Dress You Up

"Dress You Up"
Song
B-side	"Shoo-Bee-Doo" "I Know It" (UK)

"Dress You Up" is the fifth single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 2nd studio album, Like a Virgin and was released on July 24, 1985 by Sire Records.

Song information

The dance song makes use of an extended metaphor between fashion and sex. Madonna sings about clothes she'd like draped over her man, obviously for the pleasure of having her hands all over his body. She also sings that she'll create a "look" for her lover, referring to a concept that would become unique to Madonna's own fame. She even sings about covering her man with "Velvet Kisses", and making him feel the "Silky Touch of her Caresses".

In Britain, the song was one of several Madonna singles to be released as a limited-edition shaped picture disc. In this case, it was star-shaped to tie in with the Christmas release for the single.

The song was subject to controversy when it was included in the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen" list, for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics. The PMRC's Tipper Gore had heard her daughter listening to the song, and considered its lyric ("Gonna dress you up in my love") to constitute 'vulgar music'.

The list was presented to a Senate committee in a campaign to censor such songs. Other songs included recent hits by Cyndi Lauper, Prince, Sheena Easton, the Mary Jane Girls, and Twisted Sister. This led to the creation of the Parental Advisory sticker.

In 1999, "Dress You Up" was sung by a group of young adults, among which were then-unknowns Alex Greenwald, Rashida Jones and Jason Thompson, in Gap's "Everybody in Vests" TV commercial directed by Pedro Romhanyi. The music mix was done by the Dust Brothers.

Madonna has re-embraced the song in her more recent years; a backing track was created for performance on her Re-Invention Tour, however Madonna found it difficult to learn the guitar chords for the song, choosing to perform "Material Girl" instead. The song made its way into her next tour however, in the form of a video interlude medley with three other early Madonna songs before a performance of "Music". In 2008, Madonna performed the first verse and chorus of the song at two dates on the Sticky and Sweet Tour, publicly singing the song for the first time since 1985.

The song is one of several hit Madonna singles not included on The Immaculate Collection compilation. This disappointed many fans and, ironically, when fans were asked to vote for the Top 20 Madonna singles of all time in Q-Magazine, 2003, "Dress You Up" was allocated the #8 spot. Fans will hope that "Dress You Up" is included in Madonna's final greatest hits package for Warner Bros. in the last quarter of 2008.

The rhythm and some lyrics were also prominently used in the pornography film "Star 88".

Music video

Although no music video was made, a live performance of "Dress You Up" from Madonna Live - The Virgin Tour videocassette filmed in Detroit, Michigan, was used to promote the single. The video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards: Best Choreography, Best Editing and Best Cinematography.

• Director: Daniel Kleinman
• Producer: Simon Fields
• Director of Photography: Jerry Watson
• Editor: Mitchell Sinoway
• Production Company: Limelight Productions

Charts

"Dress You Up" peaked at five in the UK over the Christmas period of 1985 when it became her eighth Top 5 song of 1985, following "Like a Virgin", "Material Girl", "Crazy for You", "Into the Groove", "Holiday", "Angel", and "Gambler". "Holiday" and "Like A Virgin" had technically been released the previous year, though the former re-entered the chart in 1985, and the latter was still in the Top 5 at the start of the year from its original release.

In Australia, the song peaked at #5 in October 1985, becoming Madonna's sixth Top 10 single in that country in just over a year.

Following on from a sizeable amount of previous hit singles, the song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in 1985.

Charts

Chart (1985/1986)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales	12
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	32
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play	3
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	64
Australia	5
Ireland	3
Eurochart Hot 100	6
France	18
the Netherlands	5
South Africa, Republic of	3
Spain	11
Switzerland	20
United Kingdom	5

Live Performances

Thus far, Madonna has performed Dress You Up on her Virgin Tour in 1985 and the Who's That Girl World Tour in 1987. The song was originally going to be performed on the Re-Invention Tour in 2004, however it was pulled from the setlist and replaced with Material Girl at the last moment. A studio demo was created for the tour and is available on the internet and fan sites. It was also rehearsed for the forthcoming Sticky & Sweet Tour, but was not part of the final set.

Writing Credits

Written by Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale.

Official mixes

• Album Version (4:01)
• The 12" Formal Mix (6:12)
• The Casual Instrumental Mix (4:38)
• Remix Edit (3:45) Promo Vinyl Only
• Live Video Version (5:41) (Virgin Tour VHS)
• Re-Invention Tour Studio Version (3:44) Unreleased

External links

• Mad-Eyes.net - "Dress You Up" Single Page