The Power of Good-Bye

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"The Power of Good-Bye"
Single by Madonna
from the album Ray of Light
B-side(s)	"Mer Girl" "Little Star" (UK)
Released	September 29, 1998 (U.S.) November 16, 1998 (Europe) November 26, 1998 (Japan)
Format	CD Single 7" Vinyl Single Cassette Single
Genre	Pop
Length	4:12
Label	Maverick Records Warner Bros. Records WEA International
Writer(s)	Madonna Rick Nowels
Producer(s)	Madonna William Orbit Patrick Leonard
Certification	Gold (Germany) Silver (United Kingdom)
Chart positions
#2 (United World Chart, Europe) #3 (Sweden) #4 (Austria, Finland, Germany) #6 (Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom) #11 (United States)
Madonna singles chronology
"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (1998)	"The Power of Goodbye" (1998)	"Little Star" (1998)
Ray of Light track listing
"Frozen" (9)	"The Power of Good-Bye" (10)	"To Have and Not to Hold" (11)
GHV2 track listing
"Bedtime Story" (edit) (6)	"The Power of Good-Bye" (album version) (7)	"Beautiful Stranger" (William Orbit radio edit) (8)

"The Power of Good-Bye" is a pop ballad written by American singer Madonna and Rick Nowels for Madonna's seventh album Ray of Light (1998). It was produced by Madonna, William Orbit and Patrick Leonard, and received a positive reception from music critics. The song was released as a single in the fall of 1998 (see 1998 in music), and although it failed to match the chart success of its predecessor "Ray of Light", which reached the top five in several countries, "The Power of Good-Bye" is considered to be a minor worldwide hit as it reached number four in Germany, the top ten in the United Kingdom and Canada, and the top twenty in the United States, where it became Madonna's thirty-seventh top-twenty single.

[edit] Composition and inspiration

"The Power of Good-Bye" is a ballad featuring numerous string instruments and an electronic music sound, with lyrics reflecting on a painful breakup. The version that was released as a single and included on the album Ray of Light is quite different from the original demo version. In the summer of 2002, demos recorded during the Ray Of Light recording sessions were released, with one of the demos being for "The Power of Good-Bye". The demo version features a stronger rhythm and more drum and bass. The lyrics are also different, including the sentence 'Walk away' instead of 'Do you wanna go higher' (in the album's booklet, the lyrics 'Walk away' were never changed) and the final message: 'God help me, learn to say goodbye, please give me the power of goodbye'.

In the UK, "The Power of Good-Bye" was released as a double A-side with "Little Star", a track from Ray of Light. In the rest of Europe, the song was included on the major single releases as a B-side. Also notable is that the European releases included several experimental remixes of the song by Luke Slater plus one remix by Dallas Austin, who previously worked with Madonna on her Bedtime Stories (1994) album.

[edit] Music video

Madonna playing chess with her lover, deciding the future of her relationship in the music video for "The Power of Good-Bye" (1998).

The music video for "The Power of Good-Bye" was directed by Matthew Rolston, and was filmed in early August 1998 in Los Angeles, CA (although many believed the location to be the coast of Ireland.) In the aquatic green-themed video, Madonna says goodbye to her lover (played by Goran Višnjić). Throughout the video Madonna is shown playing chess with her lover, the chess will decide the future of the couple, but Madonna decides to stop playing, leaving the relationship. It ends with Madonna walking on to the beach, into the water. The video created some controversy due to its ending. It is debatable, but many Madonna fans believe she commits suicide at the end of the video, drowning herself in the ocean. Just before the music video ends Madonna is shown on the beach again, happier than before. Therefore the drowning of her character may represent the element water, which represents rebirth. The use of water-images - as well as the use of the other three elements - was an important part of the album, with the theme appearing in songs such as "Swim".

She pays a tribute to her favorite film, 'Humoresque' by Joan Crawford in which she replays the scene where she walks out of her beach house and down the beach in full sorrow and tears. An old man and the dog would appear in curiosity. Although Joan Crawford ends up committing a suicide by throwing her body in the wave of ocean water, Madonna doesn't in her music video.

The chess-playing and the kissing-scene in the video were inspired by the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair. While the beach-scenes were inspired by the famous film Humoresque from 1946. The video was premiered on MTV on September 10, 1998, a few minutes before the MTV Video Music Awards show began. The video was occasionally played on The WB Network after the television show Felicity, which played the song as the background music during its TV ads. It is available on Madonna's Video Collection 93:99 DVD.

The Power Of Good-bye is one of the few singles that Madonna has performed on the BBC program Top of the Pops.

[edit] Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number six, but after nine weeks quickly fell off the singles chart. Elsewhere the song was a minor success, usually charting within the top twenty. The song charted in top twenty in Canada, Germany, Japan and the United States.

While the song was a modest success, it brought Ray Of Light back into the top ten on many album charts - more than seven months after its release. The success of the single was also influenced by Madonna's one month European promotional tour, which took her across Europe promoting the album and the song on a variety of music television shows.

[edit] Charts

[edit] Track Formats

GERMAN CD SINGLE

(#) Album Version (#) Dallas´ Low End Mix (#) Luke Slater Super Luper (#) Fabian´s Good God Mix

[edit] References

1. ^ Chart peak positions:
   • http://www.mariah-charts.com/chartdata/PMadonna.htm
   • http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:a9x1z82ajyv4~T51

• Billboard.com. link. Last accessed on Feb. 27, 2006. - US chart positions.
• MoCaW: Madonna on Charts around the World. link. Last accessed on Feb. 27, 2006. - Worldwide chart positions and certifications.
• Enlace Madonna link. Last accessed on Feb. 27, 2006. - Release and music video information.