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Did you know? Sky fits heaven inspiration

Enrico

By Enrico,
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Enrico

Enrico 14,789

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I had no idea about this.

 

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/madonna-song-inspired-controversial-gap-jeans-ad.html/

While writing songs, Madonna drew inspiration for her lyrics from numerous places. For example, one of her songs was inspired by a Gap ad — as well as her own spiritual journey. Here’s a look at what someone involved in the controversial ad received in return for inspiring a Madonna song.

It all started with a Gap ad that received quite a bit of attention. According to Entertainment Weekly, Max Blagg recited his poem “What Fits?” in an ad that depicted Mädchen Amick of Twin Peaks fame modeling jeans. The ad garnered varied responses. While some found the ad interesting, others decried it as pretentious. The ad even inspired parody ads for NBC programming.”Our spots were meant as flattery,” said Vince Manze, vice president of NBC. ”If some people thought the Gap ads were pretentious, so what? They had everybody talking. In advertising, that’s what’s important.” The Gap’s use of “What Fits?” apparently caught the attention of Madonna.

According to MTV News, Madonna’s publicist confirmed she drew inspiration from Blagg’s Gap ad to compose her song “Sky Fits Heaven.” In the track she used Blagg’s lines “Sky fits heaven so fly it” and Child fits mother so hold your baby tight,” slightly altering the former to “Sky fits heaven so ride it.” Blagg received compensation but not a writing credit on the song.

https://madonnaunderground.com/this-madonna-song-was-inspired-by-a-controversial-gap-jeans-ad/

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Ryder

Ryder 9,743

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Upon viewing the Gap ads, Madonna contacted Blagg for obtaining permission to use the poem in her new musical material. While composing her 1998 album Ray of Light, Madonna and Blagg reached a deal which would allow the singer to include excerpts of What Fits? within her song "Sky Fits Heaven"; in exchange, Blagg would receive no credit. The lines in particular: "Sky fits heaven so ride it / Child fits mother so hold your baby tight" would be used, with the exception of the first line which would be changed to "Sky fits heaven so fly it".

Upon its initial release on Ray of Light, Daniel Frankel of E! News questioned Madonna's intentions on the track, which he found to be extremely similar to Blagg's work; Frankel was unaware of the agreement reached between the two.[4] George Rush and Joanna Molloy from the New York Daily News first reported the incident on March 12, 1998, and claimed that "Madonna took care of the sticky issue of credit by paying Blagg" and leaving his name out of the album notes.

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RUADJAI

RUADJAI 13,211

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3 hours ago, Enrico said:

Well the song lyrics are incredible. I think Madonna is very smart in finding good hints for songs and make them her own, like the scene from Peaky Bliders used for I don't search I find lyrics:

 

its blocked for me... can you tell me what season/ episode/ time stamp or something  I WANNA SEEEEEE!!

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RUADJAI

RUADJAI 13,211

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10 minutes ago, Blue Prince said:

Am I the only one that kinda gets let down when something so great doesn't come straight from her and her close songwriters? She's smart enough to use all the elements but I would have loved it if Sky Fits Heaven and Ray of Light lyrics had been birthed by her.

Nope. I think it's amazing. She was inspired by a random commercial, presumably in 1992, presumably wrote it down, and then digs it back up 6 years later and turns it into a song. It's genius. She could have been just a regular person complaining that the Gap commercial was too pretentious like everyone else, but she took a spark and made a fire.  

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captainjay

captainjay 1,565

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23 minutes ago, Blue Prince said:

Am I the only one that kinda gets let down when something so great doesn't come straight from her and her close songwriters? She's smart enough to use all the elements but I would have loved it if Sky Fits Heaven and Ray of Light lyrics had been birthed by her.

Nah, she took something with a good start and took it to the next level of greatness. 

I think anyone that was a fan at the time already knew this, it was well documented at the time. Same with Candy Perfume Girl being created using the fridge magnets .. lol .. doesn't make the songs any less genius. Had she not leaned on those things, those things would have disappeared into the void .. instead they're being celebrated even today! 

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societysboy

societysboy 602

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23 minutes ago, captainjay said:

Nah, she took something with a good start and took it to the next level of greatness. 

I think anyone that was a fan at the time already knew this, it was well documented at the time. Same with Candy Perfume Girl being created using the fridge magnets .. lol .. doesn't make the songs any less genius. Had she not leaned on those things, those things would have disappeared into the void .. instead they're being celebrated even today! 

(she didn't write Candy Perfume Girl...)

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Nahual

Nahual 579

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10 hours ago, Blue Prince said:

Am I the only one that kinda gets let down when something so great doesn't come straight from her and her close songwriters? She's smart enough to use all the elements but I would have loved it if Sky Fits Heaven and Ray of Light lyrics had been birthed by her.

Yes, and it bothers me especially in this case since it seems rather dubious that she cut a deal with the original poem writer and avoided having to give him a co-writing credit as a result. I'd expect that sort of thing from Beyonce, but not from Madonna.

giphy.gif

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Eder Borba

Eder Borba 54

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On 5/9/2021 at 6:57 AM, Nahual said:

Yes, and it bothers me especially in this case since it seems rather dubious that she cut a deal with the original poem writer and avoided having to give him a co-writing credit as a result. I'd expect that sort of thing from Beyonce, but not from Madonna.

giphy.gif

It's a tricky thing, you know? Being a songwriter myself and having to understand the law a little bit to work with producers I can tell you: if you give songwriting credits to someone, this person (or organization) have rights over that piece, as same as you. If they want, they can prohibit you to use it anywhere, so it's  highly risky, if you can pay them off, pay them off haha

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captainjay

captainjay 1,565

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16 hours ago, artlover said:

What's up with Candy Perfume Girl and magnets?

A company with fridge magnet word sets claims (claimed but still claims) that Madonna used their magnets to randomly put together the lyrics for Candy Perfume Girl.

They tried to get her to admit this, but she paid it no attention.

They tried to partner with my website at the time to sort of confirm that there was a Madonna association, but I told them to eat a bowl of dicks.

The Magnetic Poetry Essentials

Our Original and Poet kits are our flagship products, the ones that started it all back in 1993. They contain everything you need to almost effortlessly come up with astonishing “poetry,” even if you’ve never written an original verse in your life! The Original was on Seinfeld’s fridge, and Madonna used The Poet to compose her song “Candy Perfume Girl.” These ones do it all, and are perfect for those new to the world of fridge poetry. Use them to compose ever-evolving love poems, surreal insults, bizarre insights, naughty reposts, and all manner of random and hilarious messages to all that visit… and add their own changes to your works-in-progress!

https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Poetry-Obscenities-Refrigerator-Letters/dp/B01AH0C59G

 

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