The Power Of Good-Bye
Lyrics
Your heart is not open
So I must go
The spell has been broken
I loved you so
Freedom comes when you learn to let go
Creation comes when you learn to say no
You were my lesson
I had to learn
I was your fortress
You had to burn
Pain is a warning that something's wrong
I pray to God that it won't be long
Do you wanna go higher?
There's nothing left to try
There's no place left to hide
There's no greater power than the power of good-bye
Your heart is not open
So I must go
The spell has been broken
I loved you so
You were my lesson
I had to learn
I was your fortress
There's nothing left to lose
There's no more heart to bruise
There's no greater power than the power of good-bye
Learn to say good-bye
I yearn to say good-bye
There's nothing left to try
There's no more places to hide
There's no greater power than the power of good-bye
There's nothing left to lose
There's no more heart to bruise
There's no greater power than the power of good-bye
Credits
Written by Madonna and Rick Nowels
Produced by Madonna, William Orbit and Patrick Leonard
String arrangement by Craig Armstrong
Album
Single
This beautiful ballad about a painful breakup, coproduced by longtime collaborator Patrick Leonard, served as fourth single. In the UK, it was released as a double A-side single with Little Star (Nov. 16, 1998), while the US got Mer Girl as B-single (Sep. 22, 1998). Though Madonna's ballads usually do well in the charts (and this one certainly deserved to), it only went to #11 in the US. However it secured top-10 positions in many international markets: #2 in Spain and the Eurochart; #3 in Sweden; #4 in Austria, Finland, Germany; #6 in the UK and Canada; #7 in Japan; and #8 in Italy and Switzerland. Madonna performed the song several times during the album promo tour, including the MTV EMA and the VH1 Fashion Awards, but never on tour.
Video
Director Matthew Rolston shot the blue-themed video at the Silver Top mansion and Malibu Beach in LA. Madonna says goodbye to her lover, who's played by actor Goran Visnjic. After a last confrontation between the lovers, Madonna sets for the beach, where she seems to drown herself at the end of the video. Whether she actually does, is a point of discussion among fans. Some scenes of the video (like the kiss and the chess game) are inspired by the original The Thomas Crown Affair movie (featuring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway), while the beach scene is a homage to Joan Crawford's performance in the 1946 movie Humoresque.