More Disco than Dominatrix: Madonna: “Erotica” (Confessions Tour)

In support of the 2006 Stuart Price-produced masterpiece, “Confessions On A Dance Floor,” Madonna launched The Confessions Tour, and subsequently released a DVD of the Wembley Arena concert, along with a CD sampling of live tracks from that London show. The remix of 1992’s “Erotica” occurred after the roller-disco extravaganza that was “Music Inferno.” Madonna had just peeled off the Travolta-inspired white leisure suit to reveal a white-and-purple full-body leotard. The only thing left to the imagination was in trying to figure out the lead-in to the next song. Just as the ears began to recognize the disembodied, heavily automated voice repeat, “All over me,” the next all-too-familiar lyrics solved the mystery: “Erotic/Erotic/Put your hands all over my body.”

This welcome revamp of “Erotica” was actually a return to lyrics featured in the original demo entitled, “You Thrill Me.” This Confessions arrangement, with its ticking synth-keyboard line, a smoother disco-funk bass line and a skipping drum beat, was more innocuous than the final album version of “Erotica,” with its ominous bass line, clanking dungeon sounds, and creepy piano notes.

The dominatrix-driven final album version also relied on the seductive, spoken-word approach, recited by Madonna’s alter-ego mistress, Dita (“Give it up/Do as I say…”), while Confessions had Madonna and the backing vocalists, Donna DeLory and Nicki Richards providing a more melodic, soulful delivery. Also worth noting is the flipping of the direct, “I’d like to put you in a trance” to a more submissive, “You put me in a trance,” as if the relationship featured in the song was now being told from a different point of view, focusing instead on “… all the pain that love can bring.”