Music about sex

What are your favorite songs about sex?  I want to create a play list that will stimulate thought and hopefully conversation about sexual issues.  I want to have this play list to use as an introduction into my conversations with parents and teenagers alike, so the more eclectic and widely-appealing the better.

Here’s what I am looking for:

  • good music
  • a wide range of genre (the wider the better, actually)
  • a wide range of perspective (I don’t have to agree with the message to want to include the song in this list)

Here’s what I am NOT looking for:

  • one of the billions of songs about loooooooove

Add your favorite to the comments or you can e-mail me if you’d rather stay anonymous on the blog.  Then you can check off your “Good Deed of the Day” box for today!

About Karen Rayne

Dr. Karen Rayne has been supporting parents and families since 2007 when she received her PhD in Educational Psychology. A specialist in child wellbeing, Dr. Rayne has spent much of her career supporting parents, teachers, and other adults who care for children and teenagers.

26 Comments

  1. I’ll start with one: Digable Planet’s “La Femme Fatal.” It’s about abortion rights.

    Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoehR7Q4Hy8
    Read the lyrics here: http://digableplanets.org/wiki/words:la_femme_fatal

  2. I’d Love to Lay You Down, Conway Twitty

    When I was a teen, this song was a hit. My parents are extremely private, rather prudish … but my father loved this song and said it just summed up everything for him. He quoted the line about “in your faded cotton gown.”

    There’s so many ways your sweet love’s
    Made this house into a home
    You’ve got a way of doing
    Little things that turn me on
    Like standing in the kitchen
    In your faded cotton gown
    With your hair all up in curlers
    I still love to lay you down

    It was my first real glimpse of my parents as sexual beings. And it gave me the novel idea that “sexy” wasn’t necessarily the same definition as given in hot rock songs.

    My parents have been married 56 years … and my dad still loves this song.

  3. How sweet and sexy! A hard combo to find these days! Thanks for the addition. You can watch Conway Twitty sing I’d Love to Lay You Down here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNwT5jXcGD0

  4. afternoon delight by starland vocal band- oldie but goodie, Prince has several, sexyback- justin timberlake, 4 minutes – by madonna, baby got back – sr mix a lot, can i sleep in your arms – willie nelson no sure if this one qualifies, Can’t get enough of you babe- barry white. fever by peggy lee, give it to me baby and super freak- rick james, I’m so into you – atlanta rhythm section, I’ve got my eyeson you- brian jonestown massacre, The lady is a trap- sinatra, My humps black eyed peas, soembody’s baby jackson browne, whatever lola wants- sarah vaughn, tarantula – the scabs

    that should give you a few!

  5. “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye. By far the best.

    But I was quite scandalized at age ten by “Tonight I’m Yours” by Rod Stewart.

  6. More Popular:
    Behind Closed Doors by Charlie Rich
    Justify My Love by Madonna
    Darling Nikki by Prince
    Closer by Nine Inch Nails
    Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan

    Lesser Known:
    Portions for Foxes by Rilo Kiley
    Dirty Dream Number 2 by Belle & Sebastian

    I’ll try to think of more. I had a “make out” mix on my iTunes at one time that had some really good stuff on it. But lost it when my hard drive went bad.

  7. Thanks, Anna! For the rest of you, here are links to listen or watch the songs she suggested:

    Afternoon Delight – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaHYvkjH_QY&feature=related

    Sexyback – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAT5ypTjKOI

    4 minutes – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfUjfioAnKY

    Baby Got Back – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41APzy5kqBU
    (This one is really great for sex ed classes, and I almost always use it! Rife with conversation topics – and the teenagers almost always know the song but have not considered the implications of what they’re hearing.)

    Can I Sleep In Your Arms Tonight – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLiBPxMknO0
    (Not sure if this one counts either, Anna.)

    Can’t Get Enough of You Babe – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXvHRnGe940

    Fever – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGb5IweiYG8
    (FABULOUS!)

    Give It To Me Baby – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFmQAQ9EDeM
    (This music video is quite a trip too.)

    Super Freak – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75qXUfp4wtw

    So Into You – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpPdLb69-qk

    I’ve Got My Eyes On You – I couldn’t find this one easily, but here’s Fred Astaire singing (another song by the same name?) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucCw7q5rmaE

    The Lady Is A Trap – Couldn’t find this one either! Anyone else?

    My Humps – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKxs8Ge_9g
    (BIG WINCE!!)

    Somebody’s Baby – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWJ3Crrg9oI

    Whatever Lola Wants – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJe296C1sdE
    (Sing it, Sarah!)

    Tarantula – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLSGnGPB2Dw
    (Okay, so I was going to find a better quality version, but this was done live in Austin, so how could I turn it down?)

