#35 Madonna - La Isla Bonita

Album: True Blue (1986)

Lyrics excerpt:
Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I'd never gone, I knew the song
A young girl with eyes like the desert
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

Reasons to love this song:
True Blue was one of the first albums I ever owned. I remember I listened to it until the tape was all worn out. Decades later, I have completely forgotten some of the songs (Jimmy Jimmy? Where's The Party? Love Makes The World Go Round?), but the others, especially Live To Tell and La Isla Bonita, have stood the test of time wonderfully. Just hearing the first few bars of La Isla Bonita makes me imagine tropical islands, bright orange cocktails with ice cubes and little umbrellas in them, and palm trees outlined in the sunset.

I like to listen to this song in a playlist with:
The Beach Boys - Kokomo
Kaoma - Lambada
Chris Rea - On the Beach
UB40 - Kingston Town
(Other summery songs from the same era.)

YouTube link:
The official video, featuring an adorable short-haired and wide-eyed Madonna:

# 20 Madonna - Mer Girl

(Halloween playlist, #5)

Album: Ray Of Light (1998)

Lyrics excerpt:
I ran past the churches and the crooked old mailbox
Past the apple orchards and the lady that never talks
Up into the hills, I ran to the cemetery
And held my breath, and thought about your death

I ran to the lake, up into the hills
I ran and I ran, I'm looking there still
And I saw the crumbling tombstones
All forgotten names

Link to Amazon preview:
Mer Girl

Reasons to love this song:
A rather simple, bleak and poignant song about death that concludes Ray Of Light. I've noticed that, when I play this song to friends unfamiliar with Ray Of Light or quote a part of the lyrics, they often seem surprised it's a Madonna song -- and yet, it's probably one of the most personal songs Madonna ever made.
I've seen some conspiracy theories about an alleged deep occult meaning to this song (an example can be seen in the comments to the YouTube video linked below), but I firmly believe they are rubbish. There is no need to look for hidden meanings if there is an obvious meaning -- the singer's thoughts about her mother's death and about her own mortality.

YouTube link:
A fragment of the song with the (beautiful and disturbing) backdrop video made for the Drowned World Tour: