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This Used to Be My Playground
"This Used to Be My Playground" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna. It is the theme for the film A League of Their Own, in which Madonna appeared. The movie portrayed a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Madonna was asked to record a song for the film's soundtrack. At that time she was busy recording her fifth studio album, Erotica, with producer Shep Pettibone. They worked on some ideas and came up with "This Used to Be My Playground" in two days. Once presented to director Penny Marshall's team, the song was released as a standalone single on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. However, it was not available on the film's soundtrack due to contractual obligations and was later added to the Olympics-inspired Barcelona Gold compilation album, released that summer. The song was included on Madonna's 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember.
Written and produced by Madonna and Pettibone, "This Used to Be My Playground" was the first time that Pettibone worked with live string arrangements. Madonna recorded the song on a Shure SM57 microphone, with instrumentation from piano, organ, strings and a basic drum sounds. During the final recording, the duo had to redo the whole orchestra section to tailor it for the song. The song starts with a keyboard introduction and strings, with Madonna singing in expressive but subdued vocals. Its verse and chorus merge into each other for having a continuity in the song, yet the track ends abruptly. Lyrically it discusses visiting one's childhood places and not letting go of the past.
The song received positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an essential addition in Madonna's repertoire. The song earned the singer a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. It was a commercial success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; the track was Madonna's tenth chart-topping single, breaking her tie with Whitney Houston to become the female artist with the most number one singles at that time. Later that November 1992, Houston would again tie Madonna with her tenth number-one, "I Will Always Love You". It also reached the top of the charts in Canada, Finland, Italy and Sweden, while reaching the top-ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video was directed by Alek Keshishian. Madonna had never performed the song live despite its commercial success until February 2, 2024, on The Celebration Tour in Chicago, where she sang a snippet of it with the crowd.
In 1992, Madonna starred in the Penny Marshall directed film A League of Their Own, which portrayed a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Columbia Records representatives presented music supervisor Jay Landers with the film's script. Together with Michael Dilbeck, head of music for Columbia Pictures, they decided to compose a soundtrack for the film. According to Landers, Marshall being well connected to the music community also helped them choose the artists they wanted to work with. The director wanted the music and songs to be performed by contemporary artists, but catering to the period of 1943–44, which was the film's timeline. Carole King had already written the opening song for A League of Their Own, and Madonna being associated with it, Columbia wanted her to record another song. Lars recalled that there was some "early hesitation" if Madonna's character should be kept the same or separated from that in the film and the song, and in the end they decided to go with the latter concept.
After the shooting was over, Madonna was busy in the recording sessions for her fifth studio album, Erotica with producer Shep Pettibone. Throughout January–March 1992, Madonna and Pettibone worked on demos for the album and finally decided on 15 of them. When Lars called Madonna and asked her to record a song for the film, the singer and Pettibone had just completed working on the ballad "Rain". Madonna admitted that she did not have any material for the film and Lars explained that Marshall wanted only a ballad. Pettibone composed a track the same night and Madonna had some ideas she wanted to incorporate. She came up with the melody of "This Used to Be My Playground" by humming over computer-generated chords and rewrote a string arrangement while an orchestra waited in the studio. During an interview with The Guardian, Madonna described the process as "assignment writing" since it was completely separate from her Erotica sessions. It took them two days to write and produce the song, and the final version was submitted to Marshall's team. Lars recalled that they "immediately loved it... We all thought it would be a very successful record and we knew right away it would be perfect."
For contractual reasons, the track could not be included on the official A League of Their Own soundtrack; instead, it was included on the compilation Barcelona Gold, which was released to promote the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. "This Used to Be My Playground" was officially released as a standalone single to promote the film, on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. The song was later included on Madonna's 1995 ballad compilation album Something to Remember.
Recording the track was a new experience for Pettibone since it was the first time that he worked with live musicians and arrangements. Pettibone took the demo of the song, and added live drums, piano and strings to it. They did not have any strings written originally for the song, and chose composer Jeremy Lubbock for the music arrangement; Lubbock had previously worked with Madonna on her soundtrack album I'm Breathless (1990). Madonna recorded the song on a Shure SM57 microphone, with the melody being played over and over again, accompanied by the piano, organ, strings and a basic rim-looping sound on a portable Macintosh computer. Pettibone spent the rest of the recording session working on the verses and final structure of "This Used to Be My Playground" was completed. The day after the song was finished, Madonna traveled to Oregon to work on her next film, Body of Evidence, giving Pettibone the time to finish off the songs for Erotica.
The duo met again in May 1992 at Oceanway Studios in Los Angeles to complete the orchestration of the song. Lubbock's arrangement was chosen for adding the final touches and the recording started. However, Madonna and Pettibone did not like the orchestra parts and wanted to redo the whole composition. The producer recalled, "Madonna and I had to change the whole arrangement, right there in the studio, with a full orchestra sitting there getting paid for taking up space—around $15,000 for three hours, $3000 for every half-hour over that. And of course, Lubbock was talking to two people who didn't know a C from a B natural. The pressure was on". So they stood near Pettibone's Mac and sang the notes, with Lubbock correcting them. The total recording was finished off in 2 hours and 58 minutes, thereby saving to pay the orchestra the extra fees. The last recording of the song was on Memorial Day where Madonna re-did the lead vocals and improved them. Together they did some final edits of the track and finished it.
