Madonna - Holiday / HQ 1983 Official Audio
Channel: Music of the VT ‣ \ HCM
Date: 2015-12-08

* / SINGLE BY MADONNA FROM THE ALBUM MADONNA / * B-side "I Know It" "Think of Me" 
(UK) / * Released September 7, 1983 / * Recorded May 4, 1983 / * Studio Sigma Sound (New York City) / * Genre Dance-poppost-disco / * Length 6:08 Label SireWarner Bros. / * Songwriter(s) 
Curtis HudsonLisa Stevens / * Producer(s) John "Jellybean" Benitez

HOLIDAY *
MADONNA SONG_"Holiday" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna for her eponymous debut album Madonna (1983). Sire Records released it as the album's third single on September 7, 1983. Written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of Pure Energy, the track was offered to Madonna by her producer John "Jellybean" Benitez when she was looking for a potential hit track to include on her debut album. After accepting the song, she and Benitez worked on it and altered its composition by the addition of a piano solo performed by their friend, Fred Zarr. "Holiday" features instrumentation from guitars, electronic handclaps, a cowbell, and a synthesized string arrangement, while its lyrics speak about the universal sentiment of taking a holiday.

Receiving highly positive reviews from critics, the song became Madonna's first mainstream hit single in the United States, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Dance Club Songs chart. It also became her first top-ten single in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Madonna has performed "Holiday" on most of her tours and it is generally included as a part of the encore. Different performances of the song are included in the recorded releases of her tours. "Holiday" has been covered by several artists and appeared in multiple television shows. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Holiday" at number 88 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".

BACKGROUND & *
WRITING_In 1983, 25-year-old Madonna was recording her eponymous debut album with Warner Bros. Records producer Reggie Lucas, after Sire Records green-lit it when her first single "Everybody" became a club hit.However, she did not have enough material for the album.Lucas brought two new songs to the project and John "Jellybean" Benitez, a DJ at Funhouse disco was called to remix the available tracks. In the meantime due to a conflict of interest, Madonna's collaborator on "Everybody", Stephen Bray had sold a song "Ain't No Big Deal" to an act called Barracuda on another label, rendering it unavailable for Madonna's album.[4] It was Benitez who discovered a new song written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the pop group Pure Energy. The song, titled "Holiday", had been turned down by singers Phyllis Hyman and Mary Wilson, formerly of The Supremes.[6] Hudson and Stevens were asked by Benitez if they had any song for then-unknown Madonna and since their record label Prism did not want to release "Holiday", they gave it to Benitez. Pure Energy recalled in an interview with Blogcritics:

We knew that the song had that magic to it. Since we weren't going to be able to record ["Holiday"] ourselves, we were really hoping it would fall into the hands of someone who was going to do it justice. Jellybean was shopping it, and I think he pitched it to Phyllis Hyman and a couple of other artists. We didn't pitch the songs that much. I was still hoping we could come around to Pure Energy recording it.

Stevens remembered that she had started playing the beginning chords of "Holiday" on a keyboard but could not progress further. Hudson, who felt that the music could lead to something constructive, urged Stevens to experiment with it for a week and ultimately came up with the hook "Holiday, Celebrate!", while going back-and-forth between them. Inspired by the opening chords and hearing depressing news on the radio, Hudson started penning down the song and within 30 minutes was able to complete it, with the whole composition and arrangement in his mind. Most of the song was written by him with Stevens suggesting few alterations like the line "It would be so nice".
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