| "The Power of Good-Bye" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Madonna | ||||
| from the album Ray of Light | ||||
| A-side | "Little Star" (UK only) | |||
| B-side | "Mer Girl" | |||
| Released | September 22, 1998 (See Release history) |
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| Format | CD single, vinyl, cassette | |||
| Genre | Trip hop | |||
| Length | 4:11 | |||
| Label | Maverick, Warner Bros. | |||
| Writer(s) | Madonna, Rick Nowels | |||
| Producer | Madonna, William Orbit, Patrick Leonard | |||
| Certification | (see charts and certifications) | |||
| Madonna singles chronology | ||||
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"The Power of Good-Bye" (released as double A-side single with "Little Star" in the UK) is a song 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, it reached number one in Mexico, 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.
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"The Power of Good-Bye" is a ballad featuring numerous string instruments and an electronic music sound, with lyrics reflecting on a painful breakup. Australian music critic and friend of Madonna, Molly Meldrum, claimed the lyrics were about Sean Penn. 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 leaked to the Internet, 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.
In the United Kingdom, the song debuted at number six and stayed on the singles chart for nine weeks, selling 180,000 copies.[1]
Elsewhere the song was also a success, usually charting within the top twenty. Among the countries where the song charted in the top twenty are Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States (peaking at number eleven). "The Power of Good-Bye" debuted and peaked at number two on the Spanish Singles Chart, making it the only single from Ray of Light not to reach number one in Spain.[2]
The success of the song 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. "The Power of Good-Bye" is one of the few singles that Madonna has performed on the BBC program Top of the Pops.
The music video for "The Power of Good-Bye" was directed by Matthew Rolston, and was filmed from August 8–10, 1998 at Silvertop House in Los Angeles, California and Malibu Beach. The video shows Madonna and her lover playing chess and ultimately Madonna destroying the chess board, symbolizing an end to their relationship. Madonna also goes walking by the sea, but it is unclear whether she drowns herself in the last scene. Throughout the video, there are the scenes of Madonna sitting, singing and slowly dancing in front of the curtain. Madonna's lover in the video is played by Croatian actor Goran Višnjić. The video is mostly colored blue.
The video 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.
The video created some controversy due to its ending. It is debatable, but many Madonna's 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".
The music video recreates the famous chess playing scene from 1968's The Thomas Crown Affair (with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway). The video was also influenced by the 1946 Joan Crawford film Humoresque, recreating the beach scenes where Crawford roams the ocean shore and passes a man walking his dog. Can also be related to section ii of The Wasteland, A Game Of Chess by T.S. Eliot resembling a relationship between a man and woman, struggling with their relationship.
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Year-end charts
Certifications
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| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| United States | September 22, 1998 |
| Europe | November 16, 1998 |
| Japan | November 26, 1998 |
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