Madonna: Interview on the set of Take a Bow Muisc Video (Spain, 1994)

Obsessing over the image of the bullfighter on the television. Making love to a television. Taking a television to bed with me. Sufficiently warm. Yes, I've got my lap blanket. And not real fur. This album is a very subtle record. It's the interweaving of voices. It's almost pointillistic. And I think people wonder sometimes, because you collaborate with people, what exactly is your input into all this? Do you show up with melodies, with lyrics? It's different every time. I keep a journal and I write in it constantly anyways. Or if I'm reading something and I feel inspired, I'll jot down something. Or a phrase comes to my mind and I write it down. And then I'll go in and I'll hear music and I'll elaborate on what I've written. Or I'll take a poem I've written and change the meter of it to fit the music. Or sometimes music will... I'll have nothing in my head. And I'll go in and I'll hear music and then it'll just come to me. Do you sit around and doodle on instruments or tape things? No, I don't play any instruments. I always work with producers that can play instruments. I thought you played piano or something. Very primitively. Basic chord progressions, but I hear melodies in my head. I usually rely on them to pound it out on the keyboard. That's how I work with Babyface anyways. How did you come to be involved with Babyface in Dallas and all these people? Did you have them in mind from the beginning or were you just going around trying people out? I pretty much had a wish list of people that I really admired or sort of had my eye on working with for some time. Babyface in Dallas, Austin and Nellie Hooper were at the top of that list. And then I ended up working with Dave Hall because he was a friend of a friend and he kept saying, you know, you've got to work with this guy. I didn't really know him at all. There were a few other people that were recommended, but songwriting is like... I mean, collaborating with anybody, it's very intimate and it's hard. Sometimes it doesn't work with people. When you get in a room and you don't feel comfortable. So I went through a few of those. Discarded a few people. Yeah, kicked them right out. Had you done stuff with Shep Pettybone? I heard he was upset about not being involved in all this. Well, we have a very long-standing collaboration. I've been working with Shep for years and I just wanted a different mood. I mean, I think Shep is a very talented songwriter and producer and I felt like I was staying in one place, you know what I mean? And I sort of had my heart set on doing something with much more of an R&B feel to it anyway. I just felt like I needed to go somewhere else and experiment and try some other songwriters out. It was nothing personal. And I'm sure I'm going to work with him again in the future. I mean, I worked with Pat Leonard for years and then I didn't work with him for a while and then I went back and worked with him on I'll Remember, this song with honors soundtrack. So, I mean, it's good to work with other people. Sure. Do you think Erotica got the hearing it deserved? Absolutely not. Are you kidding me? Because I think in retrospect a lot of people look back and say, yeah, that's a really good record. Yeah, I know, I've heard that. Thanks, why didn't you say that two years ago? I think people were saying the obvious mainstream press thing is going to be, well, this new record is obviously a step back. She knows she went too far and now she's trying to be nice. Yes, well, that is the mainstream, not thought out point of view. But, I mean, there was no calculation. I didn't give myself a set of rules when I went in the studio and said, okay, now I have to write this kind of music, I can't offend anyone. This just really, I think you can't write songs unless you're being honest. I don't think you can put yourself in that kind of a straight jacket creatively. That literally was what was on my mind at the time. It seems to be also a very, it seems to be a different you in a way. Well, every year it's a different me. But has romance come into your life? I think we were reading something about that. Well, I mean, romance has always been in my life. Surely. I mean, well, that sounds really immodest, doesn't it? Fortunate, it sounds fortunate. No, but it's not like I just discovered romance. I mean, I've been writing, I mean, when you listen to, there's romantic songs on all of my records. Rain is a romantic song and Live to Tell is a romantic song. I've always written romantic songs. It's just that people got so caught up in the eroticism aspect of what I was exploring and getting into and writing about that I think now that I've come up with this record and all of a sudden everyone's saying, oh, she's changed so much. She's a different person and I'm more experienced, I'm older and wiser. But I think romance has been a big part of everything that I've written. There's kind of a sweetness to some of the songs on the record, too, though. A bittersweetness. I didn't say a bittersweetness. Yeah. But is there a guy in your life who's changed things? Oh, getting to the really important question. This is the