No need to comment on the current events. Things are bad and they’re about to get worse. Short post tonight too. I wanted to write a bit more but every time I try to my chest starts to feel like it’s about to cave it. Panic attacks are fun.

Anyways, here’s more Madonna. Sorry it’s not better Madonna. That’ll come soon.

Madonna
Keep It Together (Single Remix)
Keep It Together (12″ Remix)
Keep It Together (12″ Mix)
Keep It Together (12″ Extended Mix)
Keep It Together [Instrumental]
Hanky Panky (Bare Bones Single Mix)
Hanky Panky (Bare Bottom 12″ Mix)

“Keep It Together” is my least-favorite single from Like A Prayer. Let’s be real, it just can’t compete with that album’s title track, “Express Yourself,” or “Cherish.” And I might be in the minority here, but I even prefer the tragic “Oh Father” and the charming “Dear Jessie” (an underrated tune) to the bassy, 90s deep funk vibe of “Keep It Together,” a sound that has not aged very well for me, perhaps because I wasn’t a very big fan of it in the first place aside from some of the stuff that Janet Jackson was doing at the time.

That’s not to say it’s a bad song. Low-tier late-80s Madonna is still high-tier pop music, it’s just not my go to jam. Good remixes though. And if, unlike me, you dig the heavy bass sound of this track then I got good news for you, because these are hella bassy. In quarantine? Crank up your apartment’s woofer and drive your fellow isolating neighbors bonkers.

Now, for “Hanky Panky”….boy, this song, huh? It’s always weird when swing jazz makes its way to the pop charts. Feels like a fluke. It’s certainly a move that only an established artist can ever get away with. And let’s be clear, Madonna really didn’t get away with it here. Sure, the song did okay on the charts but when you compare it to other singles from this time, including “Vogue,” it didn’t make the same splash and it certainly didn’t have the same kind of staying power. Still, as songs about getting your ass slapped go, it’s good enough. I’m certainly happy that she went with a retro-jazz vibe for the tune and not an overly seriously, heavy R&B vibe that she would embrace with Erotica. “Hanky Panky” is a song about a fetish, albeit a rather tame one, but it’s certainly not a sexy song. It’s a goofy song. Because singing about how you get off on getting your behind beat is inherently goofy. Trying to make it sexy would just make you sound like Meghan Trainor or something.

Enjoy the spanking song. Just remember to wash your hands before (and after) you smack it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2020 at 9:53 am and is filed under Madonna, remixes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.