Madonna (by Sparks)

(Russell, as he may have looked when he caught Madonna's eye)

"I walked out on the street

While the big city lights

Tried to sell me on a way of life

I was already living..."

#2 in my featured 'talking' songs (also from 1988, coincidentally), 'Madonna' is the story of a one night stand that doesn't end well. It's far from being a classic Sparks record, and yet I've always found myself captivated by the idea of Ms. Ciccone slowing down in her "limousine longer than the Golden Gate Bridge" to pick up the narrow-hipped and handsomely maned Mr. Mael (Junior) off the streets of San Francisco.

This track was introduced to me by my friend David, a fellow Sparks fan, many moons ago. I had always avoided the 'Interior Design' album it comes from because of the woefully thin, tin-pot synth-pop production (the Mael brothers' first attempt to self-produce after working with a string of big names like Mack and Moroder), but I have since come to treasure 'Madonna' more as a series of images than anything else. ("She turned on a classical station, but the reception was poor".)

I've also long harboured a desire to cover the track, to recite the lyrics (which I know by heart) in a whacked-out, slutty drawl (à la Kim Gordon doing 'Tunic') over some fathoms-deep cosmic throb. But I don't suppose a Lancashire accent would really cut it...