important question. Actually, the songs are about a lot of different... Guys? Well, not just men. I mean, Inside of Me sounds like it's a love song, but it's actually about my mother. I tend to collect thoughts as I go through life and a lot of times it takes me a long time before I can come to terms with maybe a relationship I had years ago. You know what I mean? And I finally found a way to talk about it or write about it. So it's not even necessarily something that was happening to me currently, but my reflection on something that happened. Yeah. Inside of Me being about your mother, it's interesting that all these models have gotten together to do breast cancer awareness things. And being a guy, I don't know about this, but being from a family that has breast cancer in it must be a haunting thing, I would imagine. Absolutely. I mean, my mother died when she was very young. And when I got to be... She was 31 years old. And when I got to be... I mean, my whole life was about... You know, 31. And when I get to be that age, is that going to be my death sentence? Is that what's going to happen to me? And when I finally pass that age and I'm still alive, I can sort of breathe again. Yeah. But, you know, when there is that kind of family thing, when it's in your genetic structure or whatever, you just have to be really careful and vigilant and take care of yourself. What is your relationship with your family these days? It must be difficult having all these siblings and you go home and... What happens when Donna goes home? Oh, we still, you know, fight over food and, you know, where we're going to sit at the dinner table. I mean, it's really hysterical. You know, and I still go home and get assigned chores. You know, like you're doing the dishes and you're doing the laundry. And I'm like, wait a minute, haven't I passed all of this? No, I'm not. It's the same as it all, in my opinion. It's the same as it always was. My father doesn't treat me different than the rest of my brothers and sisters. What was going on with Martin? I mean, we've been following his tale. He was in jail, out of jail, then he wanted to go back in jail. He's out of jail right now. Oh, good. I'm not sure where he is, but if you hear from him, let me know. I doubt if we will, though. Yes. Who knows, he may show up, you know, on Geraldo Rivera's show or something. Are you close? In a distant way. I know that sounds strange. I mean, you know, my brother's like the prodigal son, you know. I love him dearly. He's just, you know... We obviously live very different lives. Yeah. He's in jail sometimes and you're not. Well, I've never been in jail, but... It's... I mean, well, it's interesting because I come from a really big family and we all kind of turned out really different, so... And I always marvel at that because we all had the same upbringing, we had the same situation, but... I think he just has a lot more... I don't know if it's genetic. I think it's genetic, I think it's environment, and then I think it's that thing you can't explain, you know, that... I don't know, it's like certain people are born with a light, or born with a blessing, or born with a curse. I mean, some people just seem like they can't get ahead no matter how hard they try. I think, I mean, some people would say it's karma. You mentioned the other day that you were lighting candles in the church. Have you come to that? I think people, as they get older, maybe have sort of rejected the church in their youth. Re-embraced their... Kind of come back to it. Have you found that to be the case? To a certain extent. I mean, I went through years of rebelling. The staunch Catholicism that was, you know, rammed down my throat. Sure. But the bells are ringing now. But will it make me look better? That's the question. Going? Shut up already. That'll be finished in a minute. It's lunchtime and I'm not eating. So we completed that? You were talking about it. Re-embracing. Well, I think I went through years. I don't think that I lost my faith in God necessarily, but I was kind of going through an exercise of, you know, I'll believe what I want to believe. You know, my whole thing with my father and the Catholic Church was I could never understand why you had to go to church if you wanted to talk to God. And if you wanted to ask God forgiveness for your sins, why did you have to go to a priest and tell him? And, you know, why couldn't you pray anywhere? I had a lot of questions about that. And so it's not that I lost my faith. It's just that I had to discover my own way. And then my own way of dealing with Catholicism and a sort of Western way of thinking of, you know, Christianity. And then learning about Buddhism and Hinduism and more Eastern ways of thinking. So you're lighting candles, you're lighting incense? Well, some of it has got to do with my beliefs and some of it has to do with ritual. I mean, I like rituals. I like the idea of lighting candles and lighting incense and taking a moment to meditate, pray, think about things. You're so in control of what you do. It's interesting that you give your stuff over to Junior Vasquez to remix it. This must be a great sense of trust you have in this guy. I have