Promise to Try

"Promise to Try" is a song by American pop singer Madonna. Released on her 1989 album Like a Prayer, the song's lyrics deal with the singer's attempts to deal with the death of her mother some twenty-five years earlier, when Madonna was only five.

Song information
Throughout her career, Madonna has made no secret of the impact that her mother's death had on her, but it wasn't until her fourth album, Like a Prayer, that Madonna turned her feelings into a song. A piano ballad, "Promise to Try" finds Madonna attempting to move on from her mother's death while keeping her memories of her close. In the end, however, the singer finds that, "I'm still hanging on / But I'm doing it wrong".

"Promise to Try" was featured in Madonna's 1991 documentary, Truth or Dare, during scenes in which Madonna visited her mother's grave.

On future albums Madonna wrote additional songs about her mother's death and its effect on her life, including "Inside of Me" (Bedtime Stories), "Mer Girl" (Ray of Light), and "Mother and Father" (American Life).
 
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