Carlton Wilborn on Oh Father

Here’s a reminder of our latest exclusive interview of 2006. We have had the chance to speak to Carlton Wilborn about his career and work with Madonna. What follows is an excerpt from the interview in which Carlton explains the meaning of the “Oh Father” number in the Blond Ambition Tour. Click on the image below to read the full chat.

MadonnaTribe: In Blond Ambition you had a solo with Madonna during Oh Father, in one of the most controversial moments of the show, which was described by Madonna herself as a theatrical presentation of her music.
What do you remember of putting that particular routine together and what did the character of the priest actually represent in that scene?

Carlton Wilborn: I remember that Vince Paterson designed that number. I think what Madonna was trying to say with that number is that a priest, ideally, is a person with whom you end up having an intimate relation. You go and share your feelings and in-depth information with him during confession. Although there is this wall between you, they are experiencing you on a really intimate soul level and I think this was sort of breaking the wall of confession and allowing her to speak directly to the priest about her relationship with her father.

So even if it seemed the priest was phisically involved with her, there was nothing sexual to it. It was designed so that the priest was sort of giving strenght to her which is why there’s a moment in which I’m folding her up and turning her around but at the same time she was someone resistent to what the priest was offering her because of this sort of dogma that ruins the relationship, which is why at the very end of the number she walks away from me looking back.
So it also represents a competition of wills.