Credits

Album

True Blue

The Immaculate Collection

Single

Video

The video, directed by James Foley, visualises the story of the song: a teenage girl gets pregnant and is terrified to tell her dad (played by actor Danny Aiello). Romantic images of Madonna (with short blond hair) and the boyfriend are combined with images of her dancing alone in the dark - as if she's crying in the dark for help. In the end she tells her father. He reacts angry but in the final shot he takes her into his arms. At the 1987 MTV VMA the video received a nomination for Best Cinematography and Best Overall Performance, and it won an award for Best Female Video.
» Watch the video on our blog

Tour

On the Blond Ambition Tour, Papa Don't Preach closed off the church segment of the show. Wearing a black robe over her pointy bra, Madonna lipsynced most of the song while doing a choreography with six dancers.
Three years earlier, she premiered the song on the Who's That Girl Tour, this time singing it live. She jumped around on stage, wearing a white dress and a black leather jacket. The screen in the background showed several historical images.

Many years later, Papa Don't Preach returned on the Re-Invention Tour. Her shirt referred to the original video, except that it didn't always read "Italians Do It Better"; on most shows it was "Kabbalists Do It Better", while the UK shows had their own "Brits Do It Better" and "Irish Do It Better". Her Scottish kilt suited the song well, coz she was spinning around a lot, just like a schoolgirl. At the end, she danced in a circle with 4 other girls (in Arnhem with 2 girls and 2 boys). While the others twirl away, Madonna's left alone on stage and the music is haunting. She walks to the front of the stage and sings the first verse from American Life: "Do I have to change my name? Will it get me far? Should I lose some weight? Am I gonna be a star?"