Evocative Songs

You know me. I do like to talk about things sexual. But I’m worried that I come across as sex obsessed. Which I’m not! It’s just I want to talk to about things that are on my mind.

In coming up with post topics, I’ve been wanting to write this post for a few days now, and was tossing up whether to put it out on this blog, or just put it up as a private blog post. It feels quite personal, but after the work I put into it, I decided to post it here.

Songs stir up so many emotions in us. They can transport me, very often, to a direct place and time. Like for example, when I hear ELO’s “Hold On Tight”, I get transported to being in Roy’s car, with his (now ex) wife Carole and Cheryl, and it playing on the radio as we were driving back from from seeing his and Cheryl’s grandparents (paternal grandparents – my siblings all share the same father, but I have a different dad). So when I’m listening to the song, I’m in a old Holden car, at dusk, travelling the Hume Highway towards Liverpool.

Other songs take me to my brother Quince’s bedroom, with his big pioneer hi-fi system – listening to songs in the dark, with maybe a red light bulb on (that is SO 70’s!), looking at all the 70’s posters on the wall, held up by a nail with those long black clips that you’d feed the top and bottom of the poster into.

Sometimes I see the room during that day. And sometimes I’m outside on my swing. Sometimes the images are older shots of me in the lounge room listening on our old crappy hi-fi, or me in my own room as an adult, with my 3 disc CD playing hi-fi on a hot day.

When I hear the INXS song “Disappear” I’m at a Christmas party in 1990 at a relatives house of my then boyfreind Roger. We’re playing pool on his relatives huge billiards table.

This post though is really about what I think of as evocative songs, to me. Songs that spark off maybe a sensual emotion. They don’t exactly spark off sexual arousal, but they spark off feelings of intimacy or sensuality. It might be just a line a singer delivers in a certain way, or the song might just conjure up thoughts of intimacy or longing. Some just have sexy or quirky lines.

Sexy Quirky ones for me that conjure up sensual images or feelings:

U2 – Do You Feel Loved? (it’s especially the lines “Take my shirt, go on take it off me, you can tear it up if you can tie me down” and “With my fingers as you want them, with my nails under your hide. With My teeth at your back and my tongue to tell you the sweetest lies”), Mysterious Ways, An Cat Dubh, Trip Through Your Wires, Babyface
Cars – Let’s Go (I just love the singers voice – very sensuous. Oh and he says the line “She’s got wonderful eyes and a risky mouth” – love that!)
Bjork – Possibly Maybe (it’s in particular the line “Since we broke up I’m using lipstick again. I suck my tongue in remembrance of you”), Enjoy
Franz Ferdinand – Well That Was Easy (the lines “So come on kill me, kill me now, kill me now ‘cos I’m leaving you now” – it’s just the way Alex delivers it, also the line “I watched you clean the filth off your phone dial, swalling the things your finger picked up. Tongue, your tongue, I watched your tongue licking on”), Darts of Pleasure (“We’ll have fantastic passion”, “You can see my lips undress your eyes”), Michael, I’m Your Villain
David Bowie – Cactus (all about a guy in jail that wants his girlfriend to send him a sweat-stained, blood-stained dress of hers to him), I’ve been Waiting For You, Wishful Beginnings, Stay, Dead Against It, She Shook Me Cold, Star
Eurythmics – It’s Alright, Cool Blue
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power of Love (could be in both lists really)
George Michael – Faith, Father Figure (could be in both), Flawless (Go To The City) (“‘Cos you’re beautiful, like no other“)
Grace Jones – Pull Up To The Bumper, My Jamaican Guy, Warm Leatherette (best line is “A tear of petrol is in your eye, the handbrake penetrates your thigh. A tear of petrol is in your eye, quick, let’s make love before we die”)
Hoodoo Gurus – Like Wow – Wipeout
Icehouse – We Can Get Together, Can’t Help Myslef, Love In Motion
Kylie Minogue – Love At First Sight, Slow, Chocolate, Two Hearts
Madonna – Candy Perfume Girl, Burning Up, Hanky Panky, Erotica, Deeper and Deeper
Mondo Rock – Come Said The Boy (just reminds me of teenage “first time” experiences)
Split Enz – One Step Ahead, I Got You
The Killers – Andy You’re A Star, On Top

Emotive Sensual ones – sparking feelings of love and sensuality or strong emotions of loss, regret, sadness:

KD Lang – Wash Me Clean and Save Me
Bjork – Hyperballad, Unravel, Come To Me, One Day, and Joga
Crowded House – When You Come, Fall At Your Feet, Better Be Home Soon
David Bowie – I Would Be Your Slave, Wild Is The Wind,
Eurythmics – The Miracle of Love
Foreigner – Waiting For A Girl Like You
George Michael – Amazing, Another Corner
Grace Jones – La Vie En Rose
The Honeydrippers – The Sea of Love
Hunters and Collectors – Throw Your Arms Around Me
Kylie Minogue – Come Into My World, I Believe In You
Madonna – To Have And Not To Hold, Skin, True Blue, Jimmy Jimmy, Causing A Commotion, Oh Father, Rain, You’ll See, What It Feels Like For A Girl
Mondo Rock – State Of The Heart
Paul Young – Wherever I Lay My Hat, Every Time You Go Away
Roxy Music – More Than This
Snow Patrol – Run, Chasing Cars
Split Enz – I Hope I Never
The Smiths – There’s A Light That Never Goes Out
U2 – So Cruel, Love Is Blindness, Into The Heart, Gone, Stay (Far Away, So Close)

There are probably others, but I conpiled this mostly with what I have listed in my Zen. All of these songs evoke something strong within me anyway. This post has been a labour of love and has taken me approximately 3 hours to compile!

I’m done xx