Composition
"Borderline" ushered a change from the normal vocal tone expressed by Madonna in her songs. A sentimental track, the song talks about a love that is never quite fulfilled. According to author Santiago Fouz-Hernández in his book Madonna's drowned worlds, the lyrics of the song like "Something in way you love me won't let me be/I don't want to be your prisoner so baby won't you set me free" depicted a rebellion against male chauvinism. Madonna used a refined and expressive voice to sing the song, backed by Lucas's instrumentations. Considered as the best example of the working relationship between Lucas and Madonna, he pushed her to find emotional depth in the song. Although sounding icy, the chorus is contemporary in style and the vocal range for this song, was later used by Madonna as her own personal range through her whole music career. It opens with a keyboard rich intro and a catchy synth melody provided by Fred Zarr. Bass player Anthony Jackson doubled Dean Gant's synth bass to provide a solid & more complex texture. The chords in the song were inspired by Seventies disco sound in Philadelphia as well as Elton John's musical style during the mid-seventies. The chord sequences cite from Bachman-Turner Overdrive's song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" while the synth phases display her typical musical style. The song is set in common time with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. Madonna's vocal range spans from F♯3 to B4. The song follows in the chord progression of D–C–G in the first verse to Bm–Em–A–F♯ in the pre-chorus, changes to A–F♯–Bm–A–E and G–D–A in the chorus.
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