Madonna's classic 1986 song "La Isla Bonita" was originally written to be sung by Michael Jackson, according to an interview with songwriter Patrick Leonard in Boy Culture.
"After the Victory Tour, I was still in touch with Michael [Jackson] and Quincy [Jones] and doing some work with them and Quincy called me and said, 'I want to do something sort of Sade-like for Michael--would you write something?' and so I wrote that song and sent it to him with some form of a vocal on it and the phrase 'la isla bonita,'" he explained. "He called up and said, 'Ah, I just don't think it's for Michael.' Madonna and I were getting together, so I showed it to her and she said, 'Oh, I like this, let's work on it.'"
Naturally, the song evolved in a big way from its original draft.
"So we sat and changed, you know, whatever we changed and she changed lyrics and we reconstructed it," Leonard continues. "It's a good song, for sure. I don't know why she would return to that one more than others, to be honest. But I like it."
Leonard will make a rare public appearance performing next month at Joe's Pub in NYC, tickets for which are available here. During his heyday, Leonard wrote many of Madonna's most iconic songs, including "Like A Prayer" and "Cherish."
Revisit "La Isla Bonita." below:
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