"Dress You Up" | ||||||||
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Artwork for most 7-inch vinyl releases
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Single by Madonna | ||||||||
from the album Like a Virgin | ||||||||
B-side | "Shoo-Bee-Doo" | |||||||
Released | July 31, 1985 | |||||||
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Recorded | 1984 | |||||||
Genre | Dance-pop | |||||||
Length | 4:01 | |||||||
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Writer(s) |
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Producer(s) | Nile Rodgers | |||||||
Madonna singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin (1984). It was released on July 31, 1985 as the album's final single, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale. Madonna pushed for the song's inclusion on Like a Virgin as she particularly liked its lyrics. Musically, the song is a drum beat driven dance track featuring instrumentation from guitars and vocals from a choir and a guitar solo played by Nile Rodgers, who also produced the song. The lyrics are an extended metaphor for fashion and sex, comparing dressing up with passion. A live performance from Madonna's first tour was used as the music video.
Critics reacted positively to the dance-pop nature of the track. "Dress You Up" became Madonna's sixth consecutive top-five single in the United States. It also reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The song was performed on four of Madonna's concert tours, most recently on the Rebel Heart Tour (2015–16). "Dress You Up" was added to the "Filthy Fifteen" list of the Parents Music Resource Center, due to the sexual nature of its lyrics. The song has been covered in different forms by a number of artists.
"Dress You Up" was the last song to be included on the Like a Virgin album. Producer Nile Rodgers had initially asked songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale to write a song for Madonna in the style of Rodgers' band Chic. However, the writing took time, since both LaRusso and Stanziale were busy with other projects. When the lyrics of the song was submitted, Rodgers rejected it as there was no time to compose a melody and record it for the album. But Madonna liked the lyrics of the song, and persuaded Rodgers to include it on Like a Virgin. In Britain, the song was released as a limited-edition shaped picture disc. In this case, it was star-shaped to tie in with the Christmas release date for the single. The song is one of several of Madonna's hit singles not included on The Immaculate Collection compilation, released in 1990. "Dress You Up" was, however, later included on Madonna's 2009 compilation album Celebration. Although no music video was separately made for the song, a live performance of "Dress You Up" from The Virgin Tour, filmed in Detroit was used as the video.