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True Blue: The REAL Lead Single


musicinferno
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This has bothered me for years on end. I have always considered Papa Don't Preach the lead single from True Blue but some fans will argue that Live To Tell was.

 

Live To Tell was clearly released for the film At Close Range which happened to come out just a few months before True Blue was released. Papa Don't Preach was released a couple weeks before the album with her new look that matched the album cover and theme. So what's the true story? Was Live To Tell truly meant to be the lead single or did it happen to just get tagged onto the start of an era? If this was the case, then Die Another Day would be considered American Life's lead single even though we all know that was not intended but happened to come out shortly before the album's release and was included on the tracklist.

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Aye and Love Don't Live Here Anymore WAS going to be A Single too.
Google ' Jimmy Nail ' to find out why that got canned.
He got one place higher than the original in the UK charts with his awful go at it.
Which Single was released first ?
Whatever the Grand Plans may have been that's the 'lead single'.

Edited by professormouse (see edit history)
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I think LTT was such a brave move! An incredible change of image. A mature song. And it was repaid.

After all, PDP's release coincided with the album release, so it is like a first single, a bit like Die another day followed by American life.

What I can tell you is that Into the groove and Papa are the first songs I heard on the radio, they were massive, played everywhere, I don't remember hearing LTT, although I loved it immediately.

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At that time, at my age and as a fan nothing in her career startled me more (with the exception of the pulling of the American Life video) than the song and video for Live To Tell.

Live To Tell was the more positive startle though but I was floored and didn't really know what to think but I did "think." Quite a bit. It's a testament to what attracted me to Madonna in the first place that as a fan I always gave great thought into what she was doing. While the world "reacted," she often inspired thought in me. My favorite artists make me think. 

It might not be seen as a big deal now but that change then really was amazing and I didn't know how to feel about it. I now know how positive the change was. 

I know what you are getting at as Papa Don't Preach really does sound like the introduction to the heart of True Blue. Live To Tell somehow fits for me within the album though it does sound different. It's like a bridge between two worlds if that makes any sense. 

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In my opinion, Live To Tell was the first single. I wasn't fan in 1986 but I remember how LTT impacted in my life (you know, first love, first heartbreak).

Maybe "Live To Tell" is my favorite Madonna song, but many videos and singles (Express Yourself, Vogue, Fever, Deeper and Deeper, Ray of Light, ...) buried the beauty of "Live To Tell" in my mind because I love dance songs. 

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On the Live To Tell single sleeve, it does say, "from the Forthcoming Madonna Album".  It's not uncommon for a lead single to be released several months before the album.   I consider it the first single. After all, it was intended to be the album name in early conception, and not something she was just slapping on the album because it was a successful song from a soundtrack.  The song success was more due to the popularity of Madonna at the time, than the film as well.  The film wasn't that successful.  If anything the single, probably helped the give attention to the film, rather the other way around. 

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11 hours ago, musicinferno said:

 Was Live To Tell truly meant to be the lead single or did it happen to just get tagged onto the start of an era? If this was the case, then Die Another Day would be considered American Life's lead single even though we all know that was not intended but happened to come out shortly before the album's release and was included on the tracklist.

The difference is, ‘Die Another Day’ was featured on the soundtrack album of the same name, hence rendering its inclusion on “American Life” album a bonus track. The movie “At Close Range”, on the other hand, did not have a soundtrack album as far as I am concerned, making ‘Live to Tell’ actually a single off “True Blue”, which happens to be used in a movie.

So while I agree on many points with you about ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ being a better representative of the “True Blue” era, it is actually ‘Live to Tell’ that was the first single.

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2 hours ago, Turuncan said:

The difference is, ‘Die Another Day’ was featured on the soundtrack album of the same name, hence rendering its inclusion on “American Life” album a bonus track. The movie “At Close Range”, on the other hand, did not have a soundtrack album as far as I am concerned, making ‘Live to Tell’ actually a single off “True Blue”, which happens to be used in a movie.

So while I agree on many points with you about ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ being a better representative of the “True Blue” era, it is actually ‘Live to Tell’ that was the first single.

I pretty much agree with all your points.  Though, "Die Another Day" wasn't "a bonus track".  But I do think, it probably was included on American Life simply because it was a top ten song, and her and/or her record company probably thought it would sell better with its inclusion. 

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2 minutes ago, RUADJAI said:

Interesting that True Blue was gonna be called Live to Tell. I'd never heard that before. 

Before the album was completed, she even said it in an interview (I think it was with her favorite Australian interviewer, Molly Meldrum?) that she was working on a new album called Live To Tell.  If I recall correctly, she just finished up filming Shanghai Surprise.  She had been working on the album off and on for some time.  I believe she also mentioned, she had a song for Sean's new film coming out soon. 

