Erotica

"Erotica"
Single by Madonna
from the album Erotica
B-side	"Erotica" (Instrumental)
Released	October 11, 1992 October 13, 1992
Format	CD single, 7" single, cassette single
Recorded	1991
Genre	Dance-pop, trip hop, Porn groove
Length	5:17 (Album Version) 4:31 (Edit)
Label	Maverick, Sire, Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin (uncredited)
Producer	Madonna, Shep Pettibone
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
Madonna singles chronology
"This Used to Be My Playground" (1992) "Erotica" (1992) "Deeper and Deeper" (1992)
Erotica track listing "Erotica" (1) "Fever" (2) GHV2 track listing "Deeper and Deeper" (7" Edit) (1) "Erotica" (Radio Edit) (2) "Human Nature" (Radio Version) (3)

	"Erotica"
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"Erotica" is the lead single from American singer-songwriter Madonna's fifth studio album, Erotica (1992). The single was released in October 1992 by Maverick Records. Released amidst a blaze of publicity and hype for the single and other projects at the time, "Erotica" became her first lead single from an album not to hit number one in the U.S. since her debut album in 1983. Fourteen years after its original release, the song received renewed attention with its inclusion in the set list for the Confessions Tour. The song, along with "Secret Garden", were the only Madonna songs used in her feature film debut as a director, Filth and Wisdom (2007).

"Erotica" continued Madonna's exploration of potent spoken-word vocals (as introduced in "Justify My Love") and was highly controversial when it was released due to its sexual theme and suggestive lyrics. Upon the song's release, the Vatican banned Madonna from entering the state and her music was banned on its radio stations. The song and its accompanying album are also banned in Lebanon.

Background

There are three different versions of this song; the original demo, the album version, and the song "Erotic" which was created exclusively to accompany the 1992 book Sex. The latter was created during the "Erotica" album sessions. It was producer Shep Pettibone's idea to use the writing from the book included in the song, the result was more "erotic", borked down and raw than "Erotica". These lyrics can also be heard in the William Orbit remixes on the single. In the original demo for the song, which leaked to the Internet in February 2008, the lyrics of the opening and chorus differ from the final recorded version. The lyrics "My name is Dita, I'll be your mistress tonight", are omitted. The chorus is also substantially different. Madonna performed "Erotica" as the opening song on her 1993 Girlie Show Tour.

For Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour, Madonna and Stuart Price created a remix of "Erotica", which used the demo chorus. This version mixes a different verse and chorus with the original album version's chorus ("Erotic/Erotic/Put your hands all over my body"). It also uses the bridge "Erotica/Romance/Erotica/I'd like to put you in a trance". While listed as "Erotica" in the Confessions Tour program, most fans know the song as "You Thrill Me" after its unique chorus:

You are who you are (and I)

Wouldn't want to change a thing (,in spite of)

All the pain that love can bring (, tell me)

What can I do, I'm so in love with you

You thrill me/Surround me, you fill me/You send me/You put me in a trance

You fill me/Inside me you take me/You thrill me/You put me in a trance

Some of the lyrics from the original demo of "Erotica" can also be heard in the "Jeep Beats" remix on the "Erotica" maxi-single. Madonna can be heard singing "I'm so in love with you" and "You thrill me" in this mix - lyrics not used in the album cut of "Erotica".

The album version of "Erotica" contains a sample of the 1974 hit song "Jungle Boogie", performed by Kool and the Gang. In addition, the song samples "El Yom 'Ulliqa 'Ala Khashaba" ("Today, He Is Held to a Cross") by Lebanese singer Fairuz from her 1962 album Good Friday - Eastern Sacred Songs. Madonna used that prayer more prominently in her "The Beast Within" track. Fairuz sued Madonna for $2.5 million for plagiarism over the section/sampling. In "Erotica", Madonna repeatedly chants over Fairuz's voice "All over me". An undisclosed settlement was eventually reached between Fairuz and Madonna, but the scandal caused both the single and the album to be banned in the Lebanon.

The song has been remixed by William Orbit, who would later become Madonna's main collaborator on her 1998 album Ray of Light, and prolific DJs Masters at Work.