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This Used to Be My Playground
"This Used to Be My Playground" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna. It is the theme for the film A League of Their Own, in which Madonna appeared. The movie portrayed a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Madonna was asked to record a song for the film's soundtrack. At that time she was busy recording her fifth studio album, Erotica, with producer Shep Pettibone. They worked on some ideas and came up with "This Used to Be My Playground" in two days. Once presented to director Penny Marshall's team, the song was released as a standalone single on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. However, it was not available on the film's soundtrack due to contractual obligations and was later added to the Olympics-inspired Barcelona Gold compilation album, released that summer. The song was included on Madonna's 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember.
Written and produced by Madonna and Pettibone, "This Used to Be My Playground" was the first time that Pettibone worked with live string arrangements. Madonna recorded the song on a Shure SM57 microphone, with instrumentation from piano, organ, strings and a basic drum sounds. During the final recording, the duo had to redo the whole orchestra section to tailor it for the song. The song starts with a keyboard introduction and strings, with Madonna singing in expressive but subdued vocals. Its verse and chorus merge into each other for having a continuity in the song, yet the track ends abruptly. Lyrically it discusses visiting one's childhood places and not letting go of the past.
The song received positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an essential addition in Madonna's repertoire. The song earned the singer a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. It was a commercial success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; the track was Madonna's tenth chart-topping single, breaking her tie with Whitney Houston to become the female artist with the most number one singles at that time. Later that November 1992, Houston would again tie Madonna with her tenth number-one, "I Will Always Love You". It also reached the top of the charts in Canada, Finland, Italy and Sweden, while reaching the top-ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video was directed by Alek Keshishian. Madonna had never performed the song live despite its commercial success until February 2, 2024, on The Celebration Tour in Chicago, where she sang a snippet of it with the crowd.
In 1992, Madonna starred in the Penny Marshall directed film A League of Their Own, which portrayed a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Columbia Records representatives presented music supervisor Jay Landers with the film's script. Together with Michael Dilbeck, head of music for Columbia Pictures, they decided to compose a soundtrack for the film. According to Landers, Marshall being well connected to the music community also helped them choose the artists they wanted to work with. The director wanted the music and songs to be performed by contemporary artists, but catering to the period of 1943–44, which was the film's timeline. Carole King had already written the opening song for A League of Their Own, and Madonna being associated with it, Columbia wanted her to record another song. Lars recalled that there was some "early hesitation" if Madonna's character should be kept the same or separated from that in the film and the song, and in the end they decided to go with the latter concept.
After the shooting was over, Madonna was busy in the recording sessions for her fifth studio album, Erotica with producer Shep Pettibone. Throughout January–March 1992, Madonna and Pettibone worked on demos for the album and finally decided on 15 of them. When Lars called Madonna and asked her to record a song for the film, the singer and Pettibone had just completed working on the ballad "Rain". Madonna admitted that she did not have any material for the film and Lars explained that Marshall wanted only a ballad. Pettibone composed a track the same night and Madonna had some ideas she wanted to incorporate. She came up with the melody of "This Used to Be My Playground" by humming over computer-generated chords and rewrote a string arrangement while an orchestra waited in the studio. During an interview with The Guardian, Madonna described the process as "assignment writing" since it was completely separate from her Erotica sessions. It took them two days to write and produce the song, and the final version was submitted to Marshall's team. Lars recalled that they "immediately loved it... We all thought it would be a very successful record and we knew right away it would be perfect."
For contractual reasons, the track could not be included on the official A League of Their Own soundtrack; instead, it was included on the compilation Barcelona Gold, which was released to promote the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. "This Used to Be My Playground" was officially released as a standalone single to promote the film, on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. The song was later included on Madonna's 1995 ballad compilation album Something to Remember.
Recording the track was a new experience for Pettibone since it was the first time that he worked with live musicians and arrangements. Pettibone took the demo of the song, and added live drums, piano and strings to it. They did not have any strings written originally for the song, and chose composer Jeremy Lubbock for the music arrangement; Lubbock had previously worked with Madonna on her soundtrack album I'm Breathless (1990). Madonna recorded the song on a Shure SM57 microphone, with the melody being played over and over again, accompanied by the piano, organ, strings and a basic rim-looping sound on a portable Macintosh computer. Pettibone spent the rest of the recording session working on the verses and final structure of "This Used to Be My Playground" was completed. The day after the song was finished, Madonna traveled to Oregon to work on her next film, Body of Evidence, giving Pettibone the time to finish off the songs for Erotica.
The duo met again in May 1992 at Oceanway Studios in Los Angeles to complete the orchestration of the song. Lubbock's arrangement was chosen for adding the final touches and the recording started. However, Madonna and Pettibone did not like the orchestra parts and wanted to redo the whole composition. The producer recalled, "Madonna and I had to change the whole arrangement, right there in the studio, with a full orchestra sitting there getting paid for taking up space—around $15,000 for three hours, $3000 for every half-hour over that. And of course, Lubbock was talking to two people who didn't know a C from a B natural. The pressure was on". So they stood near Pettibone's Mac and sang the notes, with Lubbock correcting them. The total recording was finished off in 2 hours and 58 minutes, thereby saving to pay the orchestra the extra fees. The last recording of the song was on Memorial Day where Madonna re-did the lead vocals and improved them. Together they did some final edits of the track and finished it.