STRATEGY TWENTY - FOUR
Sex as Plot Device

Clarifying the Subject

Earlier I made the point that the best-crafted lyrics result from the writer's having made good judgments based on fine discriminations: for example, between the voices of talking and thinking, between the figures of metaphor and metonym, and now I add–between the subjects of love and sex.

In the pursuit of successful songwriting, let's discriminate between love–as in the feelings of caring, concern and commitment, and sex–as in physical attraction, desire and copulation. Although in life and song they often bear an effect/cause or cause/effect relationship, the point here is to decide which subject you want to write about in a single lyric. Making that distinction at the outset will help you write a song that can become symbolic of one subject or the other. ( CLW, illustrates the pitfall inherent in seesawing between the two meanings suggested by the word love–within one lyric.) Here are some examples that stick to one subject.

Prewriting Suggestion

As you see, the attitude and tone vary–playful, artful, subtle, blunt and vulgar. Whatever your chosen attitude and tone, make them both clear and keep them consistent. Two earlier role-model lyrics–“Eight” and “Oceans of Love”–had sex on their minds. Here's another one.

Sex as Subject: Example No. 1 (Verse/Climb/Chorus)
2 HOT 2 HANDLE

You are so hot
You can start a fire
Just by walkin' down the street.
Hearts melt on the spot
Burnt up by desire
But, baby, I can take the heat.

Your animal attraction
Makes us a perfect match.
Loving you is not for the tame.
If you need satisfaction
Let's get down to action
'Cause, baby, only I can
Hold a candle to your flame.

You're 2 HOT 2 HANDLE
And that's just how I like it!
Too hot's just right, can't you see?
You're 2 HOT 2 HANDLE
You burn both ends of the candle,
And that's too hot for anyone but me.

You get your kicks
Living for each moment
No heart is safe when you're around.
But, I got a few tricks
That'll start you smokin'
And burn you right down to the ground.

Our physical reaction
Makes us a perfect match,
And now that I'm on to your game,
Who knows what might happen
In the heat of passion
Baby, maybe you'll find
You're the moth and I'm the flame!

(repeat chorus)
© 1991 Lyric by Arline Udis and Peter Drake/Music by Hec Stevens. Used with permission.

Comment

This uptempo dance number came music first. Arline Udis, with her taste for idioms and flair for wordplay, picked a title to spark a winning lyric collaboration. The team pulled off a daredevil stunt by incorporating four (!) colloquialisms built on fire metaphors and making each work appropriately with the title: I can take the heat (the pressure to satisfy); I can hold a candle (I can be compared with); you burn both ends of the candle (You overdo playing); and you're the moth and I'm the flame (you'll be drawn to me!). Wouldn't surprise me if, by the time you read this, “2 Hot” will be sizzling on the Hot 100.

The subject again is sexual activity, but here it's linked to feelings of love.

Sex as Subject: Example No. 2 (AABABA Variant)
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

Nothing starts the day
Really smiles us on our way
Like an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.

Nothing satisfies
Really opens up our eyes
Like an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.

You wrapped up in me
Warm as can be
Heading for love
Before the alarm reminds us
There's an outside world to start thinking of.

No passion in the night
No afternoon delight
Beats an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

And though ev'ry time with you
Becomes one of a kind, it's true.
There is something extra appealing
In that waking-up-and-there-you-are feeling
Of an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL
An EARLY BIRD SPECIAL with you.

Headlines never rate a look
And the phone stays off the hook
On an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.

If the mailman's at the door
Well, the mailman we ignore
On an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.

You wrapped up in me
Warm as can be
Heading for love.
Before the alarm reminds us
There's an outside world to start thinking of.

No passion in the night
No afternoon delight
Beats an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL.

And though ev'ry time with you
Becomes one of a kind, it's true.
There is something extra appealing
In that waking-up-and-there-you-are feeling
Of an EARLY BIRD SPECIAL
An EARLY BIRD SPECIAL with you.
By Sheila Davis
© 1981 Solar Systems Music. Used with permission.

Comment

This is the song that a parking lot sign begat and which virtually wrote itself–words and music–while I was walking along the street. In its initial AABA, 32-bar form, it felt short, hence the second bridge with a repeat of the final extended A. Did you catch the allusion to the song title “Afternoon Delight” on the same subject? That's another time-honored device that adds the ring of the familiar to your lyrics.

The Muzak orchestra gave the melody of “Early Bird” a lively treatment and royalty statements attest to its performances in the far-flung elevators of Germany, France and Spain. So never underestimate the value of starting with a colloquial title. And remember, titles are everywhere–if you just keep your eyes open.

WrapUp

Engaging our left brain's ability to discriminate among the right brain's often multiple emotions, got us off to a clear sexy start. Now, on to the real thing.