Live to Tell

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“Live to Tell”
Single by Madonna from the album True Blue
Released	March 26, 1986 (U.S.) April 21, 1986 (U.K.)
Format	CD, 12" Single, 7"
Recorded	1985
Genre	Pop
Length	5:52 (original album version) 5:18 (Immaculate Collection version) 4:37 (edit)
Label	Sire, Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Madonna Patrick Leonard
Producer	Madonna Patrick Leonard
Madonna singles chronology
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (1986) "Live to Tell" (1986) "Papa Don't Preach" (1986)
True Blue track listing
"White Heat" (3) "Live to Tell" (4) "Where's the Party" (5)
The Immaculate Collection track listing
"Into the Groove" (7) "Live to Tell" (8) "Papa Don't Preach" (9)
Something to Remember track listing
"This Used to Be My Playground" (6) "Live to Tell" (7) "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (Remix) (8)

"Live to Tell" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 3rd studio album True Blue and was released on March 26, 1986 by Sire Records. It is the title song to the 1986 motion picture At Close Range and also appears remixed on the 1990 compilation album The Immaculate Collection and in its original form on the 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember. The song appears in a live version on the 1995 US Maxi-single "You'll See" recorded from the 1987 Who's That Girl Tour which is also taken from the 1988 video release Ciao, Italia! - Live from Italy. A live edited version later appeared on the 1995 UK single "Oh Father" re-release.

[edit] Song information

Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, this was also the fourth Madonna single within two years which was affiliated with a motion picture soundtrack, and the first commercially available collaboration with Leonard, who would go on to become one of Madonna's most consistent and critically acclaimed collaborators.

"Live to Tell" was the title song of the film At Close Range, starring Madonna's then-husband Sean Penn. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week of June 7, 1986, and reached number two on the UK singles chart (being blocked by Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus"). There was no soundtrack for the film At Close Range - it was included only on Madonna's 1986 studio album and then later on Madonna's compilations The Immaculate Collection and Something to Remember.

In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time by Q-Magazine. "Live to Tell" was allocated the #7 spot.

In 2006, Madonna was the subject of controversy,^[1] as she performed "Live to Tell" on her Confessions Tour hanging on a giant mirrored cross while wearing a crown of thorns. The performance was intended to detail the AIDS Pandemic in Africa, the number 12,000,000 which flashed above her during the performance, corresponds to the estimated number of African children who have been orphaned by the disease; furthermore, throughout the song, images of black (presumably African) children appeared on the stage's backdrop screens.

[edit] Music video

Directed by James Foley who also directed At Close Range, the video featured a new incarnation of Madonna for 1986: flowing blonde locks, wearing a demure dress and minimal lighting and it was the first in a series of substantial image changes which MTV dubbed as "a trademark of her career". [1] Intercut footage from the movie and Madonna on a chair in a darkened space powerfully suggested the song's underlying themes of secrets, expositions and ultimate triumph, as the singer eventually finds herself able to get away from the confines of the chair and able to stand in a single light in the dark.

The video world premiered on MTV in the US on March 27, 1986. To date, it has never been commercially released, except on the promotional-only video compilations It's That Girl and She's Breathless.

• Director: James Foley
• Producers: David Naylor, Sharon Oreck
• Production Company: O Pictures

[edit] Officially released versions by Madonna

1. Live To Tell 05:52 (Album Version)
2. Live To Tell 04:37 (Edit)
3. Live To Tell 05:49 (Instrumental)
4. Live To Tell 05:18 (QSound Version from The Immaculate Collection)
5. Live To Tell 18:59 (At Close Range Extended Demo Version)

[edit] Cover versions

• Bill Frisell explored the harmonic potential of the song in his 1992 album, Have a Little Faith.
• Blonde Ambition released a dance single of the song featuring 4 different Hi-NRG remix versions in 1998.
• Back2Bass released a Hi-NRG/Happy hardore remix in 1996 entitled 'The Beating of My Heart (Live to Tell).
• Lucrezia Italian singer covered the song in 2001.
• Tori Amos has performed the song several times in concert.
• Terri Nunn of American new wave band Berlin recorded a cover version of the song for the Madonna tribute album Virgin Voices: Vol. 1.
• Far did a cover of this song on their 7" release "Far Does Madonna".
• A cover of the song by Rever Sound was included on the compilation Chill Out 80s.
• A cover of the song by Winter Flowers was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute album Through the Wilderness.
• Canadian jazz artist, Carol Welsman, covered the song on her eponymous 2007 album.

[edit] Legacy

The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for named each episode after an 80s hit song, named an episode after this song.

[edit] Charts

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

• Mad-Eyes.net - "Live To Tell" Single Page