Dear Jessie
A lullaby single with psychedelic fantasy imagery.
"Dear Jessie" is a baroque pop and psychedelic pop song that sounds more like a children's lullaby than a pop song.[1] It was released as a single in Europe, Australia, and Japan, but never in the United States.[2]
Quick Facts
- Artist
- Madonna
- Album
- Like a Prayer
- B-side
- Till Death Do Us Part
- Released
- December 4, 1989
- Recorded
- 1988
- Studio
- Johnny Yuma (Burbank, California)
- Genre
- Baroque pop; psychedelic pop
- Length
- 4:20
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Madonna, initially angry at Leonard's late arrival, formed a connection with Jessie and commented, "It was like as if I was my mother and was me"[3] Leonard showed Madonna a composition he had created for his child, which was called "Dear Jessie".[3] The artwork for the single featured a 1987 photograph by Herb Ritts depicting Madonna lying in bed, grasping a sheet and wearing Minnie Mouse ears.[2] That image alluded to initial critiques that characterized her vocal style as "Minnie Mouse on helium".[3]
The words of the track urge the little girl Jessie to employ her fantasy and call forth a colorful dreamscape populated by pink elephants, dancing moons, and mermaids.[3] Warner/Chappell Music's published sheet music indicates the piece uses common time and a tempo of 120 beats per minute.[4]
What the cited sources add
Cinquemani noted that what could be a cloying nursery rhyme is actually "a bittersweet reminder of the ephemerality of our innocence and imagination"[5] Cinquemani also called the song "a testament to the magic of Madonna's collaboration with composer/producer Patrick Leonard".[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Dear Jessie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Mentos, "Personal Pain, Growth As Musician Evident On Madonna's 'Prayer'", Los Angeles Daily News, March 19, 1989; Holden, "Madonna Re-Creates Herself – Again", The New York Times, March 19, 1989; Billboard Staff, "Madonna's 100 Greatest Songs (Critics' Picks)", August 16, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dear Jessie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dear Jessie" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dear Jessie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cicone, "Madonna 'Dear Jessie' Sheet Music", Warner/Chappell Music, 1989 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Gonzalez, "The Beat Goes On: Every Madonna Single Ranked", Slant Magazine, 1 August 2018. facts only, no text reused. slantmagazine.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dear Jessie (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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