| Lyrics: Drowned World/Substitute for Love |
Performed by: Madonna
Written by: David Collins; Anita Kerr; Madonna; Rod Mckuen; William Orbit
Credits: Collins, David (Songwriter); Kerr, Anita (Songwriter); Madonna (Songwriter); Mckuen, Rod (Songwriter); Orbit, William (Songwriter); DAVID COLLINS PUB DESIGNEE (Publisher); RONDOR MUSIC (LONDON) LTD (BMI) (Publisher); WB MUSIC CORP. (Publisher); WEBO GIRL MUSIC (Publisher)
| Wikipedia: Drowned World/Substitute for Love |
| "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Madonna | |||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Ray of Light | |||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Sky Fits Heaven" (Sasha Remix Edit) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Released | August 24, 1998 (See Release history) |
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| Format | CD single 12" vinyl single Cassette single |
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| Genre | Electronica, Ambient | ||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 5:09 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Maverick, Warner Bros. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Madonna William Orbit Rod McKuen Anita Kerr David Collins |
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| Producer | Madonna William Orbit |
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"Drowned World/Substitute for Love" is a pop song written by American singer Madonna, William Orbit, Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins for Madonna's seventh album Ray of Light (1998). It was produced by Madonna and William Orbit, and received a positive reception from music critics. The song was released as a single in the summer of 1998 and was a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number ten selling 90,651 copies. The title of the song was changed to "Drowned World (Substitute for Love)" for its single release. The single was not released in the U.S. market.
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Since the album's second single "Ray of Light" was released with a one month delay in the U.S., Madonna's record label decided to release "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" as a single in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa to close the time-gap between the next international single-release, "The Power of Good-Bye".
The song begins with a male voice saying "You see", which is a sample of the song "Why I Follow the Tigers", performed by The San Sebastian Strings. The author of the song, Rod McKuen, explains:
The original title for this song was "No Substitute For Love" which had slightly different lyrics to the completed version. A demo with the original lyrics and different musical set up has been leaked to the internet. Some differences in lyrics are: "Face the truth, No substitute for love". The final song contains the lyrics "The face of you, My substitute for love".
Madonna named her 2001 tour after the song and used it to open the tour as well. Also, the last lyrics from the song ("Now, I find I changed my mind. This is my religion") were used at the end of the performance of "Ray of Light" in the same tour.
In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time by Q. "Drowned World (Substitute for Love)" was allocated the #17 spot.
Drowned World was also part of the setlist of her Confessions tour in the summer of 2006. The song was cut from the NBC special, The Confessions Tour - Live from London on November 22, 2006 but appeared on the full-length DVD.
The song title (and the tour title) is said to be loosely inspired by British author J.G. Ballard's apocalyptic 1962 novel The Drowned World.
In the United Kingdom the song was another hit for Madonna, debuting and peaking at number 10 on the singles chart. "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" was also a number one hit in Spain and went to number 6 in Italy, elsewhere the song was a modest success, usually charting within the top twenty. The song charted in the top twenty in South Africa, Australia, Canada, China, and Japan.
The music video was directed by Walter Stern and filmed on June 26 - 27, 1998 at London's famous Savoy Hotel and Piccadilly Circus. The video featured Madonna leaving her home and being chased by paparazzi. She was constantly running, even from the other celebrities in a hotel bar. In this scene all the celebrities faces, except Madonna's, were distorted to make everyone look demonic. One of the most striking and memorable moments of the video occurred when Madonna passed a hotel maid, smiling at her. Madonna returned the smile. Then the camera went off; the maid had just taken a picture of her. Madonna fled, running all the way home to her daughter's (not played by Madonna's real daughter, Lourdes) arms, singing that she's "changed her mind" about being a celebrity.
The video created a lot of controversy in 1998 due to the scenes that feature Madonna being chased by paparazzi on motor-bikes, a scenario similar to Diana, Princess of Wales's death in 1997. The video premiered in Europe on July 25, 1998 and remained unavailable in North America until the release of Madonna's DVD compilation The Video Collection 93:99.
Side A
Side B
| Country | Date |
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| Canada | August 24, 1998 |
| Europe | September 20, 1998 |
Drowned World (Substitute for Love)
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Sky Fits Heaven
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