a huge sense of trust. Well, I've known Junior for years. And I've worked with him in the studio. He's done a lot of remixes for me. And as a person, he's a good person. I adore him. And I feel safe. I know that he's going to do it. That's amazing. You just send the stuff over and say, do what you will. Yeah, but I wouldn't do that with everybody. And I feel like a lot of people want to take footage of stuff. I mean, it's a part of me. It's hard for me to let it go to someone I don't know, I don't trust, I don't know who they are. But I'd certainly do it with him. It came out well. Yeah, he did a great remix. Will he be doing more? Yeah, he's going to do a Bedtime Story remix. And I know he's going to do a fierce job with it. Fierce. How did your connection with Bjork come up? Where did this song come from? That came from working with Nellie. Nellie did her album. And actually, one of the reasons I was dying to work with Nellie Hooper was because of Bjork's album. I thought it was amazing. And so we got hooked up somehow. And we started talking on the phone. And I told him how much I loved Bjork. And he said, oh, that's funny, because she loves you too. And she was always talking about you when we were working on the album. And saying, do you think Madonna would like this? And I said, oh, that's so weird. So he said, you guys should write a song together. You'd really like each other. And the problem is we couldn't coordinate our schedules. She was off in the row when I was in the studio. So she came through town one day in London. And I was working with Babyface in LA. And they just got together really quick one day and came up with a track. And then he sent it to me and said, do you like this idea? Because if you do, you like even one phrase of it or something, when I come out to LA to work with you, we can work on it. And we did. I mean, it sounds very different than the song that was originally given to me. But I think it's good. It seems it's interesting that you like Bjork, because does Maverick reflect your taste a lot? I mean, are you the chief A&R person there? No, of course not. I have A&R people that work there. Well, let's just say that I couldn't sign a group that I hated. But it's not necessarily all my taste in music. But, I mean, you know, a girl's got to make a living. That's true, that's true. And it's doing well so far. The critics seem to have backed off on this record. Is that a good sign? I mean, they seem to like it. You know, not getting publicly flogged. Yeah. Isn't that sweet? Yes, well, I guess it's because I'm not being a bad girl right now. Yes. Well, I think people are really, maybe for the first time in a long time, really just concentrating on the music. And maybe if they were able to concentrate on the music of my last album, they would have enjoyed it more. Yeah. What is this Janet Jackson thing? She seems to, she came in on the vibe and... Dissed me? What is that all about? You know what, I don't know. I read it myself and I'm like, okay, that sounds ominous. What did I do? I've never met the woman. I don't know anyone she knows. I'm mystified. Maybe she'll tell me one day. That's really bizarre. Yes, well, rather transparent, wouldn't you say? What have you made of Rhonda since you've been here? This is a deeply Catholic region. This is a deeply beautiful, beautiful, beautiful city. Cold. It's cold right now, yes. As you can see, I have my... Your fake fur on. Yes, my fake, fake, fake fur. But it's one of the oldest cities in the world. Yeah. And there's no McDonald's, there's no 7-Eleven. And I'm just enjoying that. It's just, we were in a house yesterday, it's 500 years old. And it's so beautiful. So, I love it here. Yeah, it's really a pretty place. It's very, what's the word? I mean, I could see coming here, if I were a writer, it'd be a great place to come. Well, you are a writer. I mean, you know, if I was writing a novel. A novel. Yeah. Well, I could be in the future. Absolutely. Do you ever think, like, in 10 years I'll be doing something completely different or I'll be directing films? Oh, sure. I mean, I change a lot. I mean, I never knew when I was a dancer and I was completely focused on dancing that I was going to be a singer. And I never knew when I was writing music that I was going to end up being an actress. You know, and I never, one thing just leads to the next. You've always said that I'm not the greatest singer, I'm not the greatest dancer, and yet you have this tremendous effect on people. Well, I mean, technically. I mean, the thing is, what is the greatest singer and what is the greatest, I mean, I don't think that, you know, being good has anything to do with your octave range or, you know, it's not about technical. It's about what's in here. It's about being true to yourself and touching people, you know. It's about emotion, being passionate about what you do. I mean, some of the greatest artists in the world don't necessarily, as far as singing goes, don't have like what people would call technically perfect voices, but they come from somewhere deep down inside and they touch people. And the technically perfect people can be terribly boring. Terribly, if that's all