YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 41 (Sexual Union)
Preface: One of the celebratory traditions of the Beltane (May Day in modern culture) festival is the dance around the maypole. This activity may seem innocent enough, but it is in fact a symbolic ritual honoring the rite of sexual union, upon which the continued survival of human life depends. The maypole itself is clearly a phallic symbol, and the red and white ribbons represent blood and semen, i.e., the consecration of the virgin. This week we too shall celebrate the glory that is the sacred union of the male and female, with a handful of songs about - you guessed it - sex!
Monday (4/28/08): The Yardbirds - Little Games [Little Games, 1967]
Comments: From the late Jimmy Page era of the band comes this catchy single which captures the essence of puberty perfectly. "Little games are for little boys, I found out there are other joys; my temperature's rising, but that's not surprising when you do what you do to me."
Tuesday (4/29/08): Muddy Waters - The Same Thing [Electric Mud, 1968]
Comments: Muddy Waters unravels the mystery behind basic sexual attraction, and doesn't shy away from recognizing the animal nature of it. "Why do men go crazy over a woman who wears her dress so tight? It's the same old thing that makes a tomcat fight all night." This version is from the failed experiment, Electric Mud, which backed blues legend Muddy Waters with a psychedelic band - the flavor of the period. From a blues perspective, there's not much to like, but if you're a fan of guitar-driven psychedelic music, as I am, it's quite the forbidden treat!
Wednesday (4/30/08): Procol Harum - Luskus Delph [Broken Barricades, 1971]
Comments: Is there anything more passionately romantic than describing sex in abstract poetic language? Abstract language aside, I think it's pretty clear, upon close inspection, just what this song is about. "Peach preserve your simmering jewel; Hid away like orphans' gruel; Help me find the widow's crack; Make me stick like sealing wax." Really, now?
Thursday (5/01/08): Country Joe & The Fish - Porpoise Mouth [Electric Music For The Mind And Body, 1967]
Comments: From the mind( and body?)-expanding Electric Music For The Mind And Body album, Country Joe & The Fish provide us with what seems like a perfect verse for Beltane. "I hunger for your porpoise mouth, and stand erect for love. The sun burns up the winter sky, and all the earth is love." I mean, that's really what it's all about, after all.
Friday (5/02/08): The Who - Squeeze Box [The Who By Numbers, 1975]
Comments: This is a classic by The Who, and I probably don't need to tell you about it. It's just a light-hearted double entendre. Is he singing about an accordion? Or is it something far more explicit? "She goes in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out."
Saturday (5/03/08): Great White - Mista Bone [...Twice Shy, 1989]
Comments: Sure, it's the eighties (late eighties, no less), but Great White were a pretty groovy band with more ties to the seventies sound, anyway. Besides, they started out as a serious Led Zeppelin tribute band. "When she's in the mood, when she needs that lovin' groove, when she wants it rude, she grooves with Mista Bone." Just take it like a sweet injection. ;-)
Sunday (5/04/08): Ted Nugent - Wang Dang Sweet Poontang [Cat Scratch Fever, 1977]
Comments: And, we'll leave this theme with some Ted Nugent. Not the most poetic or romantic approach, but at the heart of it, sex is a wild animal act, after all.