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Supernatural


Roland Barthes
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https://www.queerty.com/time-madonna-got-f-ed-ghost-spooky-sexy-halloween-b-side-track-20221027

Queerty (yuck, i don't like that website) has an article about Supernatural, the Like a Prayer outtake and Cherish b-side. Althought it is on the surface a song about fucking a ghost, i've always thought it was a metaphore for Sean Penn during the last days of her marriage to him. She said in interviews that during that time he would go away for a long period of time then come back home unexpectedly, she said it was like liveing with a ghost. Also she mentions "you're not the least obsessed with your hair" which is something Sean Penn was accused of being in the press at the time, so it could be like in "Promise to try" where she impersonates different characters (herself as an adult, herself as a kid, her father, her mother) and that ghost could be Sean Penn or the ghost of Sean Penn (like fucking with him without having to put up with him) or a real ghost, many characters at once. I don't agree with Matthew Rettenmund though, it fits with Like A Prayer because it's about sex and a ghost just like LAP is about sex and the holy ghost and of course with Till Death Do Us Part. It also fits with "Just A Dream" which is also about the absence of Sean Penn. The 4 tracks (well if Donna de Lory's version of Just a Dream is musically close to Madonna"s) also share that same more rock music vibe other tracks on the album don't.

And the Debbie Harry inspiration is quite obvious in Thief Of Hearts and She's Not Me (Rip Her To Shreds), the latter Madonna aknowledged it as it in itws during the promo of Hard Candy. They can aslo be inspired by the Shangri-la's which are Harry's inspiration.

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Guyom's remix of this song is my favorite version.

It's a shame she doesn't have a Halloween/Horror classic. Still hope she does a film or something in that style someday. It's always been interesting to me that she released Like a Virgin on Halloween. And one year later, and for decades to follow, people would dress as her. So I guess she got her Halloween classic her way 🎃

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The version on Cherish was mixed by James Guthrie (like Cherish single and 12" versions) and not by Bill Bottrell like the Like A Prayer album. Guthrie is Kate Bush's usual engineer, mixer, remastering master...he also works with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd (whom discovered Kate Bush and produced her first demos), Pat Leonard was working with him at the time so maybe that's where the connection with Guthrie was made. 

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On 10/28/2022 at 12:54 AM, Roland Barthes said:

https://www.queerty.com/time-madonna-got-f-ed-ghost-spooky-sexy-halloween-b-side-track-20221027

Queerty (yuck, i don't like that website) has an article about Supernatural, the Like a Prayer outtake and Cherish b-side. Althought it is on the surface a song about fucking a ghost, i've always thought it was a metaphore for Sean Penn during the last days of her marriage to him. She said in interviews that during that time he would go away for a long period of time then come back home unexpectedly, she said it was like liveing with a ghost. Also she mentions "you're not the least obsessed with your hair" which is something Sean Penn was accused of being in the press at the time, so it could be like in "Promise to try" where she impersonates different characters (herself as an adult, herself as a kid, her father, her mother) and that ghost could be Sean Penn or the ghost of Sean Penn (like fucking with him without having to put up with him) or a real ghost, many characters at once. I don't agree with Matthew Rettenmund though, it fits with Like A Prayer because it's about sex and a ghost just like LAP is about sex and the holy ghost and of course with Till Death Do Us Part. It also fits with "Just A Dream" which is also about the absence of Sean Penn. The 4 tracks (well if Donna de Lory's version of Just a Dream is musically close to Madonna"s) also share that same more rock music vibe other tracks on the album don't.

And the Debbie Harry inspiration is quite obvious in Thief Of Hearts and She's Not Me (Rip Her To Shreds), the latter Madonna aknowledged it as it in itws during the promo of Hard Candy. They can aslo be inspired by the Shangri-la's which are Harry's inspiration.

very nice ! i had no idea!

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