I didn’t realize that I needed something like this to exist until it actually was created. I can’t get enough of it. The body language. The beauty of their harmonizing. Men harmonizing – one of my favorite things – and it doesn’t happen all that much today! The ridiculous humor at the heart of it. Roaring. Jack Black, in general. This song needed to be made fun of like this. I have needed this for two decades now.
Once upon a time, when this song first came out, I was grooving to it because I thought it was so pretty. La la la what a pretty song, I thought.
Then I listened to the lyrics. And thought: “What. The. HELL.”
Suddenly the song felt incredibly sinister. It was packaging this skeevy message in a pretty melody and I was outraged! I was younger then and indulged in outrage more.
The song came on the radio once when I was hanging out with the guy I was seeing at the time. (“Seeing” being a loose term, but whatever, it was the best relationship I’ve ever had. It worked. For YEARS. We were both tough nuts to crack. Nobody else could deal with us.) This was Window-Boy for you old-timers, so named because he used to crawl through my bedroom window at 3 o’clock in the morning. He was tough and hilarious and perpetually cranky.
So anyway, the song came on, and I turned to him and said, “Have you listened to these fucking lyrics?”
He was hunched over on the couch, eyes glued to some kung fu movie or something. Well, I’m assuming. We used to watch kung fu movies together. He didn’t turn his eyes away from the television. He took a drag from his cigarette, didn’t look at me, and said flatly, “Yeah.”
“Am I hearing them right?”
Still not looking at me, no expression: “Shut your mouth and fuck me.”
“EXACTLY.”
I have had the EXACT same thoughts about this song!!! And also the thought that they’re using an awful lot of words to SAY “shut up and fuck me.” I’m just saying. Brevity can work both ways here.
A friend of mine loved this song, which I discovered when we were in the car together and it came on the radio. She thought of it as a sweet, romantic song, and then I said, “You realize that he’s saying ‘If you would just put out, we wouldn’t have to deal with all this love crap,’ don’t you?” And she was quiet for a second, and then she said, “Damn it, you just ruined this song for me.” It’s probably wrong that I’m as proud of that as I am.
Natalie –
// And also the thought that they’re using an awful lot of words to SAY “shut up and fuck me.” //
HA. YES!!! Like you don’t have to write me a dissertation about why it would be better for me to give you a blow-job than tell you I love you. Seriously, I get it. Stop being so passive-aggressive and speechy about it!
// And she was quiet for a second, and then she said, “Damn it, you just ruined this song for me.” It’s probably wrong that I’m as proud of that as I am. //
hahahaha
I listen to some pretty rough songs by some pretty rough individuals. I don’t mind that. I don’t mind Blurred Lines. But this just feels skeevy and pressure-y in a way, say, an Eminem rage-boy song doesn’t.
So I’m just so happy to see it lampooned so gorgeously!
LOL. Oh this is great.
I have to admit I like this song while simultaneously hating the lyrics. There are A LOT of skeevy songs like this.
Also, I seem to recall this song being played at like EVERY SINGLE DANCE we had when I was in grades 7 and 8. And we had dances (in the afternoon that we were forced to attend), like, every other month.
May –
// And we had dances (in the afternoon that we were forced to attend), like, every other month.//
That sounds like an absolute nightmare.
I think what bugs me about this song is that it feels so passive-aggressive. And I myself was “fooled” by it – thinking, “Oh, he loves her so much, yay” – and then I listened more closely and felt like I had been roofied or something. hahahaha
Jack Black at around the 1:35 mark.
Dying.
Jack Black–*sigh
He seems to create funny moments just by existing, just by his hyper-intense reactions to things! I loved this so much I sent it to my son–and then started worrying that maybe the song message wasn’t the best thing for him to hear. Oh well. Secretly skeevy messages are out there all over the place, he’s going to have to figure out how to decipher this stuff eventually, anyway. Right?
I mean, this is pretty mild compares to what else is out there!!
If I’m not mistaken – this is an exact re-creation of the original music video – which somehow make it even funnier.
Yes!! Shot for shot re-creation. So funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIiLvg58SY
That is so perfect! On the downside, I now have had the song stuck in my head for the last couple of days. My kid right now is far more impressed by the 1940’s soundtrack to “Fallout New Vegas” than this, even with Jack Black. That suits me just fine, if he learns the words to “Big Iron” or “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire”. :-)
Fuck it. The skeevy song is too damn pretty.
Maybe this will work as a palate cleanse:
“You don’t love me any more”
Ha!!
Ah, now, that’s much better–and oddly appropriate–