drop. She is "A League of Her Own" (Did you all like the reference?) EDIT: To show off another of Madonna's strengths with a powerful song....watch the video for Ghostown. The dance she does is visually as powerful as the lyrics in the song.
The song is beautiful. They lyrics are beautiful and tragic. The score is sweeping and uplifting! Her mom died of cancer when she was 5 years old. The passing of her mother affected her deeply as it should, but it that pain is shown in other songs and interviews. Her dad wasn't physically abusive, but his marriage 3 years after Madonna's mother passed caused them to eventually become almost estranged. They reconciled thank goodness. He was an engineer and worked for GM and Chrysler. He now has a vineyard in Michigan. I didn't know you could grow grapes there. That's one father. Madonna has had big issues with the Catholic Church and so maybe she is disillusioned about the Church in her life. That could be why she's confessing as then a practicing Chatholic but later after some issues with the Church she regains what the Church took from her, namely her priest, (Just guessing). That was another father. Furthermore, I remember there were accusations that her first husband, Sean Penn hit her or was verbally abusive, maybe both? I'm not certain but that could represent the abusive relationship that is explored with the man that slaps her and later we see her putting makeup on a bruised eye. She overcame her issues with men and moved on to become who she is now. That was the third father or father-like relationship (male relationship). I may not agree with her lingering issues with the Catholic Church because I am a Christian but not Catholic and I don't understand that world. Her issues seem to be a good while before the scandals of priests sexually abusing children and the coverup by the Church. This song is totally relatable to me in the way I put people that hurt me in the place of the "father". "They can't hurt me now, once had the power, never felt so good about myself!"
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs & videos. This song was extremely underrated & obviously a topic society didn’t want to deal with & process at the time it came out 💎 💗 💫
this pairs so well with her future reflections on the loss of her mother, and her fathers ways of handling it, and how she has to let go of these feelings in her 2003 track "Mother and Father" where she sings: My father had to go to work I used to think he was a jerk I didn't know his heart was broken Not another word was spoken He became a shadow of The father I was dreaming of I made a vow that I would never need another person ever Turned my heart into a cage A victim of a kind of rage
Madonna Louise Fortin Ciccone died when Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone aka Madonna was 5. And all of the Like A Prayer album was inspired by a letter Silvo "Tony" Ciccone gave to her on her 30th birthday that was written by her mother. Her mom died when she was 30. Most of the songs on the album are about her mother, Like A Prayer and Promise to Try, her father Oh Father, her siblings Keep It Together, her marriage Til Death Do Us Part, AIDS in Spanish Eyes, Patrick Leonard's daughter and her own desire for children in Dear Jessie. Madonna and her siblings have said their father was abusive but was strict and a disciplinarian.
Madonna's mother, whom she was named after, died when she was 5. Her father emotionally shut down and she was determined to make something of her life. Her Catholic upbringing totally informs her music. Her talent is on another level. We'll never see the likes of an Artist like her again. God bless Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. She broke the mold.
without a doubt my favorite Madonna song & the one i can most relate to (father issues... been there done that!). every word & note hits my soul. its both very dark but also very empowering. and imo its one of the most beautifully & artistically stunning videos ever put on film. brilliant work. fincher really brought the song to life with those citizen kane vibes. it _was_ a _dramatized_ reflection of her troubled past & the emotional trauma she experienced with her dad after losing her mom, and also about "abusive men" in her life (cough cough: Sean Penn). the 2 are juxtaposed (perfectly) in the vid. & of course M had to put something really jarring in the vid with the lips sewn shut scene (its VERY doubtful she actually saw that irl, because that's not how its done). it was def for the shock value, & it _was_ a shock & a jawdropping moment when seeing the vid the 1st time upon its release. everyone mentioned that scene. such a great song..its underrated & didnt perform like it deserved to commercially. but it gets me every time i hear/see it.
Nice touch with the holiday decorations Johnny. It seems like you're more familiar with Till Death Do Us Part (non release single) than Oh Father (released)(both are from Like A Prayer album). If you like this song then Promise To Try (also from the same album) is worth a listen.
This song and music video appear to show her coming to terms with her experience with the 2 male figures in her life that she loved; her father who was a strict disciplinarian; the time after she had a falling off after the death of her beloved mother when she was age 5, and he shortly after married their housekeeper who Madonna resented and felt estranged with growing up. Then in another scene in this mv, she as an adult was lying in bed with another man, and while she was sitting, the man got up, passed by and slapped her-appears to allude to her abusive relationship with Sean Penn whom she divorced in 1989 the year she worked on and released the Like A Prayer album that included Oh Father. Other analysts, interpret the line..”Oh Father I have sinned…” sounded like the opening Catholic prayer one recites during confession (..Bless me, Father, for I have sinned..”) as alluding to her guilt/conscience from her Catholic upbringing where God and the priest were the other male authority figures growing up. This song and mv resonated with a lot of people who shared similar experience in life. Appreciate your insight and sensitivity in your reaction to this video.
