La Isla Bonita
Lyrics
Como puede ser verdad
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
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature, wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby
I fell in love with San Pedro
Warm wind carried on the sea, he called to me
Te dijo te amo
I prayed that the days would last
They went so fast
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature, wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby
I want to be where the sun warms the sky
When it's time for siesta you can watch them go by
Beautiful faces, no cares in this world
Where a girl loves a boy
And a boy loves a girl
Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
It all seems like yesterday
Not far away
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature, wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature, wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby
La la la la la la la
Te dijo te amo
La la la la la la la
El dijo que te ama
Credits
Written by Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch
Produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard
Keyboards and drum programming by Patrick Leonard
Guitars by Bruce Gaitsch
Percussion by Paulinho da Costa
Background vocals by Madonna, Siedah Garrett and Edie Lehmann
Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch first offered the music for La Isla Bonita to Michael Jackson, but he turned it down. Leonard then rewrote the track with Madonna, turning it into the hit we know.
Album
Single
With this fifth and final True Blue single - released on February 25, 1987 - Madonna's music got a Spanish-latin influence, a recurrent theme throughout her career (think of Spanish Eyes, Veras, Evita and Lo Que Siente La Mujer). It topped the British, Canadian, French and German charts, while peaking at #4 in the US. It's also one of Madonna's personal favourites, which she added to many of her tour setlists.
Video
Mary Lambert directed the hot-blooded video that suited the song perfectly. Madonna shows off a complete Spanish image, dressed in a full-red flamenco dress, dancing around and crawling on the floor between lots of candles. However, when she looks out of the window you see she's not really on an exotic island but in Spanish Harlem, where Spanish artists dance between the garbage. She longs to dance with them and finally no longer resists the temptation and goes out to join them. On a sidenote: try locating a young Benicio Del Toro.
Tour
La Isla Bonita was performed live for the first time as encore on the Who's That Girl Tour. While the guitarists and percussionists created the Spanish vibe, Madonna appeared in a great red dress. She gave a great vocal performance, backed up by Niki, Donna and Debra, and did some latino-dancing with Angel Ferreira.
During the Girlie Show the Spanish vibe was already created a bit for I'm Going Bananas. Madonna finishes that song with some Spanish words and when the tones of La Isla Bonita start, she gets out her Spanish moves too. Madonna is dressed in a blue and white striped shirt; Niki and Donna have a smilar one but in black and red. While one of the musicians walks around bare chest playing the acoustic guitar, Madonna is joined on stage by 4 of her sexy male dancers for another great latino dance.
One of the very few classics on the Drowned World Tour was La Isla Bonita, as part of the Spanish-Latin part of the show. Madonna picked up the acoustic guitar and just stood in between the other musicians, surrounding a Flamenco dancer. She encouraged the public to start clapping and singing 'olé ola'. Of course this song was dedicated to and much appreciated by the Spanish audience when the tour opened in Barcelona.
Surprisingly, La Isla Bonita was performed again, as part of the Confessions Tour setlist. But it was a new sped-up version with tribal beats, fitting for the hedonistic Disco segment of the show. Madonna tells fans to wear their "dancing shoes", inviting them to a tropical island (with beautiful imagery on the screens) and the dancers join her for a great choreography. Several fans got confused because of the change of tempo and with Madonna taking breaks between lines of the chorus, though. For some, it seemed too much like a 'rushed through' performance...
Obviously one of Madonna's tour favourites, La Isla Bonita also made it in the Sticky & Sweet Tour setlist in 2008. The Gypsy rendition was combined with the Romani-Gypsy folk song 'Lela Pala Tute' which debuted a year earlier on Live Earth. This time not Gogol Bordello, but the Arkady Gips band is supporting her onstage. This energetic performance featuring the dancers in a catchy choreography proves to be a crowd pleaser. It's followed by 'Doli Doli', another Gypsy song performed by Arkady Gips. This allows Madonna to catch her breath and to sit down next to sexy Paul who offers her a drink.
This song couldn't be missed in the Latin / Gypsy Segment of the Rebel Heart Tour. After conquering the minotaurs in Living For Love, Madonna invites her home girls for some sexy hip thrusts. The band and male dancers join them for a flamenco dance-off.
Also in the Fado Club segment of the Madame X Tour, this song was a perfect fit. Even if it was only the chorus that served as a bridge between Crazy and Medellin.