Promise To Try
Lyrics
Little girl
Don't you forget her face
Laughing away your tears
When she was the one who felt all the pain
Little girl
Never forget her eyes
Keep them alive inside
I promise to try
It's not the same
Keep your head held high
Ride like the wind
Never look behind
Life isn't fair
That's what you said
So I try not to care
Little girl
Don't run away so fast
I think you forgot to kiss
Kiss her goodbye
Will she see me cry when I stumble and fall
Does she hear my voice in the night when I call
Wipe away all your tears, it's gonna be all right
I fought to be so strong
I guess you knew
I was afraid
You'd go away too
Little girl
You've got to forget the past
And learn to forgive me
I promise to try
But it feels like a lie
Don't let memory play games with your mind
She's a faded smile frozen in time
I'm still hanging on
But I'm doing it wrong
Can't kiss her goodbye
But I promise to try
Credits
Written by Madonna and Patrick Leonard
Produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard
Album
Song
Madonna has never made a secret of it that the death of her mother had an enormous influence on her life. No surprise that this influenced her music as well. On the Like A Prayer album - dedicated to her mother - she sings for the first time about very personal feelings like her relationship with her father (Oh Father), her divorce from Sean Penn (Till Death Do Us Part) and family values (Keep It Together). In Promise To Try she tries to deal with her mother's death. It wouldn't be the last time she sang about her mother; the theme returned in Inside Of Me, Mer Girl and Mother And Father.
The demo for this song was originally titled 'Little Girl', not to be confused with the demo track of the same title, written during the Music session.