Drowned World/Substitute for Love ● (1998) ● 'Ray of Light'

 

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To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Madonna's seventh studio album Ray of Light, Song of the Week brings you the five official singles from that era...

 

Background

Opening track to Ray of Light, Drowned World/Substitute for Love was written by Madonna, William Orbit, Rod McKuen, Anita Kerr and David Collins. An original demo had the name of "No Substitute for Love" which had slightly different lyrics to the end product. The completed version also sampled The San Sebastian Strings' Why I Follow the Tigers - the male voice who sings "you see" is that of Jesse Pearson and the lyrics of both songs follow the same plot line.

 

It received positive feedback, noted on Madonna's mature sound and it's justice for an album opener. The music video was, however, criticised for its scenes including paparazzi on motorbikes following Madonna as it was similar to Princess Diana of Wales' death. The video as a whole shows Madonna running from fame and paparazzi despite the smiley face she puts on, and at the end shows her returning home to her daughter, claiming she's "changed her mind" on her famous lifestyle.

 

Drowned Word/Substitute for Love had modest chart success, reaching #1 in Spain and Top 10 in Italy, Japan and UK. It reached the Top 40 in the majority of other charting countries, however didn't appear in the Billboard 100 chart as it wasn't released in the US due to previous single Ray of Light's late release.

 

The Drowned World Tour and Confessions Tour included Drowned World/Substitute for Love on the set-lists. It opened the show for the former tour, sampling elements of Music, Human Nature, Impressive Instant and Ray of Light, and was then used as reprise during her Ray of Light performance. For the Confessions Tour, there were no visual effects during the performance, just Madonna and her voice.

 

Opinion

I think that this is the perfect album opener, really does set the mood for the album. Such a calm and slow moving song which makes it sound so beautiful - even as one music critic said, the electronic effects doesn't spoil it: "...are a testament to his [Orbit] ability to use gadgets and electronic wizardry not to alienate listeners, but to draw them in". I don't give this enough listens, as I'm sure I'd rank it higher than I expect among Madonna singles if I did. I can remember listening to Ray of Light for the first time and really liking it, although because I had bought it off Ebay, I thought somebody had recorded the "you see" bit onto the album! :P

 

Versions

Album Version [5:09]

Radio Edit [4:47]

BT & Sasha's Bucklodge Ashram Remix [9:29]

 

Videos

Official Music Video:

 

Confessions Tour performance:

 

If you have any requests for Song of the Week, feel free to PM me or SweetCandy! Also, I've added links to previous Songs of the Weeks below, so if you missed one, please do comment in them.

 

Songs of the Week

Week 1: I Know It

Week 2: Bad Girl

Week 3: Jump

Week 4: Sky Fits Heaven

Week 5: Causing a Commotion

Week 6: Die Another Day

Week 7: Dress You Up

Week 8: Frozen

Week 9: Ray of Light

Week 10: Drowned World/Substitute for Love

I adore this track but its not at all commercial and i don't think it was worthy of a single release! She sings this song beautifully live and is the only ballad that has ever opened a tour! It's a fantastic opening album track and lyrically again it's so relatable and honest! I actually listen to this often and think its wonderful !

I adore this track but its not at all commercial and i don't think it was worthy of a single release! She sings this song beautifully live and is the only ballad that has ever opened a tour! It's a fantastic opening album track and lyrically again it's so relatable and honest! I actually listen to this often and think its wonderful !

Yeah, I see what you mean by the song being more of a very good album track rather than very good single. If I was to replace on of the Ray of Light singles, it would probably be this (replaced by either Skin or Sky Fits Heaven). But I'm happy with it being a single for all the points you've given.

This is a personal favourite of mine because, it's from the album that made me a proper fan, it's the song that made me follow madonna's chart runs in the uk on the top 40 (radio 1's of course) it's the first ever song I see Madonna perform live. This would be one of my favourite top 20 madonna songs ever.

 

Drowned World really sets the tone of the ray of light album and is probably (then) her most "honest" song in years.

 

I really love the Confessions Tour version she seems really relaxed and happy to sing it and it was a welcomed song on the set list for me.

 

Like you guys said its not a very commercial single that's probably why it was never released in North America and just 1 remix was used to promote it.

One thing I must ask, is there a reason for the two titles? "Substitute for Love" is a lyric in the song but I'm not sure about "Drowned World" and why that was used as well as "Substitute for Love".