Side note: I believe "Love Makes The World Go Round" was recorded first, and it was intended to be the first single.  As we know, she performed it at LIVE AID, the year before the album was released.

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I consider Live To Tell the lead single. You can read "FROM THE FORTHCOMING MADONNA ALBUM ON SIRE RECORDS AND FROM THE ORION MOTION PICTURE AT CLOSE RANGE" in the single. 

With Music and American Life it was different, they never announced American Pie or Die Another Day as singles from the forthcoming album.

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22 hours ago, MarXus said:

I pretty much agree with all your points.  Though, "Die Another Day" wasn't "a bonus track".  But I do think, it probably was included on American Life simply because it was a top ten song, and her and/or her record company probably thought it would sell better with its inclusion. 

It was not from the original album sessions, but recorded for the movie, having nothing to do with the “American Life” album. So, it can be considered as a bonus track even though it was not labelled so.

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The reason it doesn't seem like the lead single is 1) it is from a movie 2) it came out a few months prior to the album and another single was released after it 3) she did no promotion for it and nothing really linked it to the album apart from the "from the forthcoming Madonna album"

Yes it was always intended to be on the album and in a technical sense is the lead single, but honestly it feels like a sneak preview and was more associated with At Close Range and as a soundtrack single at the time.

But the answer to your question is yes it was considered by Madonna/WB as the lead single from True Blue, but it just wasn't really promoted that way. PDP is where things really kicked off.

 

 

 

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Interesting info. Thanks guys! 

 

I had no idea the album was to be called Live To Tell nor did I know it had "from the forthcoming album" on the single. I still feel it was just attached to the era to help create hype for the album. But regardless if Warner says it was the first single, then so be it. 

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19 hours ago, musicinferno said:

Interesting info. Thanks guys! 

 

I had no idea the album was to be called Live To Tell nor did I know it had "from the forthcoming album" on the single. I still feel it was just attached to the era to help create hype for the album. But regardless if Warner says it was the first single, then so be it. 

It was most likely only released first and in Mar/April due to At Close Range. Had it not been attached to that movie my guess would be PDP would have been the official lead single and LTT might have come second. But that's just a guess, she seemed to like releasing a kicker first and rarely released ballads as a lead single. 

I think you are right, while LTT was always going to be on the album, when that single was released the album hadn't even been completed yet, but I would also suggest WB wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to promote any upcoming Madonna release.

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On 11/9/2019 at 9:20 PM, amscity said:

I consider Live To Tell the lead single. You can read "FROM THE FORTHCOMING MADONNA ALBUM ON SIRE RECORDS AND FROM THE ORION MOTION PICTURE AT CLOSE RANGE" in the single. 

With Music and American Life it was different, they never announced American Pie or Die Another Day as singles from the forthcoming album.

This... 

"American pie" and "Die another day" were songs made for their movies and they were included on the album soundtracks. On the other hand "Live to tell" was released on "True blue" album for the first time (I'm not counting the singles and maxis) making it a song for the album.

I think the real problem is the video. If they made a video only with Madonna singing the song everybody would be thinking that it was a "True blue" single but they added the movie scenes and I think that make us feel sometimes that is not a proper single.

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On 11/10/2019 at 11:19 PM, musicinferno said:

Interesting info. Thanks guys! 

 

I had no idea the album was to be called Live To Tell nor did I know it had "from the forthcoming album" on the single. I still feel it was just attached to the era to help create hype for the album. But regardless if Warner says it was the first single, then so be it. 

It wasn't "just attached" being her intention was to title the album LIVE TO TELL She stated that back in an earlier Molly Meldrum interview before the album was finished. Yes, the song was intended for the movie, but she obviously was trying to make it a theme for the album.

On 11/11/2019 at 6:57 PM, me1981 said:

It was most likely only released first and in Mar/April due to At Close Range. Had it not been attached to that movie my guess would be PDP would have been the official lead single and LTT might have come second. But that's just a guess, she seemed to like releasing a kicker first and rarely released ballads as a lead single. 

I think you are right, while LTT was always going to be on the album, when that single was released the album hadn't even been completed yet, but I would also suggest WB wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to promote any upcoming Madonna release.

Actually, I feel the ballad was very intentional to kick off the era because she purposely wanted to show a "new Madonna" in transition.  The video and song was a switch up to what was expected.  No one was expecting this softer and gentler side of Madonna.  And then she really went for the full make-over once the album and second single was released.  Though, her look was already being talked about before the album was released. She and Sean Penn showed up to the premier of AT CLOSE RANGE in her short blonde cropped hair. 

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On 11/9/2019 at 6:58 AM, Synchrone said:

Well the album originally was going to be called Live to Tell but was changed to True Blue. I always find it interesting how both True Blue and MJ’s bad first singles were ballads

it was because along with the change in her image the public saw some of her voice capacity. The New Madonna came along.

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