It was relatively easy to come up with a list of songs for this playlist topic – what will be more awkward is coming up with reasons behind my choices. Because with songs like these, the feeling is more visceral. It’s just about…a vibe. A groove of a song. I’ll do my best to try and explain it away.
Let’s Get It On:
It’s just the groove of it. That sensual soul sound. Slow guitar groove, soft drum playing. It’s like the body just does a languid slide as soon as the music starts. Like, I just feel like I’m melting…and then Gaye’s voice comes in with this almost pleading cry of pain like “MAAAAN! I need me some goddamn loving!”
Possibly Maybe:
Slow and languid…it’s all about the lyrics for me with this one. I would think for many the obvious Bjork choice would be Big Time Sensuality and it has a more danceable beat, but this song’s sexiness comes from the possibilities it offers up…the element of the “maybe”
‘As much as I definitely enjoy solitude / I wouldn’t mind perhaps spending a little time with you / sometimes sometimes’
No strings.
Then things obviously proceed because by the time we reach the final verse, nostalgia has replaced the excitement of the possibilities that await…
‘Since we broke up / I’m using lipstick again / I suck my tongue / In remembrance of you’
How fucking sexy is that line?
Lady Grinning Soul:
Mike Garson’s piano – flamenco string acoustic guitars – Bowie’s words painting a picture of a room, a boudoir with billowing muslin curtains and the most beautiful naked woman you have ever laid your eyes upon…
‘Skin sweet with musky oil’
‘Touch the fullness of her breast / feel the love of her caress / she will be your living end’
One of the most sensual songs ever recorded.
Move Closer:
I was 14 years old when this song came out and all I remember is just wishing so bloody much to experience something like that. I won’t sugar-coat it. My sexual awakening happened VERY early (Scorpio, see. We’re born gagging for it. Lol.). I was ready for a long LONG time before I lost my virginity. The thing that stopped me being lead astray by my minge was – I am painfully shy (yes…okay, maybe not so much now….I dunno…for me there is a distinction between being gregarious and friendly and being shy and feeling socially awkward) and …. fussy. I was not going to sleep around.
Hell, it didn’t stop me from wanting sex though.
Nothing ever changes. Some 35 odd years on and…
Life is cyclical.
But, the song wasn’t really about sex. It was about love-making. It was about that physicality of being with another. And to me it sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world and I wanted that so, sssooo much. But…it needs to be reciprocal. To be desired as much as you are desiring it.
That’s all I can say.
Let’s Spend The Night Together:
This song almost leads on from the previous – but it’s from the other viewpoint. It doesn’t pretend to be about love-making but it is from the point of YOU being the desired one. Someone saying to you “I need you and I am going to fuck your bones” – has anyone ever said that to me? Not that I ever recall. Not even the only long(ish) term boyfriend I ever had.
Again, it’s really no strings. “I need you….but this is one night, mind. I ain’t making any promises here!”
Are You Experienced:
The lyrics are actually quite ambiguous, really. I mean, is this song actually about sex? In the most ambiguous sense…yes. The sensuality of this is all down to Hendrix of course, the guitar playing, the delivery of the lyrics. The way he naturally oozes sex appeal.
Ain’t Nobody:
Checking the lyrics…I started crying. Silly cow! It’s hard for me to explain. Maybe I shouldn’t try to? For me, the sensual, the sexual, the visceral…it’s all wrapped up together. Sex, love-making, lust….all of it…all the same. No matter how much I try and get with the idea that the sexual experience needing only to be about the…release…of…stress, tension, etc…it’s always oh so much more than that. I’ve never had a one night stand in my entire life – and this is why.
Love Is The Drug:
And we cycle around again. This is absolutely about the one night stand experience. You want sex. A fuck. Get to a nightclub. Find someone willing to put out. Get your kicks. The end. “Love” is the drug? Let’s not confuse love and sex here! SEX is the drug. “Love” ain’t got nothing to do with it! Sometimes I really do wish I could just “score”. Just…get fucked and have done with it. Get it out of my system.
But I’d want more. Always more. Insatiable….
https://youtu.be/IseXQNVdSBw
Jeepster:
I don’t know how Bolan does it…but he does. I mean…some of those lines…what the??? BUT…the important line. The one that just makes me just….fall to a puddle to the floor…the end…
‘Oh, girl I’m just a vampire for your love / and I’m gonna suck you’
I know he doesn’t mean it like that but…
I can’t help but think of that Not The Nine O’ Clock News song parody called “Kinda Lingers”
Life in Oils:
Sorry, Jim….but this is ssoooooooooo sexy! Your voice! All that panting and moaning. You do things to a girl with this one. I’ve said it. SUE ME, SIR…YOU GODDAMN SEXY BASTARD! And it’s not just your voice and the panting and moaning…the music is sexy too.
That talk on the radio station in America a couple of years back in which when recording Alive And Kicking you had this “heated debate” with Jimmy Iovine about changing the “you turn me on” opening line? You were worried about THAT?! I don’t believe you! YOU RECORDED LIFE IN OILS FOUR YEARS BEFORE THAT!
I’m sorry…but this is really sexy!
Celebrate:
Derek’s bass…my god! It is so, ssoooo sexy! And then just that little synth loop from Mick. I don’t know how that manages to be sexy…but it does. And Charlie’s guitar in the middle…
But again, Jim…every time he comes in with that “Act of love is a luxury”….and “the suit he wears belongs to me” – how that line is sexy, I don’t know. It’s just…a statement…a piece of info. But it’s kind of like “now…imagine that suit on me – how fucking sexy I am, and how fucking sexy that suit looks on me….are you wet yet?”
And then…the “she rag doll / keeps him warm” line. I keep saying it – I WANT TO BE THAT RAG DOLL!!! ERMAGEEEEEERD! I want to be that rag doll more than anything in this world!
But the thing that makes Celebrate just as sexy is….the escape. The running away. The celebration of life. We’re alive! Let’s celebrate. RUN! And…how Jim delivers those lines. God, I could eat him!
Silent Kiss:
It’s a yearning song, really. But I find it sexy too.
“And when we were kissing / the fear was missing / and it all felt natural…yeah / no hesitation / when those vibrations started to feel incredible…yeah / I’ve been waiting anticipating / because it all seemed magical”
I mean….how the hell is that not sexy? COME ON!!
From lust to love back to lust and then love again. Intertwined. I can’t separate it all out.
Sexy songs. Sensual songs…elements of love in them…but mostly they just give you the overriding feeling of wanting to fuck and be fucked.
Well, perhaps not so much Silent Kiss. I shouldn’t have that one in. As I say, it’s more a yearning song…for intimacy, togetherness….not necessarily lust. But I’ll keep it on the list anyway.
A couple of other contenders too…
Spotify playlist: