Мадоннаның «Бұл Менің Ойнаған Орыным Еді» әні

1992 single by Madonna

"This Used to Be My Playground" is a song recorded by American singer Madonna. It is the theme for the film A League of Their Own, which starred Madonna, and portrayed a fictionalized account of the real life All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Madonna was asked to record a song for the film's soundtrack. At that time she was busy recording her fifth studio album, Erotica, with producer Shep Pettibone. They worked on some ideas and came up with "This Used to Be My Playground" in two days. Once presented to director Penny Marshall's team, the song was released as a standalone single on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. However, it was not available on the film's soundtrack due to contractual obligations and was later added to the Olympics inspired Barcelona Gold compilation album, released that summer. The song was included on Madonna's 1995 ballads compilation Something to Remember. Written and produced by Madonna and Pettibone, "This Used to Be My Playground" was the first time that Pettibone worked with live string arrangements. Madonna recorded the song on a Shure SM57 microphone, with instrumentation from piano, organ, strings and a basic drum sounds. During the final recording, the duo had to redo the whole orchestra section to tailor it for the song. The song starts with a keyboard introduction and strings, with Madonna singing in expressive but subdued vocals. Its verse and chorus merge into each other for having a continuity in the song, yet the track ends abruptly. Lyrically it discusses visiting one's childhood places and not letting go of the past. The song received positive reviews from critics, who noted it as an essential addition in Madonna's repertoire. The song earned the singer a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. It was a commercial success, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; the track was Madonna's tenth chart topping single, breaking her tie with Whitney Houston to become the female artist with the most number one singles at that time. Later that November 1992, Houston would again tie Madonna with her tenth number one, "I Will Always Love You". It also reached the top of the charts in Canada, Finland, Italy and Sweden, while reaching the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Madonna has never performed the song live despite its commercial success until the February 2 2024 on The Celebration Tour in Chicago where she sang a snippet of it with the crowd.

In 1992, Madonna starred in the Penny Marshall directed film A League of Their Own, which portrayed a fictionalized account of the real life All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Columbia Records representatives presented music supervisor Jay Landers with the film's script. Together with Michael Dilbeck, head of music for Columbia Pictures, they decided to compose a soundtrack for the film. According to Landers, Marshall being well connected to the music community also helped them choose the artists they wanted to work with. The director wanted the music and songs to be performed by contemporary artists, but catering to the period of 1943–44, which was the film's timeline. Carole King had already written the opening song for A League of Their Own, and Madonna being associated with it, Columbia wanted her to record another song. Lars recalled that there was some "early hesitation" if Madonna's character should be kept the same or separated from that in the film and the song, and in the end they decided to go with the latter concept. After the shooting was over, Madonna was busy in the recording sessions for her fifth studio album, Erotica with producer Shep Pettibone. Throughout January–March 1992, Madonna and Pettibone worked on demos for the album and finally decided on 15 of them. When Lars called Madonna and asked her to record a song for the film, the singer and Pettibone had just completed working on the ballad "Rain". Madonna admitted that she did not have any material for the film and Lars explained that Marshall wanted only a ballad. Pettibone composed a track the same night and Madonna had some ideas she wanted to incorporate. During an interview with The Guardian, Madonna described the process as "assignment writing" since it was completely separate from her Erotica sessions. It took them two days to write and produce the song, and the final version was submitted to Marshall's team. Lars recalled that they "immediately loved it We all thought it would be a very successful record and we knew right away it would be perfect." "This Used to Be My Playground" was officially released as a standalone single to promote the film, on June 16, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records.

In the United States, "This Used to Be My Playground" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 35, for the week of July 4, 1992. The debut was aided by just airplay points which enabled it to enter the Hot 100 Airplay chart at number 14. The song received immediate heavy rotation in US radio stations like Hot 97 in New York and Wild 107 in San Francisco. One week later, the song jumped to number 17 on the Hot 100, having had the largest sales and airplay gain of any record on the chart. On August 8, 1992, the song reached the top of the chart for one week, becoming Madonna's tenth number one single, breaking her tie with Whitney Houston as the female artist with the most number one singles at that time. The song spent a total of 20 weeks on the chart and ranked at number 21 on the Hot 100 year end chart for 1992. In Canada, the song debuted at number 60 on the RPM Top Singles chart on July 4, 1992. After seven weeks it reached the top of the chart and was present for a total of 19 weeks. It also reached number two on the RPM Adult Contemporary chart. In Italy, the song spent 4 consecutive weeks at the top of the Musica e dischi charts. The song also achieved great success across Europe, hitting number one in various countries including Finland and Sweden and charting within the top ten in other countries. According to Rettenmund, unlike most music videos related to film soundtracks, "This Used to Be My Playground" did not give emphasis on having shots from the film in the video itself. Instead Keshishian and Madonna chose introspection as the theme, with simple images to portray them. Rettenmund notes, "At the end, the man who has been looking back at his scrapbook of Madonna lays his head down, sealing the video with the perfect bit of sadness to resonate with Madonna's ennui."

Madonna performed "This Used to Be My Playground" live for the first time on February 2, 2024, during the Chicago concert as a part of The Celebration Tour. She sang an acapella excerpt, following the speech about the memories of filming A League of Their Own in Chicago.