My late father adored this song. When he passed away in 2020 I played this, and after 31 years of hearing it, the last verse really made me sit up and think about my dads reaction to me when I came out. As I was then to discover he was abused as a child. 🥲
"there’s two or three guitar players playing. i’m playing keyboards. jai winding was playing keyboards. there was a percussionist, and a drummer, and she’s singing...all at the same time...even all those weird synth overdubs and things, all those things were being done live" patrick leonard on "oh father" to billboard magazine in 2014
No the lyric is about healing emotional trauma. Maybe someday when I look back I'll be able to say you didn't mean to be cruel, somebody hurt you too. It also shows her marrying a man like her father, and Sean Penn was physically abusive to her.
I don't think Madonna has ever accused her farther of physical abuse, but Sean Penn, her 1st husband did abuse her physically, so one can draw one's conclusions about that from there. One 'funny' comment I remember from Sean Penn, who is now a woke darling, was that he had not realized before they reconnected years after the divorce that 'there was an actual person' behind her. Well, we all learn, but just saying... Maybe she's an exhibitionist because she was never seen.
Madonna said when her mom was taken from her, she felt like she had did something, what did she do to let this happen. Her dad I believed based on what she’s said was just not as emotionally available for her as she needed him to be.
![METALHEAD REACTS| Madonna - Oh Father [Official Music Video]](/img/1.gif)
No other artist in history has been more under appreciated and under rated for their art than Madonna. Maybe because of the buttons she pushed and how her controversies overshadowed her work. But at the core of Madonna are her songs and videos that are untouchable in the world of pop music in the past 40 years. One day, maybe when she's gone, she will be truly appreciated. Like so many of the greatest artists in history who, in their own present, didn't know of their greatness and their greatness wasn't realized by others until their passing.
How this masterpiece never got any video music awards is even bigger crime than like a prayer album never nominated at Grammy awards
That scene where the girl is too little to reach the door handle so she just cowers in the corner always brings tears to my eyes.
I think it captured her feelings of estrangement and helplessness after her father married their housekeeper shortly after her mother’s death. Madonna resented that and growing up never really got along with her mother in law.
She wrote that during her breakup with Sean Penn. her dad was not abusive but was not emotionally available during and after her mother’s death. He remarried their housekeeper a few years later. She and her siblings were baffled by that. Madonnas rebellious nature started then and this song is about the father figures in her life and how she got away from their dominance over her. Her dad, priests, boyfriends, and Sean, her ex husband.
She deal with the dead of her mother, her relationship with her father and her marriage with Sean Pean at that time
Definitely in her top 3 best music videos. Yes she saw her mother's lips sewn shut. MTV tried to ban this video because of that one image but she argued and won. The image is paid homage on Madonna's 2019 Madame X album cover.
Yes…her ashen face Madame X album cover with her lips appearing sewed up by the Madame X letters is her paying homage to that traumatic open casket wake image of her beloved mother. For Madonna it has come to symbolize her struggles with censorship and for freedom of artistic expression.
Madonna was named after her Mother. Her mother died when she was five. Her father was very religious and strict.
It makes me shed a tear every single time
Same!
My favorite Madonna video. Heartbreaking.
The story goes, she did see her mother in the casket with her lips seen as a little girl and it has always stuck with her.
It’s true they do that. When my mother died I noticed it as well.
33 year-old video - still relevant, still moving, still excellent production value. Anyone who has ever been curious about Madonna's music video history really should watch all of them in chronological order. The diversity of styles, images, dance, and music is astounding, particularly 1989 to 2015. Most are VERY entertaining and interesting.
I loved how beautiful the song and video are. I adore the pearl motif throughout the film.. genius. Her most underrated music video
She reconciled with her father understanding he was dealing with the loss of his wife and having to raise young children. He wasn't abusive but a strict disciplarian but she also credits him with this. It's a beautiful song dealing with the complexity of being a young child loosing her mother.
Madonnas songs goosebumps 🖤💜🖤
This song and video made me cry so hard , adults that were abused as children relate to this masterpiece ❤
I believe she’s stated that this is only partially autobiographical & part fiction.
She often incorporates that strategy in her art.
