Lucky Star (Madonna song)

This article is about the song by Madonna. For other songs with the same title, see Lucky Star (disambiguation).

"Lucky Star"
Song
B-side	"I Know It" "Everybody" (Japan)

"Lucky Star" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was first released as a single by Sire Records in the UK in September 1983, an international single release did not come until August 1984. It appears on her 1983 debut studio album, Madonna, and on the 1990 hits compilation The Immaculate Collection.

Background

"Lucky Star" was penned by Madonna and produced by Reggie Lucas. The song was released as the last single from her debut album in August 1984, charting in the top ten in multiple countries—ultimately peaking at number four in the United States, becoming Madonna's first top five charting single. The song's chorus is famed for incorporating the famous Mother Goose nursery rhyme "Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight…"

The song was originally released in September 1983 in the UK, as Madonna's second single release there, but failed to make an impact on the charts (it peaked at #171), though it eventually climbed to #14 on the UK singles chart after being re-released following the Top 10 success of "Holiday". The original UK 7" single - in a 'Sunglasses' sleeve - is one of Madonna's rarest single releases and sells for around £500, while the 'Sunglasses' 12" is more common but still desirable and sells for £100. The re-released single comes in the more common "Stars" picture sleeve whilst the 12" has the slightly rarer "Television" picture sleeve.

The single's B-side was the album version of "I Know It," a song written by Madonna. On the German 7" vinyl single, the song "Think of Me" was included as the B-side. Again, like "I Know It", "Think of Me" was also originally included on Madonna's debut album. Some maxi-singles also featured "Borderline" as a B-side.

Chart performance

"Lucky Star" became Madonna's first Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. More importantly, the single was the first of 16 consecutive Top 5 hits on the chart for her, a feat that surpassed even The Beatles' record. The track also had modest showings on both the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts.

The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at #49, the week of August 25, 1984, becoming Madonna's highest debuting single at that time. The single experienced notable strides during its journey up the chart, finally peaking at #4 the week of October 20, 1984. "Lucky Star" remained in the Top 10 for 5 weeks, in the Top 20 for 8 weeks, and in the Top 40 for 12 weeks.

In the UK, the song was a moderate success, peaking within the Top 20 in March 1984. The original release, in Sept 1983, missed the Top 100. "Lucky Star" is one of only seven Madonna singles to miss the UK Top 10 (Everybody - 1982, Take A Bow - 1994, Oh Father - 1996, One More Chance - 1996, Love Profusion - 2003 and Miles Away - 2008 being the others).

In Australia, the first territory where Madonna had enjoyed immediate chart success, the single performed rather modestly, only reaching #36 in November 1984. This can perhaps be attributed to the large Australian sales of the parent album throughout the year and the release of the "Like a Virgin" single within weeks of "Lucky Star"'s chart debut.

Music video

File:Luckystar music video.jpg

A split screen from the music video showing Madonna in her boy-toy look, and flanked by her backup dancers

The music video was filmed in early February 1984 at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles and was directed by Arthur Pierson. The video showed Madonna vamping and dancing around with her backup dancers (her brother Christopher Ciccone and friend Erika Belle), dressed in black on a white background.

The minimalist video exploited her "Boy Toy" image and featured Madonna with a wild haircut and dressed in black punky clothes, that she would later describe as 'rags'. The video was styled by designer Maripol. The video is also famous for showing off her much talked about belly button. Two versions of the video were released commercially: an extended version using an edited remix of the song was released on Madonna's first 1984 video collection Madonna (which also included "Burning Up", "Borderline", and "Like A Virgin"), and a shorter version using the album edit of the song was released on the 1990 compilation The Immaculate Collection (The edited version was included on the VHS version, while the extended remix version was used for the DVD release).

• Director: Arthur Pierson
• Producer: Glenn Goodwin
• Director of Photography: Wayne Isham
• Art Director: Madonna
• Production Company: Faultline Films

Tracklisting & formats

Original versions

• Lucky Star (Album Version) 5:37
• Lucky Star (Edit) 3:43
• Lucky Star (Immaculate Collection Version) 3:37
• Lucky Star (Madonna EP Video Version) 5:03

Remixes

• Lucky Star (Extended Dance Remix also known as The New Mix) 7:15

Charts

Chart (1983)	Peak Position
UK Singles Chart	171
Chart (1984)	Peak Position
Australia ARIA Singles Chart	36
Canadian Singles Chart	16
Irish Singles Chart	19
UK Singles Chart	14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary	19
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	42
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	3
Chart (1986)	Peak Position
South African Singles Chart	4

Live performances

Madonna has performed "Lucky Star" during three of her concert tours, firstly on 1985's "The Virgin Tour", again on 1987's "Who's That Girl World Tour", and most recently 2006's "Confessions Tour", featuring the bassline of following song "Hung Up".

Trivia

• Madonna re-recorded this song in 1990 for The Immaculate Collection, but this version was later abandoned and a remix of the original was used.
• This video was ranked number fifty on MTV's 100 Greatest Videos Ever Made.

Personnel

• Vocals by Madonna.
• Arranged by Dean Gant
• Synthesizers by Dean Gant, Programming- Ed Walsh.
• Electric and acoustic pianos by Dean Gant
• Guitars by Reggie Lucas, Ira Siegal and Paul Pesco.
• Drum programming by Reggie Lucas and Leslie Ming.
• Tenor saxophone by Bobby Malach.
• Background vocals by Gwen Guthrie, Norma Jean Wright, Madonna, Brenda White and Chrissy Faith.

Credits

• Written by Madonna
• Produced by Reggie Lucas.
• Remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez.
• Synthesizers by Dean Gant, Fred Zarr and Ed Walsh
• Electric and acoustic pianos by Dean Gant and Fred Zarr
• Guitars by Reggie Lucas, Ira Siegal and Paul Pesco
• Drum programming by Reggie Lucas and Leslie Ming
• Tenor saxophone by Bobby Malach
• Background vocals by Gwen Guthrie, Norma Jean Wright, Madonna, Brenda White and Chrissy Faith

Included on

• Madonna
• The Immaculate Collection
• Snatch Original Soundtrack
• The Confessions Tour

Cover versions

• The 2000 album Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2 included a trip hop cover of the song by Switchblade Symphony.
• The French electronic musician Electrosexual made a vocoder electronic version of Lucky Star in 2003
• A folk music cover of the song by Alexandra Hope was included on the 2007 Madonna tribute compilation Through the Wilderness.

Appearances in other media

• This song was featured in the 1988 movie Running on Empty in the scene where River Phoenix's character is in music class.
• This song was featured twice in the 2000 British movie Snatch. First as character Bullet Tooth Tony is shot and second as he assaults another man. Upon hearing this he proclaims: "I love this track."
• This song's music video was referenced in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" in the scene where Maria de Medeiros's character (Fabienne) tells her boyfriend (played by Bruce Willis) that she wants a tummy "like Madonna in the Lucky Star video."

External links

• Mad-Eyes.net - "Lucky Star" Single Page