Today in Madonna History: June 27, 1995

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On June 27 1995, The Postman (Il Postino) soundtrack was released. The soundtrack included celebrities reading Pablo Neruda poems, including Madonna reading his poem, If You Forget Me:

I want you to know one thing
you know how this is
if I look at the crystal moon
at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window,
If I touch near the fire the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log.
Everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals, or little boats
that sail towards those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well now, if little by little you stop loving me,
I shall stop loving you, little by little.
If suddenly you forget me, do not look for me
for I shall already have forgotten you.
If you think at long and mad the wind banners that passes through my life
and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots,
remember than on that day, at that hour I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off to seek another land.

But if each day each hour
you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness.
If each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love,
ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love beloved,
and as long as you live in will be in your arms without leaving mine.

Today in Madonna History: May 19, 1995

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On May 19 1995, the music video for Human Nature premiered on MTV.

Madonna had initially planned to have friend and collaborator Alek Keshishian direct the video for Human Nature. Keshishian had even been named as the director in ICON Magazine, but for unknown reasons this shoot was cancelled during pre-production. Madonna later called in another recurring collaborator – Jean-Baptiste Mondino – to direct the clip instead.

The video marked Madonna’s first collaboration with Jamie King, who can be spotted as a dancer in the video.

Today in Madonna History: May 15, 1995

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On May 15 1995, Madonna’s I’ll Remember (Theme From With Honors) was honored as one of the Most Performed Songs Of 1994 at the 12th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Today in Madonna History: April 29, 1995

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On April 29, 1995, Bedtime Story peaked at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

Released as the follow-up to the longest-running U.S. #1 single of her career (Take A Bow), Madonna & Warner Bros. likely hoped that the momentum would carry over to the cutting-edge Björk penned title track. Despite a respectable reception in Europe (in the U.K. it performed better than Take A Bow) and significant buzz generated by its music video, Bedtime Story proved to be too unconventional for radio in North America, where it became her first fully promoted single to miss the Top 40 since Burning Up in 1983. It fared no better in Canada, peaking at #46 on May 1st, 1995.

The remixes for Bedtime Story, however, were a hit with North American D.J.’s and earned Madonna another #1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Play chart.

Today In Madonna History: March 18, 1995

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On March 18 1995, Madonna celebrated the premiere of her Bedtime Story video by throwing a Pajama Party at Webster Hall in New York. The event was broadcast live on MTV in the U.S. and was hosted by Kurt Loder.

Today in Madonna History: February 27, 1995

On February 27 1995, Madonna’s chart topping single, Take A Bow, was certified Gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies.

Matthew Jacobs (The Huffington Post) had this to say about Take A Bow:

Take A Bow is Madonna’s most poetic ballad. Much in the way that such hits as Borderline and Into The Groove act as the fuselage of ’80s pop … a lost-love elegy that squares nicely with the burgeoning female singer-songwriter movement of the ’90s. Don’t mistake its sleepy quality for stuffiness. This song is Madonna at her loveliest.

Today in Madonna History: February 9, 1995

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On February 9 1995, Madonna: The Girlie Show – Live Down Under video was certified gold for sales of 50,000 units in the USA.

Originally released on home video and laser disc in 1994, it later became Madonna’s first commercially available DVD – and one of the first concert DVD’s marketed by Warner-Reprise Video – when it was reissued in the format in 1997.