one concentrates on. Yeah. You know, if you don't sing from your heart and you don't mean it, then how can it mean anything to anyone else? Do you consider directing one of these videos eventually? It seems like a natural thing to do. I don't know if I could do that because that's really wearing two hats. And if I was behind the camera, I'd want to stay behind the camera. Exactly. And I don't want to get into an argument with me. No, I just, I do really want to direct something. But I think I'd have to concentrate on too many things because it's so different. When you're in front of the camera, you have to make everything disappear, you know. And when you're behind the camera, you have to sort of be aware of everything that's going on. We were talking the other night, we thought that because you're going to be involved tangentially at least with Quentin Tarantino, I thought Quentin writes a film, Madonna's in it, this would be great. Finally. Talks about me enough in his movies. You know him though, right? Yeah, I do. It's a hilarious guy. He's great. He's really funny. He's really great. Thank God for Quentin Tarantino. Because this movie business needs, or our movie business needs a good kick in the pants. Why do you say that? Because everybody's making the same old schlocky generic films and it's not an art form anymore. Is Four Rooms going to be different? Than what? Than the schlock that we're seeing. Oh, yeah, definitely. I think all the people involved, Alice Nanders and the other two directors, I think they're artists. I think that they do interesting creative work, so it'll be different. Who are your favorite directors now? Do you see people that you'd like to go out and call them up and say, can we work together? Have you done that? Collaborate? Yeah, I guess so. Well, I love Quentin Tarantino. I'd love to work with him directly. The segment that I'm working in is Alice Nanders' directing. Let's see, who do I want to work with? Who else is there? Well, name some of these. Oh, I'm dying to work with Scorsese. That'd be great. There aren't that many really great ones around, I don't think. Not that are taking chances, that's for sure. Do you like the violence, Quentin's violence? I don't think it would be ignorant for me to say I like the violence. What I like about him, I like his sense of irony and his sense of wit. What he's almost doing, in my opinion, is a parody of our own obsession with violence. You know what I mean? I love Natural Born Killers. I thought that was genius. Did you? Absolutely. I hated that movie. Did you? I related to it because I am so bewildered, mesmerized, interested, and plugged into the power that the media has and how the public is so controlled by it and sucked up into it, and how easily led people are, and how people could make the vilest human being into a hero and make the greatest person in the world into an enemy. You know what I mean? I'm really fascinated by that. Serial killer trading cards, stuff like that. Yeah, and the cult of celebrity, and I think that's what that movie was about. Well, not when they have too much TV going across their bodies. I just thought that was too much. Yeah, but to me it was almost like I felt like someone... You know how annoying it is when you sit in front of a TV and someone keeps pressing the remote and changing the damn channel? Well, that would usually be me. Guys do that. Yeah, well, anyway, it was like watching a movie, and it was like the assault of TV on your senses, you know? And I think that's what he meant to do. Yeah. You're obviously involved very closely with the cult of personality. Do you ever wish you could escape from it and just be able to go for a walk or something? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what do you do? Are there disguises? Are there funny hats? Oh, no, because funny hats attract attention, too. I mean, the problem is for me to get into an elaborate disguise, I'll come out of my hotel looking like a drag queen or a bag lady. You know what I mean? So I'll end up attracting attention to myself. So basically it's just being as anonymous as possible. You know, putting a baseball cap on and sunglasses and looking down a lot and dressing like I shop at the Gap, you know? Or leaving really early in the morning when no one's around. And it's easier, I suppose, in New York or someplace where people don't give you that much trouble. Yeah, I do get hassled a bit in New York, I have to say, but it's actually easiest in Miami or Los Angeles. I mean, in Los Angeles, everybody could care less, because every time you turn the corner, there's a celebrity there. And Miami's just not really in the entertainment world. When did you become attracted to Miami? A Miami freak? When I was doing pictures for my sex work, yeah. What is it? Is it the sort of Hispanic atmosphere? It's everything. There's a lot of culture down there. Mostly Hispanic, mostly Latin culture. But there's a lot of art and music. I mean, there's a lot of Cubans there, and Cubans have a lot of heart. And the weather, I mean, there's something in the air. It's like when I get off the plane, it's like a tranquilizer hits me, you know? Something very heavy and