Madonna – Open Your Heart

The Song Inspired By A Health Food Restaurant Sign

Released on November 12, 1986 in the United States and December 1 internationally, “Open Your Heart” became Madonna’s fifth number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, hitting the top spot on February 7, 1987. What most people don’t know is that this dance-pop masterpiece started life as a rock song with a completely different title, inspired by a vegetarian café in Canoga Park, California where songwriter Gardner Cole had fallen for a waitress named Lisa.

In the UK, the single debuted at number eight and peaked at number four, spending nine weeks on the chart. It reached number eight in Canada and topped the charts in El Salvador. The song became the fourth consecutive top-five release from True Blue, though it broke Madonna’s run of nine consecutive top-ten singles in Australia by stalling at number sixteen. Coming after the massive success of “Papa Don’t Preach” and “True Blue,” it still managed to sell 210,000 copies in the UK alone by 1987.

Cole and his writing partner Peter Rafelson originally called the track “Follow Your Heart” after spotting the name on the front of a health food restaurant. They spent nearly a year working on the song, unusual for the duo who normally finished tracks in a day or two. The song was intended for Cyndi Lauper, though she never heard it, and The Temptations briefly had it on hold before backing away when they learned Madonna was interested. Cole’s manager Bennett Freed was working with Madonna’s team, and when her manager Freddy DeMann heard the demo, he immediately requested a female version.

Madonna transformed the rock song into something entirely different at Channel Recording Studios in Los Angeles between December 1985 and April 1986. Working with producer Patrick Leonard, she added a driving bassline that turned it into what one critic called a dizzy, driving dance-pop jam. Cole asked his girlfriend Donna De Lory to sing the female demo, and Madonna liked her voice so much she hired De Lory as a backup singer for years to come. The track featured Jonathan Moffett on drums, Paulinho da Costa on percussion, David Williams on guitars, and Leonard on keyboards, with Roland Alpha Juno synthesizers and Yamaha DX7 creating those distinctive bell sounds.

“Open Your Heart” was the first song recorded for True Blue, Madonna’s third studio album dedicated to her then-husband Sean Penn. The album reached number one in the United States and 27 other countries, becoming 1986’s best-selling album worldwide with over 25 million copies sold. All five singles from the album reached either number one in the US or UK. The album was recorded during the first year of Madonna and Penn’s marriage, and according to Leonard, she was very much in love and in complete creative control, co-writing and co-producing for the first time in her career.

The song has been covered by Venezuelan singer Melissa as “Abre Tu Corazón” on her 1986 album Melissa III, released in March before Madonna’s version. Israeli singer Ofra Haza recorded it for the tribute album Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Vol. 2 in 2000, bringing a world-music sensibility to the track. French-Dutch group Mad’House created a Eurodance version for their 2002 album Absolutely Mad, while Who’s That Girl recorded a hi-NRG dance take for the album Exposed in 2001.

Gardner Cole later reflected on the song’s unlikely journey, admitting he was nervous because the first track cut for an album often doesn’t make the final release. But it did make the album, he said, which really opened up a lot of doors for him. The song’s success led to Cole signing with Warner Bros. Records and forming a writing partnership with Patrick Leonard. For Madonna, it stands as a perfect example of her ability to take good raw material and spin it into gold, transforming a health food restaurant sign into one of the most infectious pop songs of the eighties.