AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Madonna

Artist:Madonna

Song:This Used To Be My Playground

Album:Something To Remember

Anyone who reads this feature will know that occasionally I like to feature "orphan" songs that are not part of an artist's regular discography. I've done this before with Madonna's theme from the James Bond film Die Another Day. This Used to Be My Playground is also an orphan. It topped the charts in 1992 but it did not appear on a Madonna album. Madonna starred in the 1992 Penny Marshall film A League of Their Own. This Used To Be My Playground appeared in the film but it's not on the soundtrack album. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures and the soundtrack was on Columbia Records. After filming was completed, Michael Dilbeck of Columbia Pictures and Jay Landers of Columbia Records went about the task of compiling music for the soundtrack album. By this time, Madonna was working with producer Shep Pettibone on her next album Erotica. Since she was in the film, it made sense for Madonna to contribute a song. So that's what she did. This Used To Be My Playground played over the end credits of the film. The only problem was because the soundtrack was on Columbia and Madonna was on Warner Bros., This Used To Be My Playground could not appear on the soundtrack album. Warners released it as a single and it topped the Billboard Hot 100. The only album the song appeared on was the various artists CD Barcelona Gold released for the 1992 Olympics. That album is available but expensive. It also appears on the 1995 Madonna comp Something To Remember which is a collection of ballads. That is the only Madonna CD that contains This Used To Be My Playground. At the time, Madonna considered the song to be "assignment writing" and not part of her usual musical process. So I guess she doesn't think it's an important song. But fans are completists so they want it as part of their collections. And it was a number one hit so it should be on several Madonna comps. It's her decision to not include it. Here's the video for This Used To Be My Playground by Madonna.