when your playlist needs a cleansing from holiday music.

Madonna and Holiday

So, I’m kinda tired of Christmas music.  I usually love it but something in my brain chemistry is different this year and apart from a few favorites I’ve mostly avoided it. So instead of actual holiday music I thought I’d talk about a perfect song about a holiday, but that would be Madonna’s Holiday.

There was really no one like Madonna in the early to mid 80s.  She completely captivated us.  And her attitude was totally FU, I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do.  This gal wishes she had even the smallest fraction of  self love and chutzpah and whatever star power and magnetism the fabulous Ms. M has. She hasn’t lost any of that aura to this day.

I personally am unable to sit still when I hear the opening Oberheim DMX percussion on this track, and Fred Zarr’s synth keyboard is so damn yummy! Madonna is playing the cowbell you can hear at the beginning too! The beat, that buzzing bass line just moves me so much I simply have to move.  And takes me back to being eighteen again.  Damn to be eighteen. In 1984. Hmmmmm……Madonna’s songs, at least on her first album, were never about more than having fun, feeling fun and funky and moving your ass on that dance floor.  Of course they were distilled from the gritty and dynamic New York City dance scene in the late 70s and early 80s. Thank God for music like this because when the world becomes too much sometimes you just want to have some damn fun!  I love a good protest song, but sometimes I just want to get lost in a beat, you know, and just have fucking fun and forget about the world.

Holiday was originally released as double side A along with Lucky Star in September 1983.  It was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in New York and was originally written for the group Pure Energy by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens-Crowder.  Jellybean Benitez  and Madonna were looking for songs to round out her self-titled album. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The video from 1984 is pretty basic, just Madonna doing her thing in between two backup dancers, blonde curly hair, black booties, black bracelets and all attitude and sass.  The extended version has a fantastic instrumental break just perfect for dance floors. One of my favorite performances of this song is on Madonna’s 2001 tour when she wore her Mother on the front and Fucker on the back tank top during her 2002 Drowned World tour.  Note to self- find one of those. 

So at the end of this weird holiday season I hope you can find some time to put your troubles down, let love shine, and listen to the perfect song, Holiday, by Madonna.

Catch my video about this song at https://www.youtube.com/@SFB66