This is a beautiful and simple little Spanish-inflected melody, written by Madonna, Patrick Leonard, and Bruce Gaitsch. It sold a lot of records for her and is a staple of her live shows.
Last night I dreamt of San Pedro…
Wikipedia says the song was written as an instrumental, then Madonna added words and melody. But it sounds like a single voice and vision.
I’m an admirer of Madonna but not really a big fan of most of her music. The actual songs only rarely rise to greatness, as La Isla Bonita does. But by pure force of will she became, for a number of years, the sexiest, most attention-worthy woman in the world.
I also admire her showmanship and professionalism. Nobody’s ever gone to a Madonna show without coming away impressed. A lot more performers’ concerts would be pushed over the edge from fine to fantastic if they brought her level of dedication and practice and polish to the show.
This is the 105th in the Song of the Day series (background).
Links · Spotify playlist. This tune on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon. There seems to be a video performance from every Madonna tour in living memory. My faves are this one from 1986 and this from 2001.
