‘Like A Virgin’: The 24 year old farmer behind Madonna’s pop classic
Whether you like Madonna or not, there is simply no denying that she is a creative trailblazer.
She has played a part in cultural discourse, in some form or another, from the 1980s all the way up until now. That’s five decades of artistic contribution, which, however you cut it, makes for a successful career. But to achieve those heights, she had to consistently go where no artist had gone before and, in doing so, cause offence.
Madonna was in many ways the first modern pop star, understanding how to leverage this new world of multi-platform art and what critics labelled as “the video star“. In capitalising on this new age way of marketing yourself, Madonna put sexuality at the heart of her persona, and it was in that approach, she began to swiftly garner criticism.
Everyone from Joni Mitchell to the Vatican church weighed in on Madonna the artist, but she continued on, steadfast in her artistry and becoming a legend by being so. But, while it was she who performed on stage during The Blond Ambition tour and it was she who saw the opportunity in pushing the boundaries of censorship, it was a member of her writing team who penned one of her most recognisable songs, ‘Like A Virgin’, and in a rather obscure location at that.
It came from the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, led by the latter, who dreamed up the lyrics while working in the depths of his father’s grape farm in the Coachella Valley. While we may synonymise Coachella with the glitz and glamour of influencer-led festivals now, it has always traditionally been a Californian farming heartland.
Steinberg explained, “I remember writing the lyrics to ‘Like A Virgin’ while driving in a red pickup truck that I owned around our dusty desert vineyards. I had been involved in a very emotionally difficult relationship that had finally ended, and I had met somebody new. I remember writing that lyric about feeling shiny and new – I made it through the wilderness, somehow I made it through – I made it through this very difficult time.”
In the solitude of post-break-up isolation, Steinberg coined lyrics that would go on to define Madonna’s modern pop legacy. Naturally, once it was returned to the studio, the solitude of Steinberg’s farmland inspiration led him down a sonic path of tenderness. But the irrelevance of the chorus line prevented them from pursuing that, and they eventually stumbled on the glamorous pop hit.
Adding, “I took that lyric to Tom, he knew what I had gone through. He read those first lyrics, and he sat down at the piano and tried to write a sensitive ballad to them. He’d come up with a few interesting things, but every time we got to the chorus lyric where it said, ‘Like A Virgin,’ it just hit a brick wall – how can you write a tender ballad called ‘Like A Virgin‘? It just sounded ridiculous.”
It was later, when the instrument that sat at the heart of Madonna’s disco emergence was pulled out, that they realised the true direction of the song.
Steinberg concluded, “Tom started to play the bass line to ‘Like A Virgin’ and sing the lyric falsetto to this bass line he was playing. I said, ‘That’s it!’ He stopped and went, ‘What?’ and I said, ‘That’s it, that’s the song.’ He couldn’t imagine because he had this style of singing that was usually based on that male rock thing. I think he was trying to imagine doing a falsetto, almost Motown-inspired vocal, and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’”
Famously, Madonna would then be introduced on the track and wholly make it her own. In fact, despite learning the song went through several incarnations and holds deep personal meaning to Steinberg, it’s genuinely hard to imagine it not in the hands of the pop icon because its mixture of provocative innocence was tailor-made for her entire artistic persona.