sensual about the weather there. It's very relaxing, very calming. Is it like home now, Miami? It's sanctuary, you know? I get confused. I don't know where I live anymore. But Miami's where I go when I want to get away and just really relax. Do each of your places, the one in L.A. and New York, do they have a different atmosphere to them? Have you decorated them all differently? Yeah. My house in L.A. is really very much like this. This house we're in, very kind of Spanish. Italian, Spanish, Moorish. It's kind of like a castle. Tile floors, high ceilings, heavy furniture. My apartment in New York is sort of like a Parisian art deco apartment in the 20s. And Miami's like, I can't describe Miami. The house in Miami is very old, too. It's Castilian and it's almost 100 years old. A little bit similar to this, but simpler, cleaner. And it's like a beach house. Do you decorate these places yourself or do you have someone who goes out? No, with my unbelievably talented brother. Ah, that's true. I'm surprised you don't have a place in Europe. Yeah, everybody keeps saying that to me. A treat in Paris. A little pied-à-terre. I thought about that, too, but I don't know. It's a nightmare. It's already a nightmare having all the houses I have and making sure that no one's breaking into my house and people are taking care of things. I can't handle it. You have the David Letterman thing, somebody living there while you're not there. Exactly. Speaking of David. Yes, speaking of my boyfriend. How did it come about, this rapprochement? How did you get back together again? Was it a serious rift? No, no. That was something the media created. Well, you are on television saying that. I what? You were on his show saying all these... Bad words? Bad words. Yes, I know, but it was a performance. It wasn't a real argument between us. Was David aware of this? He knew the gist of what was going to happen. It was like a snowball. It was like everybody freaked out about it and then I think Dave freaked out about it a little bit. But you know what? Dave was never... When they asked me to do the MTV Awards, I said, well, who do you want to do it with? And I couldn't think of anybody. I thought, if I come out with anyone, there's got to be some kind of symbolism. Who do I want to join forces with? Who do I want to represent myself with? And I thought, wouldn't it be great to come out with David Letterman? Because everyone thinks we're in this huge world war. So I called him up and asked him. I said, Dave, are you ready to bury the hatchet? He goes, there is no hatchet. So I said, all right. And he was very agreeable and actually so nervous it was really touching. Really? Yeah, I mean, he was green. He was so sweet, the way he was gripping my arm as we walked out on the stage. But I have to say I adore him. I know that sounds completely perverse, but I do. Well, he's great. Best thing on television. Yeah. He's really good. Are you a fan of other stuff like Absolutely Fabulous? Yeah, that's good. I like that. My nose is running. Do you want to take time out and maybe dab it? Dab it? No, no, I'm just going to use my... It's an old code. What the hell? A lot of the conversation about culture now goes on in the computer world on the internet. Do you dip into that at all? I don't. I have a lot of friends that get into online and have affairs with people, major friendships. They take on different personas. It's actually quite amazing. I've sat with my friends and they've gone online and gone into a room and talked to people. It's kind of like computer dating. Sort of. Kind of like CB radio. It's interesting. I'm fascinated by it for a minute, but I couldn't imagine. I like contact. I like eyes. I like humanity. I think it brings out the worst in people too. I think there's a mob mentality online. People figure they can say the worst things they want and what can you do to them? Yeah. I think it's good if you're a writer. I've seen some beautifully written letters just as an exercise. There are people online probably impersonating you and saying things in your head. There absolutely are because my friends come and report to me. You were supposedly online the other day and I wasn't. Where will you go from here? You'll finish this video and then... Can you stop the little tape change? I can imagine where that question is going. You should get some of the stuff on this video. Is this one of the more difficult shoots you've done as a location thing? It's cold, it's far away. It's cold, it's far away, but actually it's not. It's gone surprisingly well. We were running through the streets yesterday. It was a little bit difficult with the crowds. And heels. And heels, exactly. It's gone pretty smoothly. I don't know why. I've had much tougher shoots. Such as what? First of all, in rain, I had to get water dumped on me for five days. I'm not into being cold. That's my thing, you know? What a pity we're not into it. What do you do in the downtime? I mean, videos and films are just mainly about downtime. Sitting around, waiting. Do you have a regimen of things? Do you work out? Do you dance? Do you sing? Well, I can't work out. I've got makeup and hair. That's true. I can't really