the music she had grown up in her hometown Detroit. The song is composed in the key of B major. It is set in compound quadruple meter, commonly used in doo-wop, and has a moderate tempo of 118 beats per minute. "True Blue" features instrumentation from a rhythm guitar, a synthesizer, keyboards, and drums for the bassline, with a basic sequence of I–vi–IV–V (B–Gm–E–F) as its main chord progression. Madonna's vocal range spans a bit less than one and a half octaves, from F3 to B4. The chorus is backed by sounds of bells ringing, an alternate verse—"This time I know it's true"— which is sung by three back-up singers during the interlude, and a bass counter melody which introduces her vocals during the second chorus. The lyrics are constructed in a verse-chorus form, with the theme being Madonna's feelings for Penn; it uses the archaic love word "dear" in the line "Just think back and remember, dear". According to author Lucy O'Brien, who wrote in her biography Madonna: Like an Icon, the verse-and-chorus composition was reminiscent of The Dixie Cups' 1964 single "Chapel of Love", with backup singers Siedah Garrett and Edie Lehman accompanying Madonna's convincing "girly" vocals like a choir. Critical response Davitt Sigerson from Rolling Stone said that the song "squanders a classic beat and an immensely promising title", In his book Madonna: An Intimate Biography, journalist J. Randy Taraborrelli described the song as "the light-hearted, fun track of the whole True Blue album project having a retro 1950's feel to it". In the book Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush, author Maury Dean said that the song as a "masterwork of simplicity interwoven with secret complexity" adding that "on one hand, it's just a basic Streetcorner ditty, with four basic chords. In another context, it's a counterpoint harmonic blanket, twirling with star-spangled timbre and dynamic drive." Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, said that "True Blue" is "a saccharine uptempo version of 'Shoo-Bee-Do' (from Like a Virgin) with telegraphed rhymes... [Its] a song that is merely cute and not really up to being the title track of an album". O'Brien relegated the track as a "ditty" which contained "schmaltzy nostalgia" with Madonna's convincing vocals making it contemporary. A reviewer for The Wichita Eagle did not like the track, believing that it was "sassless and neutered" as compared to the other