A House song with its roots deep in disco (sampling both MFSB and the Salsoul Orchestra), “Vogue” has, in the past quarter of a decade, become one of the most iconic songs of perhaps the most iconic artist of the modern era.  Madonna’s 1990 hit wasn’t the first song to promote the vogueing of the Harlem balls (that honor goes to Queen Latifah’s “Come into My House” followed shortly by Malcolm McLaren’s “Deep in Vogue” – both of which featured my late friend, the incredible Willi Ninja).  But it was Madonna’s that became the biggest single of 1990, selling six million copies.

The video, directed by David Fincher, is a paean to the Golden Age of Hollywood, thanks the artwork of Tamara de Lempicka, as well as a heavy “borrowing” of themes and settings from the photography of Horst P. Horst – not to mention being filmed in black-and-white.

Meanwhile, of the sixteen stars sung-about in the rap section of the song (possibly the most name-drop-y since the extended version of “Expression” by Salt n’ Pepa) – Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Lana Turner, and Bette Davis – only Betty Bacall has been alive, these past ten or so years (following the deaths of Hepburn in 2003 and Brando in 2004).

An interesting little tidbit o’ trivia, for y’all – of those sixteen stars, ten were named in full (with both their first and last names spoken); so, when Madonna performed “Vogue” at the Halftime Show for Super Bowl XLVI, a royalty of $3,750 was paid to each of their estates.

So – to Lauren Bacall, the sexy whisky-voiced glamazon, who inspired hundreds of drag queens with her style of WASPy vamping, and the last of the Golden Age Voguers, I just want to thank you; if for nothing more than your drop-dead delivery of the following line, delivered to Humphrey Bogart, in To Have and Have Not: “You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.”

Lauren Bacall et al.
“Vogue” – Madonna
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