 
Like A Prayer The
Immaculate
1989 Collection
1990
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VIDEO by David
Fincher
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“Oh Father” was the fourth in
an amazing string of singles to be released from the Like A
Prayer album. Unfortunately,
it did not fare well on the charts. The song, dealing with the downright dismal
issues of child abuse, domestic abuse,
and the loss of one’s faith, featured a rather somber
video that beautifully complimented the serious issues addressed
in the lyrics. This,
in combination with a song structure dissimilar to anything else being played
on the radio, created a
profound, yet very depressing work of art that fans did not
embrace as wholeheartedly as Madonna’s most recent upbeat
and very danceable singles. Peaking at #20, “Oh Father” became Madonna’s
first single to miss the top 5 in five years
and also broke her amazing run of seventeen consecutive
top 10 singles.
The video, her second to be
helmed by David Fincher, is by far one of Madonna’s most solemn yet beautifully
constructed clips. In it,
we see Madonna as a child, playing in the snow while her mother is on her deathbed. Later in
the video we see a horrifying image lifted directly from
Madonna’s own memory --- when the young girl looks into the
coffin and sees that her mother’s lips have been sewn
together to keep them shut. The
remainder of the video focuses
on the relationship of Madonna and her father as well as
that of her lover as an adult.
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