Many times over, I've proved my love to her...

UPDATED GRAF: Added some missing songs, tweaked a couple of rankings that I think were inspired by list fatigue.

I haven't done such an elaborate Madonna list since completing Encyclopedia Madonnica in 1994, but I wanted to do a sort of ultimate, ranked list of all of Madonna's 221 officially released songs.

I think I have them all, but I am very open to receiving your corrections and input.

I am including songs only once, so no remixes. Different versions don't count either, so "Erotica" is "Erotic" is "You Thrill Me" and counts once. A live performance only counts when it was professionally recorded and made available officially. A live cover only counts if it's fairly complete; no snippets like "Billie Jean" or "Just My Imagination". A live TV performance doesn't count, again, unless it was then made available officially.

Musical performances in films are included (such as "I Surrender Dear"), but not if they are less a song than an acting performance set to music (the Blue in the Face singing telegram).

Where it got tricky: I'm including Wonderland's theme because it was a studio-recorded song released for consumption on television. I did not include spoken-word recordings, unless they were set to music. I'm including the songs from Pre-Madonna as they were commercially available, albeit not through Madonna. I am not including any of the Otto von Wernherr, um, "songs" or "If Madonna Calls", as those all seemed to songs created as afterthoughts by others.

UPDATED GRAF: I can see the point of questioning "The Beast Within"—which is called a remix of "Justify My Love" in its original form—but I think it is incredibly, significantly different, with different lyrics and a whole different feel (if the same sound). Madonna performed it as "The Beast Within" on tour, not as "Justify My Love (The Beast Within Mix)." I have to count "Did You Do It?" as a Madonna track; it was included as a unique song on Erotica, has a unique title and has a lengthy rap that was added. Her contribution is minimal, true, but I think its existence as a bona fide track on one of her studio albums argues in its favor as a stand-alone (or fall-flat-alone). I think the most interesting question is if "Up Down Suite" is really different from "Goodbye to Innocence." I really think it is. "Erotica" and "Erotic" are essentially the same song, tweaked, and "You Thrill Me," while sounding quite unique, fits right in there. But let me know what you think. And yes, I think "Up Down Suite" is way better than "Goodbye to Innocence," if only because in the latter, Madonna embarrassingly mispronounces "anonymity."

When it came to duets, no question. When it came to songs that featured Madonna, it really depended for me on just how prominent her contribution was. I don't feel she's a strong presence on "Sing" by Annie Lennox, I didn't think her backing vocal on Peter Cetera's "Scheherazade" was enough to warrant inclusion, and yet it would seem ridiculous not to include "Queen's English" by José & Luis, which is all but constructed around her vocal.

I look forward to your comments on what I included and didn't include, and of course your reactions to my ranking. To each his own, but in general I factored in how much I love a song personally, how important it is in her oeuvre, how interesting it is (including music and lyrics) and also how unique it was at the time of its release.

Ultimately, it's going to be about my favorites vs. yours!

Feel free to cut-and-paste my list and submit your own.

And...oh, yeah: Enjoy...

 

I think the very best shots I took of Madonna's MDNA Tour were the ones I took the first and second nights of her MSG performances. Please enjoy this gallery of 70 or so images from the first night. Some you may recognize as they've made their way around the Internet (I think more than a few of them have been incorrectly IDed as having been taken in Miami, but these are all NYC).

Check out Night 2 here.

Thanks for having a look. I'm also uploading images to my YouTube account as time permits.

 

Here's my gallery of shots from Madonna's first MDNA gig in L.A.; there are some good ones and I think the gallery is worth a browse, but I do think my accidentally saving a number of these as very low-res is a bit of a bummer! I just noticed, while editing these, that Madonna was wearing pants until later in the tour during her "Like a Virgin" slow burn.

 

My second (and final) batch of images that I shot at Madonna's MDNA Tour stop in Atlantic City are finally up—above.

I am especially fond of some of the images I shot from inside the pit during Madonna's MSG gigs, but I think my Atlantic City photos—also from the pit—might be the most consistently clear and interesting from the seven shows I saw.

It was also a very fun trip with my pal Jason since we were joined by another friend and spent a lot of time gambling and winning.

 

Here's Part 1 = 46 photos. Enjoy them! Part 2 is coming right up, and then I'll post photos from L.A. (first night) and both MSG nights. For those of you who aren't into Madonna—these are good posts to skip!

 

Here is my gallery of over 70 images from Madonna's second MDNA show at Yankee Stadium in NYC a while back. (First night's gallery is here. Write-up from Philly is here.) This was the date it poured down rain, so check out the shot of "Like a Virgin" under an umbrella among others.

I've still got galleries coming from Atlantic City, L.A. and the last two MSG-NYC shows. I think they get progressively better; stay tuned.

 

Here is part two of all my Madonna MDNA Yankee Stadium shots from her first night there. More from other shows/cities to follow in the near future.

Here is the first of two galleries of photos I snapped at Madonna's first Yankee Stadium MDNA show in September. One more is on the way, followed this week (hopefully) by galleries of images I took at her Atlantic City and L.A. shows.

This first night at Yankee Stadium is probably the weakest, with softer photos (I was further away); but still well worth a look if you're into Madonna. If not, skip this post.