Writer's Workshop

Posting again as a participant of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

The prompt choices this week are (summarized):

1. Verse by verse, dissect a fave song you had in 7th grade.
2. Share 5 must have gifts you're buying for others this holiday season.
3. Write a letter to Santa.
4. How would you celebrate the holidays if you had control of the choices and money was no option?
5. Book review.

Since I frequently do book reviews, and have one coming up soon, I had to pick the fave song from 7th grade. The thing is, I had too many to choose from. And they were all by Madonna. So get ready ... I am kind of making a bit of a Madonna medley from the 1984-1985 album, titled, of course, Like a Virgin.

Track 1: Material Girl

Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me
I think they're O.K.
If they don't give me proper credit
I just walk away

Seriously, some boys kiss me, some boys hug me? Proper credit? What did I know about this in junior high school?

They can beg and they can plead
But they can't see the light, that's right
'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash
Is always Mister Right, 'cause we are

Uhm, okay. Boys need to beg me, and the only way they're Mister Right is if they have lots of money.

Chorus

Living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

Was it possible I WAS a material girl? I mean, what did I know about possessions besides my black rubber bracelets and my BFF charms? Did I even have those yet?

Track 3: Like a Virgin

I made it through the wilderness
Somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was
Until I found you

I made it through the WILDERNESS? I was a pre-teen/early teenager in Brooklyn. What did I know from wilderness?

I was beat incomplete
I'd been had, I was sad and blue
But you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
Shiny and new

OK, I'll give this one some credit. Who hasn't felt sad and blue at that age? Shiny and new? Uhm, yeah, I'll need to dig out that diary from way back when ...

Chorus

Like a virgin
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
When your heart beats (after first time, "With your heartbeat")
Next to mine

Whatever I thought I was singing about, despite knowing about sex and so forth, I was not one touched for the very first time for some time after this. Heartbeat next to mine? Really, Madonna? Really?

Gonna give you all my love, boy
My fear is fading fast
Been saving it all for you
'Cause only love can last

Saving it all for WHO? I

Track 6: Dress You Up

You've got style, that's what all the girls say
Satin sheets and luxuries so fine
All your suits are custom made in London
But I've got something that you'll really like

Style, considering the year that this was, is hilariously subjective looking back at it.

Chorus

Gonna dress you up in my love
All over, all over
Gonna dress you up in my love
All over your body

What does it even mean to "dress you up in my love?" 'Cause if we're talking about sex here it's kind of ridiculous.

Feel the silky touch of my caresses
They will keep you looking so brand new
Let me cover you with velvet kisses
I'll create a look that's made for you

Velvet kisses. Caresses. At 14 I had a crush on a kid in my class who I was friends with. For me at that age it was almost always that way. I don't know who I thought I was going to be kissing and caressing any time soon.

Chorus

Gonna dress you up in my love, in my love
All over your body, all over your body
In my love
All over, all over
From your head down to your toes

I truly did love Madonna. She let a 13-14 year old me think that my love and honest worship of someone would be enough to make them love and want me back. And at that early age it was important to have that hope and openness towards being with others. That being said, her sexual music was nothing in comparison to the lyrics of things today, and I'm in my late-30s. At this point very little should shock me, and yet, it still does sometimes.

Thanks, Madge. For being a staple in my early teen years and staying strong all this time. Your music has gone through stages, and you don't look a day over 29, but you're still quite the entertainer. Maybe someday I'll see you perform live, when I have like $500 for a ticket and you're in the NC area.

In the meantime I'll stick with singing along to my old, yet new CDs. Some of it's your stuff, some of it newer, some of it older, still. And whether I *got* the lyrics or not, I still flash back to watching your videos in the auditorium when we had an empty period. Like A Virgin standing out fresh in my mind as the MEAN GIRLS sang to some poor kid, "Like a Stacey ..." I don't even think I knew who Stacey was back then, but I remember it almost every time I hear the words to that song. Sad, no? I only wonder if she remembers it, wherever she is.

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