Yesterday was Adrian's birthday. At a loss for something witty to say on his Facebook wall to commemorate the occasion, I instead searched youtube for "Happy Birthday, Adrian" and one of the first things that came up was a sister and brother team performing "More Than Words" for their other brother's 16th birthday. Although it also one of my favorite songs to harmonize to, it cracked me up; I think it's safe to say that the kids are oblivious to it being a sex song.
"More Than Words" is a former #1 song by the hair band Extreme, whose members are clearly trying to show their sensitive sides. But make no mistake - their sensitive sides are their penises. And don't fall for the song's gentle, acoustic nature. "More Than Words" is not tender like Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You," but predatory. The narrator is essentially saying, "Saying that you love me means nothing. You have to show me by getting physical." So put up or shut up. Or rather put up AND shut up. Let's consult the lyrics:
Saying "I love you"
is not the words I want to hear from you.
It's not that I want you not to say,
but if you only knew
how easy it would be to show me how you feel.
More than words is all you have to do to make it real,
then you wouldn't have to say that you love me,
'cause I'd already know...
Now I've tried to talk to you and make you understand.
All you have to do is close your eyes
and just reach out your hands and touch me.
Hold me close, don't ever let me go.
Hello, date rape. But people mistake it for something romantic. I've heard it as a wedding song, I've heard it dedicated on the radio to a loved one, and I've seen it listed as one of the 90s top ten love anthems. Is the creepy subtext lost on everyone? Because I'm pretty sure if the song were called "Sleep with Me or You Don't Love Me" it wouldn't be quite so popular.
2 comments:
I love this one. I never connected the lyrics and I'm usually really good at that. It's that Damn falceto in the middle of the song that throws off the date rape overtons.
A friend already pointed this out to me, and now I can't "unhear" the implied emotional blackmail.
Heck, the beginning of the song says I don't want to hear you say you love me. "Hold me close" is traditional censor-proof lyrical code for making love (along with "hold me tight", etc.) as it's clear it's not referring to a hug. Unless it's the "special" hug that mommies and daddies share! Reading the comments on a lyrics site most people are convinced that the song is about romantic or chaste love and get quite heated in their denials of any subtext.
Note: the singer never says I love you back. The message clearly is: "yeah, but what have you done for me lately?"
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