Two Sides of the Same Song

Imagine a girl at the beginning of her career, wearing a crucifix on her neck, singing in the streets of Venice…

No, not *that* singer.

MadonnaTribe got in touch with Billy Steinberg, who wrote “Like A Virgin” with Tom Kelly thirty years ago, to ask him about the newly released – and much talked about – cover version of their immortal Madonna classic.

Here’s what he told us about it.

“Yesterday, I heard Sister Cristina’s version of “Like A Virgin” for the very first time [pun intended]. I also watched her video. I love both her recording and her video.
When Tom Kelly and I wrote the song, we were aware that the song had two sides — a sexy side, utilizing the provocative word “virgin”, and a more serious side because the song documents an event in my personal life where I felt rejuvenated by a new relationship after extricating myself from a destructive one.
Madonna’s version of “Like A Virgin” definitely mined the sexy side of the song. Sister Cristina exposes the heartfelt content of the lyric.

It’s ironic that Madonna chose to shoot her video of “Like A Virgin” in Venice, Italy. At the time, it seemed completely random and ridiculous to me. But now, with Sister Cristina’s Venice video, it seems wonderful that both videos, conveying such different sentiments, were shot in the same location.”