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Bedtime Stories 25th Anniversary (Album Facts)


hankyspankme
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I BELIEVE that the right side up cover was actually a mistake. I heard that when the album was being pressed they thought her face was supposed to be right side up but they were corrected that Madonna's face was supposed to be upside down.

The pressings which followed were upside down. I haven't seen any recent pressings, but I think it's odd that they would be printing them right side up since that's not what M intended.

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Here are some that I have found interesting over the years:

Take A Bow was written about an actor Madonna knew (fans often speculate which one).

Love Tried to Welcome Me was apparently inspired by a stripper Madonna met.

Forbidden Love was supposed to be the last single, but it was scrapped and released on Something to Remember instead.

A lot of Madonna's looks from this era were noted to be quite similar to Jean Harlow.

Madonna was extremely nervous performing Take A Bow live at the AMAs. The song was never included in any of her tours until Rebel Heart in 2016.

The Human Nature music video was inspired by the art of Eric Stanton. The Chihuahua that appears in the music video was Madonna's dog, Chiquita.

Bedtime Stories was supposed to have a tour, but Madonna decided she wanted to focus her energy into her role in the Evita film.

This special from the filming of Take A Bow gives a lot of interesting info:

 

 

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She didn't fall out with Shep. She saw they were rehashing a lot of what they had done prior and she wanted to go a different direction with the album. She thanked him for being understanding of it in the album credits.

BJork wasn't happy with Madonna's take on Bedtime Story so she released her own version of it with the original title "Sweet Intuition." She said she gave the song to Madonna as a favor for a friend of hers, not Madonna.

Don't Stop was infamously pushed as a single at some point.

Talks of a tour were bound to take place but scrapped once she began campaigns and vying for the part in Evita.  She considered the "Take a Bow" video her audition for it. I remember thinking it was part of Evita at some part. Became a fan in 05 so imagine go through her 90's videos and thinking it was part of the same lot.

The right side up/downside drama with the album cover.

Forbidden Love being the final single at some point before those plans were dropped. 

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4 minutes ago, wtg1987 said:

This album probably has her best set of music videos imo - all flawless and completely different from each other even if it’s one of her weakest albums -again imo 

Agree. It's not one of my fave albums but the videos are from another world. She is stunning in them. 

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Song and recording facts on "Take A Bow" from songfacts.com:

This song is about a failed romance Madonna had with "a movie star," possibly Warren Beatty, whom she starred opposite in the movie Dick Tracy(1990) and had a 15-month relationship. Beatty, a notorious ladies' man, was also rumored to be the mysterious subject of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."

Babyface sang backup and also produced this track to give Madonna the R&B feel she wanted for the Bedtime Stories album. When the two met, they were quite impressed with each other in that neither of them swept in with a big entourage. They worked on this song and "Forbidden Love" at Babyface's house in his writing room.

In the States, this topped the Billboard charts, but in the UK is was a relative failure, reaching only #16 after 31 consecutive top 10 hits.

The title "Take A Bow" is only heard in the opening lyrics of the song.

Real-life Spanish bullfighter Emilio Munoz played Madonna's bullfighting lover in the music video for this song. He reprised his role in the video for "You'll See," which was a sequel to this song.

At Madonna's suggestion, this song was recorded with a full orchestra. It was the first time Babyface had worked with live strings. 

This song and its follow-up "You'll See" show two different sides of Madonna's personality. She explained to NME: "'Take A Bow,' lyrically it only reflects one side of my personality. I have that side which is completely masochistic and willing to, literally, do anything for love. But there's another side too which is – 'Don't f*** with me, I don't need anybody. I can do what I want' and 'You'll See' reflects that."

Justin Timberlake enlisted director Michael Haussman for his "SexyBack" video because he was so impressed with his work on this song's video. He told MTV News in 2006: "Even today, I still remember the visuals, the images, how he captured her. A lot of times, Madonna seems like she's the person in control, and in that video, she seemed vulnerable. It was a cool thing to see."

Britney Spears' 2009 "Radar" music video is also a tribute to this song's video. Director Dave Meyers told MTV News: "[We were] looking for a way to take her into a contemporary, classy environment. I felt empowered by referencing Madonna's ['Take a Bow'] video. Britney hasn't done anything like that."

Country singer Trisha Yearwood covered this song with Babyface on CMT's Crossroads in 2007.

This was featured in the season one finale of Friends, "The One Where Rachel Finds Out," when Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) discovers Ross (David Schwimmer) is in love with her. The song plays when she goes to the airport to meet him, only to be disappointed when he arrives with a new girlfriend.

Madonna and Babyface performed this together at the 1995 American Music Awards. Babyface remembers being a nervous wreck: "I had on some wide pants, so you couldn't tell, but my leg was shaking like crazy. And then after I told her, she said she was nervous too, which was amazing to me because it's Madonna."

After performing this at the American Music Awards in 1995, Madonna didn't sing it again live until February 4, 2016 at a concert in Taipei. She said to the audience afterward, "That was fun! First time ever. Hit a few bad notes, but it felt good to sing it."

This won Best Female Video at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards.

 

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On 10/24/2019 at 3:51 PM, Brendanlovesu1 said:

I BELIEVE that the right side up cover was actually a mistake. I heard that when the album was being pressed they thought her face was supposed to be right side up but they were corrected that Madonna's face was supposed to be upside down.

The pressings which followed were upside down. I haven't seen any recent pressings, but I think it's odd that they would be printing them right side up since that's not what M intended.

This is an old fan rumor. There’s no evidence to back it up.