do anything. Well, I usually have fun people that I work with. You know, hair, makeup, wardrobes. We all sit around and gossip or eat or turn music on and dance. Sometimes, if we're not 3,000 miles away from home, people come to visit or I read. Did you invite people along on this trip who just didn't feel like going or anything? To Rwanda? No, actually. There were a couple of people, friends of mine, that really wanted to come but they had to work. Too bad they couldn't. I mean, my brother would love this place. It'll be here for quite a while. Yes, I think so. Thousands of years. When you were writing the song, was there any conception of Spain or Matador at the time that comes entirely later? No, I was actually thinking of a movie star when I was writing it. When I tell the story of this visually, I wanted it to be about a sort of an obsessive love story, a tragic love story that doesn't work out in the end. And if this character, this person that I am, the object of my desire is an actor, how do I show what he does? It's going to read to people, you know what I mean? I love the idea. Like a bullfighter, for instance, is someone who, especially in Spain, I mean, bullfighters are gods here. They risk their lives in the bullring. They're like movie stars here. They have fan clubs and they're always doing interviews. People adore them. They fill stadiums. So I thought that would be an interesting... It's very visual. It's very visual, exactly. And I thought that would be interesting for me to watch. And there's also cruelty involved in bullfighting. So I like the metaphor of that because ultimately he breaks my heart. And it's not a happy ending in a bullfight either. So somebody goes down, you know what I mean? So I like that parallel. Are you prepared for the possible onslaught of PETA fans when this all comes out? Well, I've already gotten flak from animal rights people because everyone said, oh, you're glorifying bullfighting, you're going to be hurting the bull. And rumours started and suddenly I was lining up bulls and shooting them with rifles. Well, you know what? Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I don't believe that any organisation should dictate to me what I can and can't do. Artistically, and the fact of the matter is we didn't harm any bulls while we were shooting. We went out of our way to make sure that that wouldn't happen. If they're accusing me of doing that, they're false accusations. If they're against bullfighting, I mean, I think there's a certain amount of hypocrisy in a lot of that because if you're interested in the rights of animals, then you have to be... That's interesting. Hypocrisy, hypocrisy. Damn. Yes. Say what? Okay. Okay, so we're talking about the... Do you think these organisations have gone too far? I just think that I think that for the most part these people are incredibly hypocritical because if you are interested in protecting the rights of animals, then obviously you're interested in protecting what one would think you're interested in protecting the lives of human beings, the feelings of human beings, the environment. So if you're an animal rights activist, if you're really going to be pure in your thought, then you could say, well, then why are you driving a car? Because the exhaust fumes are destroying the ozone and why are you smoking a cigarette? Because the cumulative effect of cigarette smoke also adds to destroying the ozone. And then what about the leather shoes that people wear and the leather seats that we cover our car seats with? And what about the way we treat ourselves? I can think of a lot of animal rights activists who have drug problems and it's all about protecting animals but nothing about self-respect. And I don't understand that way of thinking. I love animals and I think it's good that people want to protect them but I think they have to broaden their... I think they have to think it through all the way. I think it's terribly naive. I don't think they like people. Exactly. Well, I've heard people say that. They like animals more than people. I think it's ignorant. But it seems to be the way of what's going on right now. I think it's politically correct. Once supermodels start posing for anti-fur campaigns, you definitely want to run in the other direction and just drag a fur down this tree with you. Are you saying supermodels have nothing to contribute? No, I'm not saying that. Do you think the whole PC thing has gone too far and had a malign influence on art and performers? I just think it's ridiculous. I think people just need to get their own opinions and concentrate on what's important to them. Everyone's always jumping on a bandwagon. And then you start doubting everyone's sincerity. And then it turns into publicity stunts. So many times people have asked me to be involved in benefits and rallies and this and that. And I always think if I want to do something about it, I want to do it privately. It's not something I want to collect accolades for or draw attention to myself for. If you really want to help somebody, help it. You have to do something about it. That's almost an antique attitude. Look at me, I'm giving this. Look at me, I'm