Denotation

I think the best love songs are the irrational ones, for obvious reasons.

It's why Barry Manilow or Celine Dion will never move me all that much, because they're so smooth and polished and flawless. But honestly, who acts that way when they're in love? "Oh baby, I want to take you to a castle filled with champagne and pillows made of kittens and you'll be in my heart forever, darling," all with a calmly smug look on their face, like they know exactly the right thing to say.

Who the hell could be that pompous and self-assured if they were really in love? (Self-love, maybe). That's why I realized Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" is one of the best seduction songs ever written, because it's so wild and off-kilter. The feeling is so enormous and genuine the words become secondary. It's like he's sweating and testifying the things you'd really feel.

"I kick the habit,
Shed my skin...
This is the new stuff,
I come dancing in"

What the hell does that mean? Who cares? Is he really singing "I will chauffeur you" or "show for you"? Doesn't matter. Or think of Brian Eno. He'll wait patiently for his longed-for one, and when they arrive, he'll come running... to tie your shoe. Tie your shoe? Yes. It works. Carla Thomas-- she's so overwhelmed when he walks by, all she can say is: Gee Whiz. Or who can forget that primal voodoo incantation: A whomp bomp a loo bomp, a whomp bam boom.

Anyway, maybe it's a testament to my instability or irrationality or immaturity. But when it comes to love songs, not making sense makes more sense than making sense does.