If anything, the original pressing cover is the real cover. It’s one that was used in ALL advertising promo 

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Apparently Madonna wanted Bedtime Story to be the first single off the album. In the US, WB were unsure about ever releasing the song as a single and the release date kept getting pushed back several times. Radio picked up on a remix of the song (probably courtesy of the UK maxi) and started playing that in Feb, well before the release of the single. By the time WB officially released the song to radio as well as the commercial single, interest had already peaked.

Radio DJ's at the time almost begged Madonna to release Don't Stop after Take a Bow, some even played the track.

Madonna apparently loved Toni Braxton's 1993 album "Toni Braxton" which Babyface co-produced, apparently she introduced herself to him after the Soul Train Awards in March 1994, he in turn told her she should work with Dallas Austin.

She met with Dallas a few times in April 1994 and recorded with him in June 1994 in Atlanta GA.

It seems most likely Madonna shifted gears from Shep to Babyface/Dallas Austin and co around March 1994

Carlos Leon stated somewhere that he met Madonna the day after the 1994 MTV Awards (in Central Park) This was also the day filming began on the video for Secret.

She was dating Tupac Shakur and Dennis Rodman during the making of this album. She did a couple songs with Tupac, including the unreleased version of "I'd Rather be Your Lover"

Madonna was also seen several times with male model Johnny Zander during the recording of this album, Johnny was one of the inspirations for Ben Stiller's Zoolander

Madonna shot the promotional photos for Bedtime Stories the same week as her 36th birthday

Chris Ciccone stated in his book that Madonna was in a depressed state during this period of her life, after the Erotica backlash

Despite Madonna's popularity in the US slipping. 1994 was still a great year for her on the US charts, I'll Remember hit #2, Secret #3, Take a Bow was ascending to #1 and the Bedtime Stories album got decent reviews and sold almost 2 million copies in the US before the end of the year

Through Nelle Hooper Madonna met Massive Attack and recorded the Marvin Gaye tribute song "I Want You" around March 1995. I know this isn't really bedtime stories related, but occured during that era.

I believe her voice message that appeared online was the first time she had done any kind of promotion through the internet. 

For whatever reason the bulk of promotion for the album concentrated on Europe and the UK. 

Secret was filmed in NYC Sep 9 - 11 1994

Take a Bow was filmed in Rhonda Spain Nov 3 - 8 1994

Bedtime Story was filmed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles from Dec 5, 1994 for about 5 to 7 days, this video recieved a brief theatrical run in select cinemas

Human Nature was filmed in Hollywood at Raleigh Studios May 6 -7, 1995

Madonna filmed three small roles in feature films during this period, during recording of the album (or just after) Madonna made a small cameo in Blue in the Face, around Jul 1994. She began work on Four Rooms Nov 16, 1994 just after completing Take a Bow. She then made a cameo appearance in Spike Lee's Girl 6, filming took place around late May 1995.

Madonna recreated her look from the Take a Bow video for a VH-1 Commercial, which invlolved having pieces flown in from various corners of the globe. The commerical was set to be filmed March 17, 1995 but was delayed by a few days. The commercial made its debut Apr 20, 1995 on NBC during their Must See Thursday lineup. The commercial featured a then unknown Ellen Pompeo

 

 

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I believe "Forbidden Love" was supposed to promote "Something to Remember" which is why the song is on the compilation.

Madonna changed her hair last minute for the "Secret" music video. The director shot scenes with the first hairstyle and that footage was used in the remix video.  I believe the director told her to tone down the hair.

secret_onset_ns1.jpg

This image was supposed to be the album cover:

paolo_roversi1.jpg

The Shep Pettibone sessions have still not leaked with the exception of "Love Won't Wait". "Secret" was originally "Something's Coming Over Me" and supposedly sounds like a Donna Summer song and she's singing about sex and moans. She sings "I see your love coming down." Shep got a writing credit on "Secret" after the pressing of the album. "Inside of Me" was "I Will Always Have You" and was another Shep song. Other Shep demos known to exist: "Bring It", "Tongue Tied", and Goodtime". There's also another Dallas Austin demo, "Right On Time". 

More about "I Will Always Have You"...

"I Will Always Have You" – The unreleased original version of what became the released song "Inside Of Me" recorded with Shep Pettibone and then abandoned. US copyright registration# PAu-1-889-251. This ballad sounds more like the familiar style of "Crazy for You" or "You'll See" than what later became the soft, lullaby-like released version. The released song's theme is all about Madonna cherishing the memory of a loved one, but in this demo she also wants to be the object of the song to also be remembered. The words "inside of me" are hardly used but many of the same lyrics are switched around. The melody is significantly different from the released version

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22 hours ago, poserdemadonna said:

Madonna would open the Bedtime Stories tour with Human Nature. The set looked a lot like the white boxes in the music video. However, she stopped rehearsals due to Evita.

This is incorrect.  She only spoke about touring, early on, but as early as December 1994, she was already focused on getting the Evita role.  No tour was in production yet. 

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3 hours ago, MarXus said:

This is incorrect.  She only spoke about touring, early on, but as early as December 1994, she was already focused on getting the Evita role.  No tour was in production yet. 

I remember seeing this on Madonna Tribe many moons ago and I kept the information. If true or not, I'm not sure.

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1 hour ago, poserdemadonna said:

I remember seeing this on Madonna Tribe many moons ago and I kept the information. If true or not, I'm not sure.

It's not true.  She mentioned she was going to tour, but it never materialized. The album came out in October.  By December, Take A Bow was released and that's when she sent the video and her letter to Alan Parker to play Evita.  Soon after she was hired for the role.  Initially she was planning to tour in Spring or Fall of 1995.  Her publicist suggested a smaller tour, but Madonna and her manager scrapped all plans to tour.

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