Holiday
Lyrics
Holiday, celebrate
Holiday, celebrate
If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be
It would be so nice
Everybody spread the word
We're gonna have a celebration
All across the world
In every nation
It's time for the good times
Forget about the bad times, oh yeah
One day to come together
To release the pressure
We need a holiday
If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate (Common let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (Holiday)
It would be
It would be so nice
If we took a holiday (Oh yeah, oh yeah)
Took some time to celebrate (Common let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (Just one day out of life)
It would be
It would be so nice
You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your trouble down
It's time to celebrate
Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
And make things better
We need a holiday
If we took a holiday (Holiday)
Took some time to celebrate (Common let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (Just one day out of life)
It would be
It would be so nice
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Common let's celebrate
We have got to get together
Holiday, celebrate
Holiday, celebrate
If we took a holiday (Oh yeah, oh yeah)
Took some time to celebrate (Common let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (Holiday)
It would be
It would be so nice
(Holiday)
Oh yeah oh yeah
(Celebrate)
Common let's celebrate
(Holiday)
Just one day out of life
(Celebrate)
It would be so nice
(Holiday)
Holiday, celebration
(Celebrate)
Come together in every nation
(Holiday)
Holiday, celebration
(Celebrate)
Come together in every nation
(Holiday, celebrate)
(Holiday, celebrate)
We've got to get together
Take some time to celebrate
(Holiday, celebrate)
(Holiday, celebrate)
Just one day out of life
It would be so nice
(Holiday)
Holiday, celebration
(Celebrate)
Come together in every nation
Credits
Written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens
Produced by John -Jellybean- Benitez
Drums, moog bass, synthesizer, fender rhodes and acoustic piano by Fred Zarr
Guitars by Curtis Hudson
Bass by Raymond Hudson
Percussion by Bashiri Johnson
Cowbelle by Madonna
Background vocals by Madonna, Tina B., Norma Jean Wright
Album
Single
After the small success of the first two singles, Madonna released her debut album and followed it with third single Holiday on September 7, 1983. Europe received a single release a few months later, in February 1984. Critics loved it and it quickly became Madonna's first mainstream success. The single reached #16 on the US Billboard chart, and even scored Top 10 positions in Australia (#4), Belgium (#6), Germany (#9), Ireland (#2), The Netherlands (#7) and the UK (#2). Charting together with Lucky Star, it became her first #1 on the Hot Dance / Club Play chart, holding the top spot for 5 weeks. By August 1985 it was certified Gold. Numbers of 2016 claim that Holiday sold about 717,600 copies.
In the UK, the single was re-released twice more: with the re-issue of the debut album in 1985, Holiday re-entered the UK chart and made it to #2 (behind her own smash hit Into The Groove). To promote The Immaculate Collection there was another re-release in 1991, with a #5 chart peak.
But it's the live performances that made the song so well-known. Holiday was performed on almost every Madonna tour and most of the time it was used as one of the final songs to end the show with a dance classic.
Video
The original video for Holiday was reportedly so bad that it was never released. Instead the recording of a television performance was used. The performance of Holiday on the Blond Ambition Tour in Houston was taped by Alek Keshishian and released in 1991 (to promote the single re-release and the Truth or Dare documentary).
Tour
The Virgin Tour was the only tour that placed Holiday in the beginning of the show. It was the second song in the setlist. Still wearing the colourful jacket, Madonna does a light-hearted choreography with her two dancers to a version similar to the one on the album. She even takes a break during the performance to talk to the audience.
On the other tours it was always among the closing numbers. Same thing for the Who's That Girl Tour where Madonna ends the song twice, then continues for more. Finally, she asks the audience for a comb to fix her messy hair, so she can finish the song. This version was much more rock sounding featuring a lot of guitar. As it was performed after then-current megahit Who's That Girl, Madonna cemented the tradition of ending her shows with a combination of songs from both ends of her career.
On the Blond Ambition Tour, Holiday turns into a pyjama party, with Madonna in white pants and polkadot blouse and all the dancers in pyjamas dancing around on stage. The crowd goes wild, partying along, and Madonna asks to "do the bus stop". The performance is so energetic that it's used on music channels for the re-release of Holiday.
Holiday receives a very alternative remake for the Girlie Show. Dressed in long navy coats and with a large American flag in the background, Madonna and her dancers perform a military version of the song. The strict percussion soon has to give in to the dance tones. It gets total fun when they turn it into a jam, mixing in a military cadence. Madonna pauses the song for a military drill with the dancers and the audience. At the end of the song - which is also the end of the show, before the encores - they all start goofing around, jamming in a rain of confetti strings. As Madonna refuses to leave the stage in a kind of James Brown imitation, Niki & Donna end up chasing her and carrying her off stage.
The Drowned World Tour hardly featured any of Madonna's 80s classics, but what would a Madonna tour be without Holiday! Wearing a black shirt with 'mother' in front and 'f*ckers' on the back, and a white fur coat on top, Madonna chooses this 18-year old dance song to end her show. She, Niki and Donna rock on stage and the crowd goes hysteric. This ghetto-pimp version uses samples of Stardust's 'Music Sounds Better With You' (inspired by an unofficial mash-up of the songs).
The sixth tour performance was on the Re-Invention Tour where it was the final song of the show. 21 years after its initial release, Holiday is now re-invented into a tribal song, which features Madonna and her dancers in white shirts and a long Scottish kilt. They start off sitting down on stage doing moves to the tribal beat, which then gets them into a cool group dance. The catwalk comes down again and they jump and dance around on top of it while confetti is shot in the air. At the end the tribal beat turns into a fading heart beat as Madonna and her dancers disappear behind the big screens.
After a 5 year absence, this classic tour staple makes its return on the 2009 leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour, where it replaces Heartbeat in the Old School segment. Interestingly, the song is carried by the backing track of Celebration, which was not yet released at the time. An Everybody sample is also thrown in, as the dancers show off during the breakdown. All of a sudden, the music shifts to 'Billie Jean' and dancer Kento appears on stage as a Michael Jackson lookalike. Madonna and her dancers shake off to 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'' as a tribute to the King of Pop, who died days before the tour launch. "Let's give it up for one of the greatest artists the world has ever known!" Madonna declares, before ending the vocoder-driven Holiday.
Somehow, this fan favourite always manages to get into a tour setlist. After sneaking into the Sticky setlist on the 2009 leg, it had a similar fate on the MDNA Tour, where Madonna added it as an interlude singalong on the North American leg. After her speech, she would tell her American fans that she hasn't had a holiday in a while. As the crowd goes wild, the band starts playing the familiar tones and the dancers do some free-styling all over the stage. The rather spontaneous and un-choreogaphed song is a welcome change within the otherwise strictly timed performances. In some shows, Madonna cut the song out, sometimes replacing it by Everybody (in San Jose) or by Spanish Lesson (in some Latin American shows).
On the Rebel Heart Tour, Holiday reprised its role as ultimate tour encore. All the dancers fill the stage carrying a bunch of party props, while Madonna salutes the audience with their national flag draped around her. But since they come together 'in every nation', other flags are shown on the screen as well. After the singalong and a full-blown stage party Madonna is pulled up towards the ceiling and disappears behind the tilted stage which shows the Rebel Heart as final good-bye.