Hung Up

In this song, Madonna is hung up, waiting for a guy to call (see what she did there?). It a pretty standard storyline, but there is more to it. She repeats the phrase "time goes by so slowly" over and over, which is how she feels when she's waiting. Only action can cure her ennui. Madonna was 47 when the song was released.

The music is based on ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)." Madonna wrote to ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson personally to get their permission to use the sample. This was the second time ABBA had granted such a request. Previously, Fugees were given permission to sample the bass and synthesizer from this for their 1997 hit "Rumble In The Jungle." Bjorn Ulvaaeus explained to the Sunday Telegraph how they granted permission to the Queen of Pop: "Madonna wrote a very, very nice letter saying please, please we have had a wonderful idea which involves 'Gimme Gimme.' We said we would have to listen to it first, but after half a minute I knew it was brilliant. That is one of the few we have allowed. Five years earlier we said yes to the Fugees. But to everyone else we said no. I think the Madonna record shows that ABBA is part of the DNA set-up of pop."

The song was originally written for a musical that was going to be directed by French director Luc Besson. The musical was later abandoned, and Madonna decided to use it for her Confessions On A Dance Floor album instead.