compassionate. I have a question about the video. When this is all shot will you show up in the editing room? Oh, yes. Would they be happy to see you come? Why not? I always have something good to contribute. I think that all the directors I've worked with I think that they welcome my input and there are always people that I know I can collaborate with. We have the same vision. I've never gotten into an editing room and gotten to some screaming match. No. I think that's the first time. I think there's this perception that Madonna, bitch on wheels. Now they say, what's the new Madonna? She's really sweet. She's user friendly. I'm sweet and I'm a bitch. That's always been the way it is. I'm a human being. It's so often you're perceived as being a bitch but in the end it's your ass on the line. You're being judged for it so you've got to make it the best you can be. The best it can be. And you've been right so far? Well, I wouldn't say I've always been right and I've made mistakes but that's good too. You learn from your mistakes. Do you have any projects coming up that might surprise us in any way in different fields? If there is going to be that it's not going to be for a really long time. I'm not ready to write my biography yet. Not yet. I'm not in my wheelchair yet in spite of what this looks like. Any news on the fabled Madonna children maybe coming up soon? Yes, I'm nine months pregnant. You're hiding it well. No, this is another thing. I did an interview where someone asked me if I wanted to have children and Madonna's she's mourning for her child she's out looking for a man to sire her child she's found the man she's pregnant she's having the baby tomorrow How much of that is true? None of it. I want to have children and I will. Could everybody just get off my back about it? Good. Dave? Dave who? The scurrying. Can we get one question about Seacret? We rarely mention Seacret at all. Okay. Hurry before my teeth start chattering. In Seacret it says happiness lies in your own hand is this sort of an eastern religious sort of thing? I think it's something that I read in a book that was about it was a book that this Rhodes scholar named Andrew Harvey wrote about a woman named Mother Mira but I think it's almost like do unto others as you would do unto you it's a simple truth I think that it could apply to I mean anyone could use that I don't think it's something so special that I've discovered but I think some of the simplest things in life are sitting right in front of us and you finally figure it out and then you go God that's so simple but so true and why can't I apply it to my life? The video is Madonna in the company of many many black people is that a typical night out for you? Do you go to clubs in Harlem? I do actually but one of the reasons I shot it in Harlem is because I thought that I thought that I mean I think people traditionally think of Harlem as being this ghetto where everybody's like sad and people are full of despair and there's no hope and I walk down the streets I mean 125th street in Lenox and I see beautiful people and beautiful children playing in the streets and I see incredible beautiful brownstones I mean that is a beautiful part of Manhattan and I discovered a lot of beauty there and I thought since the song is about discovering a secret that I liked combining that Do you think racial legends have a worse past than they are now? They're pretty bad but I think yeah I think they've been worse and better but worse than the fifties or something yeah I mean they're lynching people on the street yeah Bob Grant and then you have WLIB and there's hatred on the radio yeah no I mean please racism is alive and well or unwell yes yeah okay I think we can let you warm up thank you very much thank you that was good Have you ever heard of Amelia Sert? Yes she was the lover of don't tell me but Chanel and she was in the first gondola what? Last but not least on your way to the car it's my way to put this well you're funny but I have to make a reference to the wishing well no we can ignore the wishing well oh well now I hate to throw money away so you don't want me to say it but you talked about the video I can just say okay I don't have to make any points I just have to be here okay welcome to Ronda Spain a 2000 year old town high up in the mountains above the Costa del Sol this is a video from her album Bedtime Stories we've watched all the preparations all the shooting you'll see that eventually but first I'm going to make a wish what would it be? I can't tell you because it won't come true okay that's my secret what's that? oh that was good you have to make a wish one more time welcome to Ronda Spain a 2000 year old town up in the mountains high above the Costa del Sol Madonna has come here that's me to make a video for Take a Bow second single for Bedtime Stories we've been following her around making her life miserable flooding into my life there's a lot of psychodrama you're going to see all that but first first I want to make a wish I'm sorry Kurt you look fabulous thank you well let's go set our clothes on fire or something thanks for putting up with all that bye bye bye everybody thanks very much you were wonderful