Oh Father
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| “Oh Father” | |||||
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"Oh Father" 1995 UK Single Cover
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| Single by Madonna from the album Like a Prayer |
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| B-side | "Pray for Spanish Eyes" (1989 release) "Live to Tell" (live edit) (1995 release) "Why's It So Hard" (live) (1995 release) |
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| Released | October 24, 1989 (Worldwide) December 1989 (Japan) December 31, 1995 (UK re-issue) |
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| Format | CD, 7", Cassette | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 4:59 (Album Version) 4:20 (Edit) |
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| Label | Sire, Warner Bros. (1989) Maverick, Warner Bros. (1995) |
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| Writer(s) | Madonna, Patrick Leonard | ||||
| Producer | Madonna, Patrick Leonard | ||||
| Madonna singles chronology | |||||
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| Like a Prayer track listing | |||||
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| Something to Remember track listing | |||||
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"Oh Father" was the fourth single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 4th studio album Like a Prayer and was released on October 24, 1989 by Sire Records. It was not released in the UK until December 31, 1995 as it appears on the 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember.
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[edit] Music video
The music video was filmed in late October 1989 at Culver Studios in Culver City, California and was directed by David Fincher. Shot entirely in black-and-white, the video is said to have taken stylistic inspiration from the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. MTV world premiered the video on November 11, 1989.
In the largely autobiographical video, Madonna portrays a character who is struggling to come to terms with her early childhood loss of her mother and the subsequent emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. The video contains graphic depiction of the struggles faced by Madonna's character.
In an opening scene, Madonna's character, as a young girl, finds her way into a closet where her dead mother's clothes and jewelry is stored. The young girl tries on many clothes and jewels, only to be discovered by her father who proceeds to scold the girl, scream in her face, and shake her so hard that her mother's pearl necklace breaks, falls from her neck, and spills on the floor.
In a closing scene, an adult Madonna lay down in bed next to the actor who in earlier scenes depicted her father. The actor soon awakens from his sleep, emerges from the bed, slaps Madonna across the face for no apparent reason, and then proceeds to walk out of the room in silence. In an interview, Madonna said that this is symbolic dramatization of her belief that people "marry their parents", that is, are attracted to partners who behave in a manner similar to the behavior to that of their parents during their childhoods.
Later, Madonna's character, as a little girl, is depicted as participating in the funeral service for her mother. The child approaches the dead mother to kiss her on the cheek, and is surprised to find that her mother's lips are sewn together. In an interview, Madonna claims that MTV censors requested that the shot depicting the mother's lips be removed as they felt it was considered too graphic. Madonna claims that she refused to edit out the scene and that MTV censors eventually changed their positions and allowed the video to run in its entirety.
The music video has been honoured by Rolling Stone as one of the "The 100 Top Music Videos", placed at number sixty-six. It is commercially available on Madonna's The Immaculate Collection (1990) DVD/VHS companion. In the 1991 MTV special hosted by Kurt Loder titled "Breakfast with Madonna", Loder described the video as "the most amazing video". He then asked Madonna if her father, Silvio Ciccone, had seen the video. Madonna responded, "To tell you the truth, I don't know if he's seen it. I'm sort of afraid to ask."
- Director: David Fincher
- Producer: Vicki Niles
- Director of Photography: Jordan Cronenweth
- Editor: Jim Haygood
- Production Company: Propaganda Films
[edit] Chart performance
"Oh Father" was released in the United States on October 24, 1989. The song became Madonna's first single since "Holiday" in 1984 not to go top ten in the United States, stalling at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. The song first appeared in the top forty on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart during the week of November 25, 1989, but it ended Madonna's streak of consecutive top ten hits.
Outside the U.S. the song also failed to reach the top ten except in Brazil and Ireland where it peaked at number 8, and in South Africa where it reached number 1 upon its re-release. It reached number twelve in Japan.
It reached number twenty-six in France where the song was released in March 1990 as the third commercial single from the "Like A Prayer" album, six months after the low charting "Cherish" and only four weeks before "Vogue" , thus showing how terrible the Warner Bros France promotion of "Like A Prayer" was. It is Madonna's lowest charting single in Australia, where it only reached number fifty-nine, breaking a run of twenty consecutive top forty singles.
"Oh Father" was not released as a single in the United Kingdom until December 25, 1995, when it appeared on Something to Remember. The song peaked at number sixteen on the UK singles chart. Interestingly, the single was released in the Republic of South Africa in late 1989, yet failed to chart. Upon it's re-release there in December 1995, it reached the #1 spot, which it held for 2 weeks.
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1989/96) | Peak Position |
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| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (1989) | 20 |
| Australia (1989) | 59 |
| Brazil (1989) | 8 |
| Chile (1989) | 2 |
| Israel (1989) | 28 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 (1996) | 62 |
| France Singles Chart (1989) | 26 |
| Irish Singles Chart (1989) | 8 |
| Japan Oricon International Singles Chart (1989) | 12 |
| South Africa, Republic of (1996) | 1 |
| United Kingdom (1996) | 16 |
| China (1989) | 25 |
[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Oh Father."
- 3" CD single
- "Oh Father"
- "Pray for Spanish Eyes"
- US cassette single and 7" single
- "Oh Father"
- "Pray for Spanish Eyes"
- CANADA 7" single (*)
- "Oh Father" 4:20 (edit)
- "Pray for Spanish Eyes" 5:15 (LP Version)
(*) http://www.madonnarecords.com/data/record.asp?id=5061
- CANADA 7" PROMO (**)
- "Oh Father" 4:20 (edit)
- "Pray for Spanish Eyes" 5:15 (LP Version)
(**) http://www.madonnarecords.com/data/record.asp?id=5069
- UK cassette single (1995)
- "Oh Father"
- "Live to Tell" (live edit from Ciao Italia)
- UK CD single (1995)
- "Oh Father"
- "Live to Tell" (live edit from Ciao Italia)
- "Why's It So Hard" (live from The Girlie Show)
[edit] References
- Billboard.com. link. Last accessed on March 6, 2006. - U.S. chart positions.
- MoCaW: Madonna on Charts around the World. link. Last accessed on March 6, 2006. - Worldwide chart positions and certifications.
- EIL.com. link. Last accessed on March 6, 2006. - Formats and track listings.
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