Sex and Song

There are certain songs which just ooze sex, whether explicitly through their lyrics or through a combination of chords or instruments. I’d like to share some of my favourites with you.

S.E.X. – Adam and the Ants
Not one of their greatest songs, in all honesty, but how reassuring, for a spotty teenager whose classmates were all boasting about “who with, and how many times” (to quote another Ant song), to be told that “virginity’s no crime / your body should be yours / and sharing it sublime.” It was to be another couple of years before I shared my body with anyone, but in the meantime I consoled myself with my own middle finger and Adam’s wonderful voice.

Personal Jesus – Depeche Mode
Everything about this song says “sex”. The throbbing bass line, Dave Gahan’s velvety voice caressing the words, the lyrics themselves – “Pick up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer,” the video, shot on a ranch in Spain, with not so much as a bare nipple on display but full of sexual suggestion just the same – just hearing it makes me wet. I believe, all right.


Lay your body down – The Divinyls
The Divinyls are most famous for a song about masturbation – “I touch myself” – but it’s this altogether darker, more sultry number that turns me on. Like Christina, I want to be the mistress of the night, a seductive temptress, making love until dawn with a willing body laid down next to mine.

Do you love me? - Nick Cave
I discovered Nick Cave relatively late, but was immediately hooked by his intensity and dark outlook. Listening to “Do you love me?” I yearn to be another kind of woman – more complicated, more moody, more temperamental, the kind of woman a song like that could be written about. I want to be swept off my feet and worshipped, adored and tormented, made love to by candlelight with Nick whispering fiercely in my ear as the wind howls and the waves crash onto the shoreline.