time warp

That time Madonna banged a ghost in a spooky/sexy Halloween b-side track

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Queerty recently shared with you our official 2022 Halloween party playlist on our newly relaunched Spotify page. One of the songs on the mix is a little known, long-forgotten bop by Madonna that was first released over 30 years ago.

“Supernatural” was originally included as a b-side to the single “Cherish”, from the singer’s fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, in 1989, although it was originally composed during the recording sessions of her third studio album, True Blue, two years earlier.

Related: Queerty’s essential spooky queer pop playlist for all your Halloween party needs

The funky mid-tempo track, written by Madonna and produced by Patrick Leonard, imagines what it might be like to have a ghost for a f*ck buddy. Late one night, the spirit “transcendentally imposes” himself onto Madonna’s bed, where he proceeds to get her a “big thrill” with his “super-duper naturally big thing.”

“Gonna take my chance on a different kind of romance,” she croons. “A supernatural thing!”

In addition to being included as a b-side to the “Cherish” single, a remixed version of “Supernatural” was later included on the AIDS benefit CD, Red Hot + Dance, in 1992.

After that, the song languished in obscurity for about three decades before it was digitally released on the Like a Prayer: 30th Anniversary compilation in 2019. It’s arguably one of Madonna’s silliest (and spookiest!) bops, but a bop nonetheless.

Related: Madonna quietly re-releases one of her most underappreciated singles and she’s been a very ‘Bad Girl’

“Madonna has often cited Debbie Harry as one of her influences, but rarely do I hear any Blondie in her work,” Matthew Rettenmund, author of Encyclopedia Madonnica, tells Queerty. “When I first heard ‘Supernatural’, though, I immediately thought of Blondie’s ‘(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence Dear’.”

“It’s a loopy, yet still funky, love-in-the-great-beyond song. I do think it works much better apart from the Like a Prayer album, where only would have had ‘Dear Jessie’ as a spiritual twin.”

Listen to “Supernatural” below…

And the 1992 remix…

Related: Matthew Rettenmund on his 676-page ‘Encyclopedia Madonnica’, the much-dreaded Madonna biopic, and more

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