Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” Was Originally Pitched To Michael Jackson

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By - http://www.idolator.com/7667492/madonna-la-isla-bonita-pitched-michael-jackson

Madonna has had a number of key collaborators over the years (Shep Pettibone, Stephen Bray, Mirwais and William Orbit all spring to mind), but Patrick Leonard was arguably the most integral to her legacy. Together they conjured up dozens of pop classics including “Live To Tell,” “Like A Prayer” and “Frozen.” He recently gave an interview about their working relationship and shares a couple fascinating tidbits. One of most interesting is the fact that “La Isla Bonita” was originally offered to Michael Jackson.

“After the Victory Tour, I was still in touch with Michael [Jackson] and Quincy [Jones] and doing some work with them and Quincy called me and said, ‘I want to do something sort of Sade-like for Michael — would you write something?’ and so I wrote that song and sent it to him with some form of a vocal on it and the phrase ‘la isla bonita,'” Patrick tells Boy Culture. “He called up and said, ‘Ah, I just don’t think it’s for Michael.’ Madonna and I were getting together, so I showed it to her and she said, ‘Oh, I like this, let’s work on it.'”

“So we sat and changed, you know, whatever we changed and she changed lyrics and we reconstructed it. It’s a good song, for sure. I don’t know why she would return to that one more than others, to be honest. But I like it. It’s always easy — over the years, I learned to play “Live to Tell” and I can play “La Isla Bonita.” All the rest I have to re-learn them.” Read the full interview here. It’s basically porn for Madonna fans! Also, follow Patrick on Instagram. He is opening up the vaults.

Can you imagine the song with Michael’s vocals?

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I love La Isla Bonita, in my opinion it's the best thing Madonna has ever done. It's an incredible piece of music

I have no doubt Michael would have made it even better. Not surprised he turned it down though, when he was about to unleash the masterpiece that is Liberian Girl on the world.
 
I love La Isla Bonita, in my opinion it's the best thing Madonna has ever done. It's an incredible piece of music

I have no doubt Michael would have made it even better. Not surprised he turned it down though, when he was about to unleash the masterpiece that is Liberian Girl on the world.

Great point! Ugh now that I think about it Liberian Girl deserved a much, much better video treatment
 
That used to be one of my favorite Madonna songs. Back when I used to listen to her. I no longer like her now. And I remember hearing about that ever since the HIStory Era. But it is one song that I could never imagine Michael singing. I always thought it was more of a Madonna type of song. I could even picture Michael's sister Janet doing that song. I am glad he turn that song down. Because it is the kind of song that should have been sung by a female singer only.
 
I'm glad madonna did that song and not mike cuz i think it suited madonna more at that time, Even though he did eventually do a latino type song (whatever happens) at that point in time of michael's career that song wouldnt have suited his album imo
 
Even though its a great song i cant really see a man singing it
 
I'm glad madonna did that song and not mike cuz i think it suited madonna more at that time, Even though he did eventually do a latino type song (whatever happens) at that point in time of michael's career that song wouldnt have suited his album imo

You taken the words right out of my mouth, It wasn't the right time for Michael to release something like this at this time maybe 10 years down the line but not in the mid to late 80's NO WAY however it would have been nice to hear it his version.
 
Because it is the kind of song that should have been sung by a female singer only.
I don't know about that. I can picture Billy Ocean or maybe El DeBarge singing it, but with different lyrics, since Madonna helped write them.
 
You taken the words right out of my mouth, It wasn't the right time for Michael to release something like this at this time maybe 10 years down the line but not in the mid to late 80's NO WAY however it would have been nice to hear it his version.

In a way i wish michael wouldve at least done a demo for that song
 
No, I cannot imagine the song with MJ&#8217;s vocals.

&#8216;La Isla Bonita&#8217; has a female tone which suits better a female voice.

Apparently, MJ turned it down also because such a song would not fit to the overall, macho feeling that he was trying to give to his &#8216;BAD&#8217; album.

According to several reports, MJ did not also like that song&#8217;s title from the very beginning.

Of course, &#8216;Liberian Girl&#8217; was by far a better choice, but yes its music video was a complete let-down thanks to Jim Yukich who came up with that stupid idea.
 
mj_frenzy;4235761 said:
Of course, &#8216;Liberian Girl&#8217; was by far a better choice, but yes its music video was a complete let-down thanks to Jim Yukich who came up with that stupid idea.
I like the video. I don't see anything stupid about it. I also liked the video for Down With The King by Run DMC which had a lot of MCs in it.
 
