Today's song was the fourth and final single from this woman's 2nd album, and the song helped establish today’s 80’s POP Queen as a sex symbol and fashion icon. With lyrics about "velvet kisses" and "the silky touch of my caresses," it was a harmless, coy, radio-friendly top five singlefrom 1984.
This song was written by a very obscure songwriting duo: Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale, who were living in the suburbs of New Jersey and both raising kids while writing songs together. Somehow Madonna heard the song and decided to record it and they were both shocked when today’s singer called them personally with the good news. None of their other songs were ever really recorded except for when pop singer Alisha did their song "Boys Will Be Boys," in 1985.
You might remember back in 2015, while appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, today’s singer and host Ellen DeGeneres sang the song during a revival of DeGeneres' bathroom concert series. They were dressed in matching robes and sang the song while sitting on a chair, adding commentary in between.
Despite the pretty tame lyrical content, even by 1984 standards, the Parents Music Resource Center named this song as one of their "Filthy 15" songs with objectionable content. The PMRC was an organization formed by the wives of some powerful US politicians in 1985 who led the effort to put labels on music that is sold with sexual or violent content.
Today’s singer, in particular, was a target for one of the founders of the group, Susan Baker, who was married to Treasury Secretary James Baker. She was apparently barely able to recover one day when her 7-year-old daughter asked her what a ‘virgin’ was after listening to "Like A Virgin," the first hit for today’s singer, which prompted Baker to take action. At last report, that little girl has gone onto a normal, happy life despite that apparently traumatic experience.