In just a few weeks, Madonna will embark on her highly-anticipated Celebration Tour, visiting cities across North America and Europe and highlighting some of her biggest singles over the last four decades.
The tour’s title comes from her third greatest hits album, Celebration, released in 2009. The compilation featured 34 songs spanning the singer’s entire career, plus three new tracks: the lead single “Celebration,” “Revolver” featuring Lil’ Wayne, and a remix of “It’s So Cool,” which was originally recorded during Madonna’s American Life sessions.
A fourth song was also recorded but didn’t make the final cut.
“Broken (I’m Sorry)” is a three-and-a-half-minute club track written and produced by Madonna and long-time collaborator Paul Oakenfold, along with songwriters Ciarin Gribbin and Ian Green, who also worked with her on the single “Celebration.”
Recorded in early 2009, shortly after her split with Guy Ritchie, Madonna looks back on a failed romantic relationship with both anger and sadness, singing over pulsating synthesizers and a hard, unrelenting dance beat, “Don’t you feel sorry for me/’Cause I’m right where the universe wants me to be/A lesson that I needed to learn/But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t burn.”
“No pain, no gain, no defective parts/No dirty business, no forgiveness, no broken heart.”
Listen.
Why the song was excluded from Celebration remains a mystery, although it’s likely her record label, Warner Bros., swapped it out for the Lil’ Wayne track in a bid for more radio airplay. (“Revolver” would go on to be Madonna’s final single release with the label, which had been her record company since 1982, and would peak at #4 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Not a bad parting gift, if you ask us!)
In 2012, Madonna finally released “Broken (I’m Sorry)”… sorta. A very limited edition vinyl record was sent to premium members of her official fanclub, ICON, after a two year wait. (Members were originally promised the record in 2010.) The pink vinyl included a seven-minute extended mix and an instrumental version, and the cover art featured an outtake from her Hard Candy photoshoot.
Today, “Broken (I’m Sorry)” is only available online in bootleg form, and copies of the highly sought-after limited edition vinyl sell for as much as $1500 on Ebay. While it seems unlikely Madonna will include the song on her Celebration Tour this summer, we could see her re-releasing the vinyl at some point.
In recent years, she has issued several special releases on vinyl, including a 40th anniversary edition of her first single “Everybody”, a five-track maxi EP celebrating the 35th anniversary of her film Who’s That Girl, and, most recently, a 20th anniversary remix edition of her album American Life.
Now, listen to the seven-minute extended version of “Broken (I’m Sorry)”.
Louis
Queerty: Free of an agenda (except that gay one).
Yet article after article is about something that has nothing to do with the gay agenda. Still no post about Japan’s court decision
TommyIL
You think Madonna has nothing to do with the gay agenda? I at least find this article more interesting than thirsty pieces about people’s physiques shown on social media.
Louis
@TommyIL For me, there’s a difference between the gay agenda and gay culture. One can obviously say Madonna has been part of gay culture for decades (although I think interest is waning) but I wouldn’t say she’s part of the agenda.
You are correct in that SOME of the thirsty articles aren’t part of the gay agenda either, but some are. When an “Instastud” or subject of a dedicated thirst article is LGBTQ+ its part of the agenda as it brings/increases awareness and visibility of said member of the community.
Gabby
It sounds similar to Sorry and perhaps that is why this was never used. She has so much unreleased music that could potentially still be hits.
wooly101
I like it. I’m surprised she didn’t added as a bonus track on her Finally Enough Love release.
powersthatbe
She has better “hits that she never actually released”. Has To Be is considered a fan favourite, finally now available on streaming platforms, for example.