Album: True Blue (1986)

Charted: 1 1

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• Papa I know you're going to be upset
  'Cause I was always your little girl
  But you should know by now
  I'm not a baby
  
  You always taught me right from wrong
  I need your help, daddy please be strong
  I may be young at heart
  But I know what I'm saying
  
  The one you warned me all about
  The one you said I could do without
  We're in an awful mess
  And I don't mean maybe, please
  
  Papa don't preach I'm in trouble deep
  Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
  But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, hm
  I'm gonna keep my baby, hm
  
  He says that he's going to marry me
  We can raise a little family
  Maybe we'll be all right
  It's a sacrifice
  
  But my friends keep telling me to give it up
  Saying I'm too young, I oughta live it up
  What I need right now is some good advice, please
  
  Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep
  Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
  But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, hm
  I'm gonna keep my baby, ooh ooh
  
  Daddy, daddy if you could only see
  Just how good he's been treating me
  You'd give us your blessing right now
  'Cause we are in love
  We are in love (in love), so please (so)
  
  Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep
  Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
  But I made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, hm
  I'm gonna keep my baby, ooh ooh
  
  Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep
  Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
  Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep
  Papa don't preach, I've been losing sleep
  Papa don't preach (Oh, I'm gonna keep my baby)
  Papa don't preach (Ooh)
  Papa don't preach (Don't stop loving me daddy)
  Papa don't preach (I know I'm keeping my baby) Writer/s: Brian Elliot
  Publisher: Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Royalty Network
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 23

• George Pope from Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaAs to the crucifixes she wore & her family's core religion: "TRADITON(n): Peer pressure from dead people."
• Adam from N/aThis song is about someone deciding not to have an abortion. I think pro-lifers just like to complain.
• Richard Pickel from MaShe was such an incredibly brave and rebellious free thinker that she wore the most enormous crucifixes that she could possibly find, because that was the one and only religion her family believed, and the one the huge majority of her gang I mean country believed, out of the endless stream of dwad and forgotten to current fad religions which humans have believed in the history of the human race so far and from which she could have chosen to believe. It's only raped most of the inhabited continents of the world so far. The other religions were mostly too busy raping themselves to get organized enough to try to rape everyone else. Actually, besides spreading her legs for more than just another cowardly gang member lying from the day she was able to speak full paragraphs until the day she died that she is not that.
• Martin from Fresno, CaI am pro-life but I think the message of the song is don't judge but have compassion.
• Karen from Manchester, NhWhen I was in my 20s I belonged to a theatre group. We specialized in improv, but also performed a few skits that we wrote. A few months before this song came out, I performed in a 2-person skit where I was playing a teenager who had to tell her father that she was pregnant. So many of the elements in the video were exactly like the skit (I even wrote that the boyfriend was an auto machanic!) that I wish someone could have taped it with a date stamp. Whenever I tell anyone about that show, they always assume that I got my ideas from her! I didn't even LIKE her at the time (still don't)!
• Marcus from Houston, TxI always thought that the song was about teenage love and Madonna marrying the guy in the video. Being that she is a teen in the video, I thought the guy asked her to marry him but she is unsure because of her young age. When you look at the video, you see nothing that aludes to an unplanned pregnancy. I think the video was one of her best because the dramatic elements in it. I especially liked the long ending.
• Theresa from Murfreesboro, TnIt's just a good song no matter what your beliefs are.
• Ekristheh from Halath, United StatesRather than abortion, I thought it meant the girl in the song wasn't going to give the baby up for adoption.
• Linc from Beaumont, TxMadonna's mom died when she was very young - so is it any wonder that she might untilmately want to be a mother (maybe not in '86 but some day - which she did) and would actually want to keep it? Madonna means one with a child! So I think she liked this song for a number of reasons and I am glad she recorded it.
• Austin from Smallsville,new England, --The Simpsons had an epidsode called Papa don't leach which is a parody of the title. The episode is about the Simpsons getting a country singer bac with her father.
• Mackenzie :) from Fairmont , Wvevery teen girl should listen to this song...
• Dave from Cardiff, WalesVauxhall Motors used the strings in the introduction to this song in their TV commercials between 1994 and 2002. In 2000, a dance act named Progress Presents The Boy Wunda sampled "Papa Don't Preach" on their club hit "Everybody"
• Ian from Swansea, WalesI always thought - and indeed had it confirmed by some music critics - that there was some ambiguity in the song - Was she keeping her baby i.e. she was pregnant, or was she keeping her baby - her boyfriend who it seems did not meet her father's approval. It's not written in stone in the lyrics.
• Terry from Northampton, EnglandDefinitely the best Madonna song ever made and after 20 years it still remains in my top 3 of all time by a female solo singer.
• Kelli from Cedar Rapids, IaDoes Madonna write any of her own songs?
• Ozzzy from Sydney, AustraliaThe rumours of this song being about Sean Penn are so stupid..! Madonna doesn't even write her own songs, this song was not even written for her. It has absolutely nothing to do with Sean Penn, okay? It's stupid enough for people to give credit to Madonna for this song.
• Sum Sum from New Delhi, Indiain the video when madonna is sitting in the boat with her boyfrfriend and the piano is being played, what was she eating? it looked like soup sticks...any idea?
• Melissa from Hartsdale, NyI forgot to write my grandfather's name....his name is Milton Rothfeld.
• Melissa from Hartsdale, NyIn this video, there is a shot of Madonna and her boyfriend on a boat, with an older man and woman looking on at them. The man in the video is my grandfather....Melissa, New York.
• Wes from Springfield, VaI can't wait until her kids sing this to her.
• Alex from New Orleans, LaI heard that her "baby" was really Sean Penn and people were telling her to break up with him,acting like a father bossing her around, hence the "Papa" part. But she was "keepin' her baby"
• Connor from Woodbridge, VaAltho vogue sealed the deal of madonna erotica sealed the deal showing that madonna is a true super star because she posed nude in a book and got it on NYT best seller list, being able to sing a song about teen sex was pretty amazing
• Keith from Mt. Pleasant, MiAppears on Ë?"True Blue," referred to by many critics as Madonna's first mature album.

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