Originally By: Don McLean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BIAi3Oo7To The story goes that Madonna was starring in the film The Next Best Thing, co-starring Rupert Everett and, oddly enough, Neil Patrick Harris. During the film, her character Abbie sings Don McLean's American Pie at a friend's funeral, which apparently Rupert Everett managed to convince Madonna would be a good song for her to record her own version of. Madonna's electropop version of the song, produced by William Orbit, cuts out most of the original verses to try and make it a bit more radio-friendly (some would argue this is sacrilegious, others would say it's just practical as the original goes on for about six months). The British public were clearly impressed with Madonna's cover, the song went to number 1 there, and even Don McLean himself has described her version as a "gift from a goddess". As it turns out, Madonna herself was not such a fan of the song. She claims her record company "twisted her arm" into recording it and as such it was never released in America and was left off her second greatest hits collection GHV2. According to Madonna this was her way of "punishing" the song.
My name is Daniel and I live in Newcastle. Nothing makes me happier than excellent pop music, big hair or a C-list celebrity having a Twitter meltdown.