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"La Isla Bonita" (The beautiful island) is a 1987 single by Madonna. The composition was written by Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch, and originally intended for Michael Jackson for his Bad album, who, according to Gaitsch, turned it down. Working with Leonard on the True Blue album, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place, and wrote the song's lyrics, earning herself a co-writing credit.

Song information

Released as the fifth single off the True Blue album, this would become the fifth US top-five hit from the album (it reached number four in March, 1987), and a bonafide worldwide hit which reached number-one in the UK, France and Germany. The song was the first Madonna song to employ Spanish motifs, going so far as to include Spanish lyrics, an uncommon thing at the time. The Spanish theme would come to recur throughout her career, manifesting itself in lyrics for "Who's That Girl", "Pray for Spanish Eyes", "You'll See", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", and "Lo Que Siente La Mujer", the video for "Take a Bow" and concerts on the Drowned World Tour.

Lyrically, the song speaks of the simplicity and authenticity of boy-meets-girl love: yet another theme which has occasionally recurred in her lyrics as in "Impressive Instant", "Forbidden Love". Much has been made of the song's reference to 'San Pedro' and the island to which the song title refers : some believe the island is Ambergris Caye - as the song may also mention its capital of San Pedro, though Gaitsch has mentioned that at the time, Madonna was spending time in a US town of the same name. Madonna herself hasn't helped speculation, referring to the song as being only a tribute to Latin America and its people, to an island and to herself.

"La Isla Bonita" was Madonna's first #1 in France where the song spent three weeks at the top spot in July 1987.

In 1999, female singer Deetah used elements of the song in her single "El Paraíso Rico". Also, in 2004, rapper Ma$e sampled and interpolated it for his song "My Harlem Lullaby". The song was sampled by rapper Black Rob, too in his 2000 song "Spanish Fly" (included in his "Life Story" album.), which features Jennifer Lopez. In the chorus of the song, Lopez sings the part which samples "La Isla Bonita".

The French singer Alizée has sung "La Isla Bonita" on stage at least once. Finnish metal band Twilight Guardians has also recorded a heavy rock version of the song. The song was also covered on Dream, the debut album of TrueBliss, a New Zealand reality television pop band formed in April 1999. Daron Malakian of System of a Down has also performed a portion of the song as a "transition tune" during concerts. A dance remix was also in the compilation Absolutely Mad by Mad'House.

Madonna has performed "La Isla Bonita" during many of her concert tours, most spectacularly during The Girlie Show and Drowned World Tours. To many of her fans, "La Isla Bonita" is seen as an enduring and beautiful product of this fascination with Hispanic culture, whilst to others, "La Isla Bonita" was seen as a blue print for later female stars who would inevitably include the occasional Spanish styled songs on their albums (Tina Arena, Geri Halliwell, Kylie Minogue). For the Mexican Latin Pop singer see Byanka. Madonna performed "La Isla Bonita" during her Confessions Tour in a dance/tribal remix. She also has given the song a remix with Eugene Hutz and Sergey Ryabtsev from the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. Hutz and Ryabtsev performed the song with Madonna onstage at the London Live Earth concert on July 7th, 2007.

Music video

The music video was set in Los Angeles and was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed a string of her acclaimed 1980's videos including those for "Borderline" and "Like a Prayer". The video, rich in Meso-American tones, sees Madonna playing dual roles, alter egos as such, representing piety and passion. The struggle between the two forms the backdrop of the video, which juts back and forth between red and blue backdrops and scenes. A young Benicio Del Toro appears in the video as a background character. The video world premiered on MTV on March 6, 1987.

• Director: Mary Lambert
• Producers: David Naylor, Sharon Oreck
• Director of Photography: Bryan Loftus
• Editor: Glenn Morgan
• Production Company: O Pictures

Official mixes

• Album Version (4:03)
• Extended Remix (5:24)
• Remix Edit (4:01)
• Instrumental (5:24)
• 7" Instrumental (4:21)
• Video Version/Fade (3:53)
• Remastered Version from The Immaculate Collection (3:48)

References

1. http://www.drownedmadonna.com/modules.php?name=bruce_gaitsch
2. http://www.drownedmadonna.com/modules.php?name=bruce_gaitsch

• 1987 singles
• Madonna songs
• Number-one singles in Canada
• Number-one singles in France
• Number-one singles in Germany
• Number-one singles in Switzerland
• Number-one singles in the United Kingdom
• Multilingual songs