Erotica (song) - Composition

Composition

"Erotica" is very known for its sexual undertones towards the song. The song was written by Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin, while produced by Madonna and Pettibone. "Erotica" continued Madonna's exploration of potent spoken-word vocals (as introduced in "Justify My Love") and was highly controversial when it was released due to its sexual theme and suggestive lyrics. According to Musicnotes.com, published by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., "Erotica" is published in F-sharp minor. Madonna's vocals span from F#3 to A4. According to Discogs.com, the song features Garage house, R&B and Breaks. The song also features instrumentations off maracas and "shimmering horn riffs". According to Yahoo! Music, they said "The song itself is very bass-driven and has the same seedy, sexual sound heard on "Justify My Love".

According to Slant Magazine, they described the song as "an ode to S&M." Starting with Madonna saying, "My name is Dita", she invites her lover to be passive and childlike while she makes love to him and leads him to explore boundaries between pain and pleasure. The song has suggestive lyrics, as "Will you let yourself go wild/Let my mouth go where it wants to."

There are three different versions of this song: the original demo, the album version, and the song "Erotic", which was created during the Erotica album sessions exclusively to accompany the 1992 book Sex. The original demo was released on the internet in 2008. The album version of "Erotica" contains a sample of the 1974 hit song "Jungle Boogie", performed by Kool and the Gang. In addition, the song samples "El Yom 'Ulliqa 'Ala Khashaba" ("Today, He Is Held to a Cross") by Lebanese singer Fairuz from her 1962 album Good Friday - Eastern Sacred Songs. In the sleeve notes to I'm Going to Tell You a Secret and the live CD The Confessions Tour it credits an additional composer to have written this song: Antony Shimkin. ASCAP have officially confirmed this.