Yeah, similar thing in Mer Girl too? I reacted to that a couple of months ago and I remember people saying that was about her mother's death too, though it had a lot of other themes too. I need to go back to that one again..
Your reaction video is the ONLY thing i could find on this video! I really enjoyed watching your thoughts and reactions. I grew up with this song and video, but as 40 year single mom of 9 year old TODAY, I just stumbled upon this after MANY MANY YEARS. I had almost completely forgotten allabout this video until it started and brought me back! This was one of my most FAVE song/vids from her! Like you said so VERY POWERFUL! The 1st thing i did was watch it 2 more times and with the lyrics to make sure I wasn't missing anything. The 2nd thing was to look up whether she was abused or not. All I found was that she NEVER reported abuse from family, but was sexually assulted when she moved to New York. Im assuming from a stranger.. I agreed with both possible angles of forgiveness.. Was she actually forgiving, or was it coming from an abuse victims self guilt..I wonder what u thought of the abuse tho... NOT literally on Madonna, but the character in the video.. Did u get a sense of some possible sexual abuse possibly? I can't tell if the man in her bed is dad or a bf? Also with moms lips, I thought the same thing but also wondered if perhaps it was hint at "silence"? Perhaps her silence of the abuse or maybe even her own moms silence in knowing about it? I don't love that last idea and don't put much weight on it. I just wanted to put it out thereas it DID cross my mind. I know this was posted almost a year ago but if youve got a chance I'd love to hear your feedback. Either way i loved an appreciated your video very much! plz excuse my bad grammar and typos my lil ones tugging my sleeve!
*David Fincher* is one of the most talented directors!
*Madonna* talking about the song to Craig Rosen, author of The Billboard Book of Number One Albums: "' _Oh Father ' is like the second half of 'Live to Tell', in a way. It was a combo package-it was about my father and my husband. I was dealing with male authority figures once again. That is a great source of inspiration in my writing._ "
" *Oh Father* " is possibly Madonna's highest artistic achievement, in terms of cinematographic videos. It features three story lines - her mother's death when she was a child, her difficult relationship with her father, and her abusive relationship with her husband, Sean Penn. In other hands, the object might have been treated in a soap opera-like manner. Fincher avoids this by referencing Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941). Although the Orson film and the Madonna video tell very different stories, they are both interested in how childhood experiences impact the actions of adults, especially two individuals who came from humble beginnings and have become famous and wealthy beyond. than imaginable. But more than this, Fincher adopts Gregg Toland's photography to create a monochrome chiaroscuro world to give the subject the solemnity and seriousness it deserves. Throughout “Oh Father” shadows show how the older Madonna and her father are still hurt by the past, her younger self enacting the same drama over and over again. As an anthem to the moment just before her mother's death, when she was a happy child, just as Charles Foster Kane was on her sleigh, this is Madonna's most compelling musical and aesthetic statement.
*Madonna* stated that the end of the video was her way of " _trying to embrace and accept the death of her mother." In an interview for MTV's "Breakfast with Madonna," host Kurt Loder said he thought the video was "unbelievable" and asked Madonna if her father had seen it, to which the star replied, "Honestly, no. I know if you saw it. And I'm afraid to ask him._ "
props to quotes with sources
Heartbreaking.
This song is one of must beautiful and sad from M.
Such a great song, such a great video. Madonna is such a great, consummate songwriter, singer and song and album producer. She can never be dublicated, never be replaced she is "The Real Queen of Pop and Rock and Roll". All I want to say is that this woman who lost her mother at a very young age, her best friend when she was very young, and the love(s) of her life through the years has become the one and only "The Queen of Pop and Rock and Roll" with her amazing talent, hard work, dedication, self confidence, and brilliance, what she has accomplished is beyond most people's wildest dreams. And believe me there are very few people who can be such a good example for making dreams come true and success for people, and Madonna exactly is one of them, and with her very well deserved success I think she's a national treasure of The US. A broken little girl trying to find her way through the storms, writing her songs on a cauch in a few hours, and writing and producing them with amazing composers, singing them, performing them. She has such a proper and strong character though once I listened to an interview of hers made in The UK in 1986 she said something like these "when she sat her mind up like she is going to write 4 songs that weekend, she ended up as it is. And she has to deserve the money she earns (that's why she left Patrick Hernandez's band and Paris years ago), that was how her father raised her (them)." In the video after she sings "I never felt so good about myself..." and with the fire in her eyes turn her back to all, and then her appearance next to her father and each other looking at each other deep in the eyes is everything, forgiveness. I have learned so much from you, Madonna you are one of a kind.
