On December 6 1994, Madonna’s Take a Bow was released (as a physical single). Take A Bow was selected to be the second single from Madonna’s sixth studio album Bedtime Stories.
The ballad was written and produced by Madonna and Babyface.
Billboard Single Reviews gave the song a very positive review:
The follow-up to the top five smash Secret is a plush pop ballad that pairs La M with the red-hot Babyface, who has become best friend to many a diva in recent times. As close to perfect as top 40 fare gets, this single has a delightful, immediately memorable melody and chorus, engaging romance-novel lyrics, caressing live strings, and a lead vocal that is both sweet and quietly soulful. A lovely way for the singer to close ’95 — and one more good reason to investigate her essential Bedtime Stories collection.
On November 29 1994, Madonna: Innocence Lost, the made-for-TV movie based on Christopher Andersen’s 1991 book Madonna Unauthorized, premiered on Fox-TV. Madonna was played by 26-year-old newcomer Terumi Matthews.
Pop Matters had this to say about the TV movie:
Based on Christopher Andersen’s 1991 biography Madonna Unauthorized, the film’s introduction borrows verbatim from a three-page letter Madonna wrote to Stephen Jon Lewicki to appear in his 1979 underground feature A Certain Sacrifice. In it (and in the voiceover by Matthews), she writes, “I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan where I began my childhood in petulance and precociousness. By the time I was in the fifth grade, I knew I wanted to be a nun or a movie star. Nine months in a convent cured me of the first disease. During high school I became slightly schizophrenic as I couldn’t choose between class virgin or the other kind. Both of them had their values as far as I could see.” It’s through quotes such as these that we are given the veracious-feeling lens of Madonna’s early days pre-New York and, subsequently, pre-fame.
On November 5 1994, Bedtime Stories entered the UK album charts at number-two. It was Madonna’s second consecutive studio album to miss the top position on the UK charts, but it would be her last until 2015’s Rebel Heart, which also topped out in the runner-up position.
Which album denied Bedtime Stories its shot at earning Madonna another number-one debut in the UK? A greatest hits collection by perennial favorite of hockey (or in this case – soccer) moms everywhere, apparently….Bon Jovi.
We welcome you to ease your disbelief with the soothing sounds of the underrated Bedtime Stories album cut, Love Tried To Welcome Me.
“Instead of spring, it’s always winter And my heart has always been a lonely hunter.”
On July 19 1994, Madonna contributed Goodbye to Innocence to the Just Say Roe benefit CD.
When Madonna went to record her vocals for Goodbye to Innocence during the recording of the Erotica album , she started singing Little Willie John’s song Fever instead of singing the original words. Shep Pettibone and Madonna decided to record it, as they felt it sounded good. As they did not know the words, Madonna called Seymour Stein from Sire Records, and within an hour, they had the Peggy Lee version, and the original version of the song. Fever was the last song to be recorded for the album, in August 1992, and it was finished within a month later.
Lyrics:
I don’t wanna say goodbye
There are some who believe that I owe them something
But they’re wrong, I owe nothing to no one but myself
And there are some who say they created me
But only my parents will have that acclaim
I took it from there, I am to blame
Say goodbye to anonymity
I have to (have to, have to) say goodbye
To privacy, but most of all
To innocence
To innocence
To innocence
My life is not a game that I play to entertain you
And if you can do it better, then you’re welcome to my fame
I’m not gonna waste my time correcting myths and rumors
You believe what you wanna believe
Say goodbye to anonymity
I have to (have to, have to) say goodbye
To privacy, but most of all
To innocence
To innocence
To innocence
I don’t wanna say goodbye
I don’t need a reason to cry
Kinda makes me wanna
Kinda makes me hafta
Stop and think about it
Stop and think about it
Stop and think about it
Do I want to?
I don’t (getting up and down)
I don’t (getting up and down)
I don’t (getting up and down)
Up-up, d-d-down, up-up-up
I don’t (getting up and down)
I don’t (getting up and down)
I don’t (getting up and down)
Up-up, d-d-down, up-up-up
Listen up
It always comes down to this
It always comes down to this
Some people have a snake at the base of their spine
That would suck out your life, that would take all your time
They’re called feeders
They’re not believers but you must not fear it
They’re takers
You know you better stop, stop and think about it
Your innocence
Your innocence
Your innocence
I don’t wanna say goodbye to innocence
I don’t need a reason to cry, innocence
Hold on to your innocence
Hold on (hold on, hold on), hold on to innocence
Hold on
Stop and think about it, say goodbye, think about it
On June 18 1994, Madonna’s I’ll Remember spent a second week at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S. I’ll Remember spent a total of 4 weeks at the top of the chart, making it her longest running AC chart-topper to date at the time. This would be surpassed less than a year later when Take A Bow ended an incredible 9-week run at #1 on AC chart on February 18th, 1995 and remains her biggest AC hit in the U.S.
On January 23 1994, Bye Bye Baby re-entered the New Zealand singles chart, ultimately peaking at #43. The track had initially charted in the country for a single week in late November of 1993.
Today In Madonna History 