Songoftheday 12/4/14 - The one you warned me all about the one you said I could do without, we're in an awful mess and I don't mean maybe....

Madonna - "Papa Don't Preach"
from the album True Blue (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day come from pop superstar Madonna, who we last saw getting all grown up and reflective in her #1 ballad "Live To Tell". Not even a couple months went by and out comes her second single from her third album, True Blue, "Papa Don't Preach". As different sonically that "Live To Tell" was from her earlier work, "Papa Don't Preach" was light-years ahead in lyrical content, with the singer playing the pregnant (presumably too-young) protagonist pleading with her father to understand her situation and her choice (one that many of her generation were going through silently). And surprisingly, instead of the expected abortion result, Madonna (through the words of songwriter Brian Elliot) declared that she was "keepin' my baby". From all the trouble she's been in with the Catholic church, it's easy to forget how much of a pro-life statement that really was (although it's vague whether she meant it as just her decision). The video, which unfolds like a short film, guest stars actor Danny Aiello, and Madonna's hair cropped to a shocked-white tomboy do...

"Papa Don't Preach" became Madonna's fourth #1 pop hit in America in August of 1986. The record also crossed over to #4 on the Dance Club Play chart and even #16 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the single was huge as well, topping the charts in Canada, England, Italy, and Ireland. And most importantly, it solidified Madonna's stature as a artist, not just a pop hitmaker.

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In 2002, Kelly Osbourne (Ozzy's daughter) released a cover of "Papa Don't Preach", which went to #3 in England and Australia, #6 in Canada, and mercifully stalled out at #74 in the U.S....

In their first season, the musical comedy Glee covered "Papa Don't Preach" in their Madonna tribute episode, and the song went to #81 in the UK in 2010...

And now, back to Madonna, first from her Who's That Girl tour in 1987 (which I saw in Chicago)...

...and again on her Blonde Ambition show in 1990...

...Fast forward to 2004 on her Re-Invention tour...

Up tomorrow: a Fab Fiver gets comfortable.