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Happy Birthday Gambler!!!


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Gambler is celebrating 30 years perfection

From wikipedia:

"Gambler" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna for the soundtrack of the 1985 motion picture Vision Quest. The song was written solely by Madonna, while the production was handled by John "Jellybean" Benitez at her request. It was released as the second single from the film's soundtrack album on October 3, 1985, by Geffen Records. "Gambler" was never released in the United States, at the request of Madonna's own Sire Records. The music video of the song is an excerpt from the film itself.

Musically, "Gambler" is an upbeat synthpop and disco song, featuring instrumentation from drums, electronic handclaps and percussion, which is accompanied by a bass synths and keyboards. The lyrics talk about Madonna asserting her self-independence. Critics gave a mixed review of the song, but it was commercially successful, reaching the top-ten in the charts of Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Madonna has performed the song only once, on her 1985 The Virgin Tour, which was documented on the live video release Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour.

Background

After the recording of "Crazy for You", the soundtrack single for the 1985 coming of age drama Vision Quest, Madonna approached John "Jellybean" Benitez to produce another of her self-written songs called "Gambler".[1] Subsequently, the song was added to the soundtrack of the film, as music producer Phil Ramone felt that it would be appropriate for using in the beginning shots of the film.[1] As the song was recorded on the Geffen label, a commercial issue of the single, in the United States was suppressed, at the request of Madonna's Sire Records management. They feared that commercial availability of another Madonna single would have been detrimental to the other singles from the Like a Virgin album, and the already available, Geffen-distributed, "Crazy for You". Hence "Gambler" was never released, or sent for airplay in the United States.[1] The UK 12" single, contained the Extended Dance Mix, Instrumental Remix, and the song "Nature of the Beach" by Black 'n Blue. The 7" single had the original version, and "Nature of the Beach".[2] The video for "Gambler" is similar to "Crazy for You", with Madonna singing the song along with clips culled from Vision Quest. Madonna filmed her performance on November 22, 1983, at the Big Foot Tavern in Spokane, Washington.[3] "Gambler" remained Madonna's last single written entirely by herself for over two decades, until "Hey You" (2007).[4] According to Stylus Magazine, Madonna said that she got too lazy to write songs without help.[5]

Composition

Musically, "Gambler" is an upbeat song that combines elements of synthpop and disco, composed in the style of the songs on Madonna's self-titled debut album. The song features instrumentation from drums, electronic handclaps and percussion, which is accompanied by a bass synths and keyboards.[2] The song starts with an initial four-chord chorus, and a brief three-chord verse, eventually reaching a middle eight, where Madonna's voice is in echoes.[2] Near the end, the coda of the song uses a new musical sequence, with some whistling, and the line "You can't stop me now" ending echoes.[2]

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 100 beats per minute. Madonna's vocal range spans from Bb3 to E5. "Gambler" is composed in the key of D minor and has a basic sequence of DmGDmGDmGAm as its chord progression.[6] The lyrics have Madonna asserting her independence and daredevil attitude towards life, to a lover who, according to her, would not be able to understand or put up with her speed.[2]

Critical response

Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, compared the song to the music of the band Blondie, and said: "The rapid movement through the various sections, can't save the song from being fairly ordinary, but it passes quick enough. Bit like 24-hour flu, really."[2] Alex Henderson from Allmusic called the song "an ultra-infectious gem that, unfortunately, isn't on any of the Material Girl's [Madonna's] CDs" and felt that "'Gambler' is one of those songs that should have been a major hit but wasn't, whereas 'Crazy for You' soared to the top of the pop charts."[7] Alfred Soto of Stylus Magazine, described "Gambler" as a "disco-punk, Flashdance edition" and called it "the most aggressive track of Madonna's career." Soto added, "'Gambler' is the only possible response to a slow dance in which you were left as unfulfilled as you were five minutes earlier. It deserves immortality beside 'Into the Groove' [...] The music is keyed to her vocalsinsistent, strident, hip-thrusting; she slurs the line "You're just jealous 'cuz you can't be me" like it's a shot of Rumplemints; meanwhile Animotion synths blow up her skirt.[5] Robert Christgau gave a mixed review of the song.[8] R. Serge Denisoff and William D. Romanowski, authors of Risky business: rock in film, felt that the song seemed "jammed into the movie with a plunger and little thought to appropriateness."[9] The Motion Picture Guide of 1986 included the song as one of the soundtrack's standouts.[10]

:smooch: That's right baby!!

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Love this song so much. It truly is one of her shiniest gems :clap:

I would love her to perform it again

Love the VT performance to bits, her coming out of the dressing room, the intro etc

tumblr_myxoudnYo21qljse3o1_500.gif

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"You're not happy with the way I act, you better turn around boy, don't look back..."

My motto for the last 30 years

That's right, baby!

:laugh:

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Love this song so much. It truly is one of her shiniest gems :clap:

I would love her to perform it again

Love the VT performance to bits, her coming out of the dressing room, the intro etc

tumblr_myxoudnYo21qljse3o1_500.gif

I can't imagine, what if she sang it when I see her? :drama: It would be a dream! I love the VT performance so much, it's all her sass encapsulated.. and great vocals!

I haven't seen Vision Quest in a very long time, I should do something about that ;)

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I should consider myself lucky that I got to see it live. Living Madonna history.

I'm not taking it for granted, I just wish I could remember it better. I remember thinking, it's no surprise that she's doing this song...but I'm really hoping she'll do Lucky Star. Well, she did do Lucky Star.

I remember not getting into the bathroom. There were a million girls in there. So we (me and two other girls) walked to the park (in between the street) and up a ways to the university and peed on a tree there. LOL.

I also remember taking my lace gloves off during the concert because it was hot and they were uncomfortable.

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Fantastic track that is too often criminally overlooked. Loved it just as much now as the day it came out. When a Madonna 'Greatest Hits' includes hits like this, it'll be a step closer to being a definitive 'hits' collection.

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I should consider myself lucky that I got to see it live. Living Madonna history.

I'm not taking it for granted, I just wish I could remember it better. I remember thinking, it's no surprise that she's doing this song...but I'm really hoping she'll do Lucky Star. Well, she did do Lucky Star.

I remember not getting into the bathroom. There were a million girls in there. So we (me and two other girls) walked to the park (in between the street) and up a ways to the university and peed on a tree there. LOL.

I also remember taking my lace gloves off during the concert because it was hot and they were uncomfortable.

Lucky girl!! Haha I had lace gloves too :inlove:

Fantastic track that is too often criminally overlooked. Loved it just as much now as the day it came out. When a Madonna 'Greatest Hits' includes hits like this, it'll be a step closer to being a definitive 'hits' collection.

I'm glad I'm not alone, I have always loved Gambler! Even my non-Madonna fan girlfriends from school remember Gambler, it was massive in Europe. It really should be included someday.

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I loved this song when I first heard it! MTV used to play both the VQ and live VT versions....I liked VT much better. Of course, I think this needed a "proper" video. It is a shame it didn't get the release it deserved. It seems at this time, a lot of releases were getting smushed or left out. Just in 1985 there was Material Girl, Crazy For You, Angel/Into The Groove, and Dress You Up. I also think Over and Over needed a release.

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I'm glad I'm not alone, I have always loved Gambler! Even my non-Madonna fan girlfriends from school remember Gambler, it was massive in Europe. It really should be included someday.

It big here too, but I thought it got over-shadowed by Crazy For You. I probably thought that because I liked Gambler better.

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