Re: Liberian Girl

I like the video. I don't see anything stupid about it. I also liked the video for Down With The King by Run DMC which had a lot of MCs in it.
Liberian girl is a beautiful song which should've gotten worthy footage of a short. Just good friends should've been the video for liberian girl. Think about you are not alone short with liberian girl audio...... get what i'm saying?
 
Re: Liberian Girl

Liberian girl is a beautiful song which should've gotten worthy footage of a short. Just good friends should've been the video for liberian girl. Think about you are not alone short with liberian girl audio...... get what i'm saying?
No I don't. It doesn't matter to me if a music video follows the lyrics or not, many videos don't. That doesn't prevent me from enjoying it. Some can't be made into a video literally about the song. Like what would videos for I Am The Walrus, Glass Onion, or Come Together by The Beatles be about? :laughing: A video for an instrumental song can't follow lyrics, unless they just make it about the song title.
 
I thought Liberian Girl was released as a single........
 
DuranDuran;4235783 said:
I like the video. I don't see anything stupid about it. I also liked the video for Down With The King by Run DMC which had a lot of MCs in it.

Do you think all that annoying chattering from those random people during the song’s audio was not a stupid idea?

I believe the ‘Liberian Girl’ song was ruined by that video concept.

A wasted opportunity, in my opinion.
 
mj_frenzy;4235831 said:
Do you think all that annoying chattering from those random people during the song’s audio was not a stupid idea?
No. If I just want to hear the song I can buy the record, whatever happens in a music video doesn't matter. A music video is just an advertisement for a record and commercials usually have talking in them. Don't Lose My Number by Phil Collins also had talking throughout the video. I saw Phil's video so much on MTV that when I later heard the song on the radio, it sounded weird to me because I was used to the talking, especially during the guitar solo. "Great great sandwich!" :rofl: At first I sort of considered the non-video version of Don't Lose My Number to be like a remix. I liked many of the people in the Liberian Girl video and I though it was cool they were there.
 
Re: Liberian Girl

No. If I just want to hear the song I can buy the record, whatever happens in a music video doesn't matter. A music video is just an advertisement for a record and commercials usually have talking in them. Don't Lose My Number by Phil Collins also had talking throughout the video. I saw Phil's video so much on MTV that when I later heard the song on the radio, it sounded weird to me because I was used to the talking, especially during the guitar solo. "Great great sandwich!" :rofl: At first I sort of considered the non-video version of Don't Lose My Number to be like a remix. I liked many of the people in the Liberian Girl video and I though it was cool they were there.
Same with Liberian Girl. I've seen music video so many times so when i'm listen to actual song i always hear that Weird Al's accordion in my head :)
 
mj_frenzy;4235831 said:
Do you think all that annoying chattering from those random people during the song&#8217;s audio was not a stupid idea?

I believe the &#8216;Liberian Girl&#8217; song was ruined by that video concept.

A wasted opportunity, in my opinion.

I always have a soft spot for the video (because it was on a MJ video my mum gave me) but it's true it was a wasted opportunity.

I often wonder what it would have been like to have Michael and women on a beach, and moving through a few locations like a short film, showing them in love and basically acting out the song, (maybe have a famous actress) if that would have helped the sales. It was clearly a popular song because it charted quite well being last single with that video treatment it got. I think it got to 13 here in the UK.
 
8701girl;4235873 said:
Then why is there a video for it?

Speed Demon has a video and there was no single. Sometimes songs are released in some countries as a single and not in others like Liberian Girl. The Man by Paul McCartney & Mike was a single in a few places, but not the US. In the US, Paul was on Columbia Records, not Parlophone. Columbia was part of CBS Records at the time.

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I think Miss Me Blind by Culture Club was only released as a single in the US and not elsewhere. Also some acts film videos for songs that are not singles. Prince made a lot of videos for songs that weren't singles. Some acts made videos for all or most of the songs on their album like Beyoncé's Lemonade & Prince's Diamond And Pearls.
 
Re: Liberian Girl

I often wonder what it would have been like to have Michael and women on a beach, and moving through a few locations like a short film, showing them in love and basically acting out the song,
You'd have an Air Supply or Kenny G video. :laughing: Wandering on the beach was a pretty common thing in videos for adult contemporary & light rock songs. Madonna's Cherish takes place on a beach. Kool & The Gang has a song by the same name and it's also on a beach. Jermaine Jackson has a beach video too (Two Ships). So does Janet (Feel It Boy).
 
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