This song and video are about the two man she loved(s) the most her father, and her then husband (who she divorced a few months almost a year ago) the great actor Sean Penn. Of course in the years to come new men were added to her heart, her second husband the great British film director Guy Ritchie, and their son Rocco John Ritcihe and so on. Such a beautiful heart, such a talent, a very well deserved success, and career. I do remember in an interview about this album, when she was asked about who wrote the lyrics or she ever got any support while writing the lyrics she simply answered: "I wrote all the lyrics myself".
The instrumental start gives me chills
This single ended her string of 16 top five hits. I think she had something of a relationship with David Fincher. He convinced her to release this as a single.
Thats how she got him to direct Vogue
Both song and video are masterpieces! You can hear raw emotion and vulnerability in her voice!
When this album was released, I truly gravitated to this track due to the context of the lyrics and growing up in an abusive relationship with my father. When the single was released, I purchased cassette singles for my friends and said this sums up a part of my life. This video is quite epic and a cinematic masterpiece. I truly love the imagery that Madonna's videos bring to her music.
It's interesting that you offered an alternative interpretation of enabling the abusive relationship by making excuses for them. I've never thought of it that way before! Thanks for the reaction!
Thank you so much for reacting to this. Best song & video ever :)
You're welcome - about time I did one of yours!
The 80’s and 90’s Madonna was THAT girl!
Madonna has the distinction, despite the negativity towards her as being the highest selling female artist of all time. There is a reason for that.
Her music is powerful, emotional, and deep. It always has been, and always will be. She deserves all the accolades of someone who has been bringing the music we have wanted now for 44 years.
I was 2 when she dropped. I was 4 when she blew up on the MTV stage. And it has been on ever since then.
Janet will always be my #1 artist. But I never can wait for a Madonna album to drop. She is "A League of Her Own" (Did you all like the reference?)
EDIT: To show off another of Madonna's strengths with a powerful song....watch the video for Ghostown. The dance she does is visually as powerful as the lyrics in the song.
The song is beautiful. They lyrics are beautiful and tragic. The score is sweeping and uplifting!
Her mom died of cancer when she was 5 years old. The passing of her mother affected her deeply as it should, but it that pain is shown in other songs and interviews. Her dad wasn't physically abusive, but his marriage 3 years after Madonna's mother passed caused them to eventually become almost estranged. They reconciled thank goodness. He was an engineer and worked for GM and Chrysler. He now has a vineyard in Michigan. I didn't know you could grow grapes there. That's one father.
Madonna has had big issues with the Catholic Church and so maybe she is disillusioned about the Church in her life. That could be why she's confessing as then a practicing Chatholic but later after some issues with the Church she regains what the Church took from her, namely her priest, (Just guessing). That was another father.
Furthermore, I remember there were accusations that her first husband, Sean Penn hit her or was verbally abusive, maybe both? I'm not certain but that could represent the abusive relationship that is explored with the man that slaps her and later we see her putting makeup on a bruised eye. She overcame her issues with men and moved on to become who she is now. That was the third father or father-like relationship (male relationship).
I may not agree with her lingering issues with the Catholic Church because I am a Christian but not Catholic and I don't understand that world. Her issues seem to be a good while before the scandals of priests sexually abusing children and the coverup by the Church.
This song is totally relatable to me in the way I put people that hurt me in the place of the "father". "They can't hurt me now, once had the power, never felt so good about myself!"
Great post, thank you!
@@bridgethegapreactions Thank you and you're welcome!
This is one of my favorite Madonna songs & videos. This song was extremely underrated & obviously a topic society didn’t want to deal with & process at the time it came out 💎 💗 💫
Take a look at the album cover for Madonna’s last album Madame X and look at her lips. (It’s on the dark haired image, as there’s a few covers.)
This video and the song are a masterpiece
this pairs so well with her future reflections on the loss of her mother, and her fathers ways of handling it, and how she has to let go of these feelings in her 2003 track "Mother and Father" where she sings:
My father had to go to work
I used to think he was a jerk
I didn't know his heart was broken
Not another word was spoken
He became a shadow of
The father I was dreaming of
I made a vow that I would never need another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage
I definitely need to hear that one, thanks!
Madonna Louise Fortin Ciccone died when Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone aka Madonna was 5. And all of the Like A Prayer album was inspired by a letter Silvo "Tony" Ciccone gave to her on her 30th birthday that was written by her mother. Her mom died when she was 30. Most of the songs on the album are about her mother, Like A Prayer and Promise to Try, her father Oh Father, her siblings Keep It Together, her marriage Til Death Do Us Part, AIDS in Spanish Eyes, Patrick Leonard's daughter and her own desire for children in Dear Jessie. Madonna and her siblings have said their father was abusive but was strict and a disciplinarian.
Madonna's mother, whom she was named after, died when she was 5. Her father emotionally shut down and she was determined to make something of her life. Her Catholic upbringing totally informs her music. Her talent is on another level. We'll never see the likes of an Artist like her again. God bless Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. She broke the mold.
It's the way David Fincher films things. It's the pearls dropping in this video, the way the road turns into the bar in Bad Girl. Just stunning
She also has another song about her mother’s death- Promise to Try.
without a doubt my favorite Madonna song & the one i can most relate to (father issues... been there done that!). every word & note hits my soul. its both very dark but also very empowering. and imo its one of the most beautifully & artistically stunning videos ever put on film. brilliant work. fincher really brought the song to life with those citizen kane vibes.
it _was_ a _dramatized_ reflection of her troubled past & the emotional trauma she experienced with her dad after losing her mom, and also about "abusive men" in her life (cough cough: Sean Penn). the 2 are juxtaposed (perfectly) in the vid.
& of course M had to put something really jarring in the vid with the lips sewn shut scene (its VERY doubtful she actually saw that irl, because that's not how its done). it was def for the shock value, & it _was_ a shock & a jawdropping moment when seeing the vid the 1st time upon its release. everyone mentioned that scene.
such a great song..its underrated & didnt perform like it deserved to commercially. but it gets me every time i hear/see it.
❤❤❤
But seems she forgives - this is another level.
Nice touch with the holiday decorations Johnny.
It seems like you're more familiar with Till Death Do Us Part (non release single) than Oh Father (released)(both are from Like A Prayer album). If you like this song then Promise To Try (also from the same album) is worth a listen.
one of my favorite madonna ballads along with you"ll see in spanish is great thank u ❤❤❤❤ also Love dont live here
Madonna 😍❤️
I'd rate this and MJ's Thriller as the two best music videos of all time.
great reaction
Love David Fincher’s Madonna videos 💕
TOTALLY AWESOME!!
thank u
zane 👍👊🌲🎅
This song and music video appear to show her coming to terms with her experience with the 2 male figures in her life that she loved; her father who was a strict disciplinarian; the time after she had a falling off after the death of her beloved mother when she was age 5, and he shortly after married their housekeeper who Madonna resented and felt estranged with growing up. Then in another scene in this mv, she as an adult was lying in bed with another man, and while she was sitting, the man got up, passed by and slapped her-appears to allude to her abusive relationship with Sean Penn whom she divorced in 1989 the year she worked on and released the Like A Prayer album that included Oh Father.
Other analysts, interpret the line..”Oh Father I have sinned…” sounded like the opening Catholic prayer one recites during confession (..Bless me, Father, for I have sinned..”) as alluding to her guilt/conscience from her Catholic upbringing where God and the priest were the other male authority figures growing up. This song and mv resonated with a lot of people who shared similar experience in life. Appreciate your insight and sensitivity in your reaction to this video.
My late father adored this song. When he passed away in 2020 I played this, and after 31 years of hearing it, the last verse really made me sit up and think about my dads reaction to me when I came out. As I was then to discover he was abused as a child. 🥲
I love that song!!!!
Masterpiece
I heard in an interview at the time that she said not everything she writes is biographical.
🖤
Great review.
That was a well done review.
Much appreciated, thanks!
"there’s two or three guitar players playing. i’m playing keyboards. jai winding was playing keyboards. there was a percussionist, and a drummer, and she’s singing...all at the same time...even all those weird synth overdubs and things, all those things were being done live" patrick leonard on "oh father" to billboard magazine in 2014
That's amazing, it sounds like it was put together later!
Yep, once for the guide vocal, the second is what you're hearing now, and the third was for that elongated guitar. That was it.
You never love me : this is so cruel said.
No the lyric is about healing emotional trauma. Maybe someday when I look back I'll be able to say you didn't mean to be cruel, somebody hurt you too. It also shows her marrying a man like her father, and Sean Penn was physically abusive to her.
I don't think Madonna has ever accused her farther of physical abuse, but Sean Penn, her 1st husband did abuse her physically, so one can draw one's conclusions about that from there.
One 'funny' comment I remember from Sean Penn, who is now a woke darling, was that he had not realized before they reconnected years after the divorce that 'there was an actual person' behind her.
Well, we all learn, but just saying... Maybe she's an exhibitionist because she was never seen.
Madonna said when her mom was taken from her, she felt like she had did something, what did she do to let this happen. Her dad I believed based on what she’s said was just not as emotionally available for her as she needed him to be.