In the sleeve notes to I'm Going to Tell You a Secret and the live CD The Confessions Tour it credits an additional composer to have written this song: Antony Shimkin. ASCAP have officially confirmed this.

The single was the first of Madonna's releases to feature the label of her new record company, 'Maverick'. However, the German 7" still has the old-style 'Sire' label although the German 12" features the new Maverick label. Germany also pressed a second 12" of four of the 'Masters at Work' remixes. The sleeve is identical to the first 12" but has a gold rim round the edge of the sleeve.

A 12" limited edition picture disc was pressed by WEA in England and then withdrawn and destroyed as it depicted Madonna sucking Naomi Campbell's toe. Owing to the recent royal scandal of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York being caught topless by paparazzi engaging in a similar act with her then-financial adviser, John Bryan, the pressing of 50,000 copies was recalled and destroyed to avoid embarrassing the English Royal Family, and, to avoid accusations that WEA was cashing in on the scandal. There are less than 150 copies known to be in existence.

"Erotic"

The condom-resembling sleeve to "Erotic"

A version of "Erotica" was included in the form of a promotional, single-track CD that accompanied her infamous Sex book. The track, entitled "Erotic", was produced by Madonna and Shep Pettibone. This version is quite not so different from "Erotica"; although "Erotic" has less instrumentation and its lyrics are actually passages from Sex.^[1] The CD came in a special re-sealable mylar wrapper sleeve resembling a condom. The reason for this was to promote safe sex. Although "Erotic" has never been commercially released, a remix by William Orbit can be found on the maxi CD/12" single of "Erotica". The CD is now out of print along with the book.

Chart performance

"Erotica" debuted at a high number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, but instead of zooming to number one as had been expected, it peaked at number three in its second chart week and began to slowly move down the chart the following week, charting for a total of 18 weeks. "Erotica" made the highest debut in the history of the Hot 100 Airplay chart, entering at its peak position of number two, and it also reached number one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and number four on the Hot 100 Singles Sales charts. The single was certified gold by the RIAA on December 10, 1992. Internationally, "Erotica" became another big hit for Madonna, hitting the top five in many markets including the U.K., Canada, and Australia and topping the charts in Italy. It also topped the Eurochart Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks, becoming her eighth number one hit in Europe.

Music video

Madonna in the "Erotica" video.

The music video for "Erotica" is one of Madonna's most infamous videos, directed by fashion photographer Fabien Baron. The clip depicts Madonna as a mask-wearing dominatrix; interspersed are scenes from the making of the Sex book. The American MTV aired it a total of three times (all of these in the "safe harbor") due to its highly charged sexual content, and was eventually Madonna's second video to be banned from airing by that channel. There were two versions of the video - the "standard" version which contained no nudity was released in the United States (it can be viewed on Madonna's official web page); and a more explicit version of the video was released only in Europe and Australia, which contained full-frontal nudity of Madonna and variation in the editing. The video was ranked #16 on VH1's "50 Sexiest Video Moments".

Naomi Campbell, Isabella Rossellini, and Big Daddy Kane appeared in Madonna's music video for "Erotica". The footage of Madonna performing the song in her S&M dominatrix costume was shot in August 1992 at The Kitchen in New York City. The rest of the footage for the video was shot during the New York City photo sessions for her infamous book Sex (many of the photographs in the book are actually stills from this footage) - an hour of this footage was compiled by Madonna and Baron for a film that was made for the party she gave at Industria in New York for the release of Sex, a film that included a soundtrack of French music from the 1920s and 1930s that included songs from such singers as Charles Trenet, Mistinguett, Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, and Josephine Baker. This film was also given by Madonna to her closest friends. It later leaked out to the public and copies of it were sold on eBay for some time. Today this film, known as the Sex Book Video can be found circulating on the internet in low quality.

• Director: Fabien Baron
• Producer: Eric Liekefet
• Executive Producer: Bobby Woods
• Director of Photography: Michael Bernard
• Editors: John Murray, Tom Muldoon
• Production Company: Heart x Coffee Cup = Lightning

Track listings and versions

Major formats released for "Erotica":

Charts

Chart procession and succession

Cover versions

• The 2000 compilation Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2 features a cover by Razed in Black vs. Transmutator.^[7]

References

External links

• Mad-Eyes.net - "Erotica" Single Page