    Thanks again, Anna!

  8. I can’t believe no one has mentioned Let’s Talk About Sex by Salt n’ Peppa – Let’s talk about sex, baby, let’s talk about you and me, let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be, let’s talk abouuuuut sex. Let’s talk about sex. Rest of the lyrics here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/saltnpepa/letstalkaboutsex.html

    Also, there are some dreadfully raunchy, hard-to-listen, explicit to rap songs. Which might be important to hear because probably some of the kids are hearing them. I don’t know them off the top of my head, except that when I heard them played, I caught my breath. Any kid into hip hop or rap will know. Some are on the radio, many are not.

  9. Nasty Girl – by Vanity 6

    Burning Up – Madonna

    That’s the way love goes – Janet Jackson

    Rapture – Blondie

    One Way or Another – Blondie

    Touch Me – The Doors

    Down Home Girl – Old Crow Medicine Show

    Good Girls Don’t – The Knack

    Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood

    You Make Loving Fun – Fleetwood Mac

    Roxanne – The Police

    Somebody’s Baby – Jackson Browne

  10. These are my favorites. Enjoy.

    Lords of Acid – Rough Sex
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnf5CXvVBSE

    50 Cent – Candy Shop
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDFEoCOhRZQ

    Missy Elliott – One Minute Man
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjjEdJbek9I

    Lords of Acid – Pussy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFNY0fLwS4o

    Tweet – Oops Oh My
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uox-Hz18ISs

    Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs

    Ludacris – What’s Your Fantasy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0rqUWRpQPg

    David Allen Coe – Nigger Fucker
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPzH1yvcFxw

    Shaggy – It Wasn’t Me
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4PGt9oOto

    Stone Temple Pilots – Sex Type Thing
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s3lmr09oVg

    Lil’ Kim – How Many Licks?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoPgdRgQFjc

    Lords of Acid – Scrood Bi U
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIWt6NWX1ko

    Everlast – What It’s Like (roughly sex related, mentions teen abortion)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9f9Eybv4I

  11. George Michael: “I Want Your Sex”
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=8x9rtEHtubI

    Sex is natural – sex is good

    Lyrics: http://lyricwiki.org/George_Michael:I_Want_Your_Sex

  12. The three that immediately came to mind are:

    Kate Perry – I Kissed a Girl
    (Link provided by Epic above)

    Keo Nozari – Question of Monogamy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISCaChVeNJ0
    (May be more about adult relationships/love than you want)

    Jonathan Coulton – First of May
    http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/First%20of%20May

    I think Anna’s suggestion of “The Lady is a trap” was probably “The Lady is a Tramp” by Frank Sinatra
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFBSvelq_Co

  13. Two about masturbation: “I Touch Myself” by the Divynyls
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFEfmbAeEDY

    “She Bop” by Cyndi Lauper
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzpxRd44PpE

    This was explicit enough to be banned from radio in many cities when I was a teen. Of course, that was four decades ago…
    “Cherry Hill Park” by Billy Joe Royal
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEzut5kGg4k

  14. Thank-you Lizard Eater for the Conway Twitty song, I love that.
    And I agree with Lynn – Good Girls Don’t by the Knack.

    and I’d add:

    Ton Loc – Wild Thing. Silly, but happy and positive.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=387ZDGSKVSg

    Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen (in part because of the film Exotica)

    Madonna – Express Yourself
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMt53HYkfY8

    Meridith Brooks – I’m a Bitch
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhfiiGGy7Ls&feature=related

    Divinlys – I Touch Myself
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=6FGk63Fv7t4&feature=related

    and finally

    Adam Ant – Strip
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=_152hzt9Clc&feature=related

    “were just following ancient history,
    if I strip for you, will you strip for me?”

  15. Okay, a couple more

    The Doors – Love Me Two Times (or Light My Fire)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G8DCFJ4vr4

    Velvet Underground – Venus in Furs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzaifhSw2c

    Frank Zappa – Why Does it Hurt When I Pee? (Starts about 1/2 way through the video) – one of the most popular songs about STD’s ever.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lVlpV0tP8Q

    Why does it hurt when I pee?
    Why does it hurt when I pee?
    I don’t want no doctor
    To stick no needle in me
    Why does it hurt when I pee?
    I got it from the toilet seat
    I got it from the toilet seat
    It jumped right up
    ‘N’ grabbed my meat
    Got it from the toilet seat
    My balls feel like a pair of maracas
    My balls feel like a pair of maracas
    Oh God I probably got the Gon-o-ka-ka-khackus!
    My balls feel like a pair of maracas
    Ai-ee-ai-ee-ahhhh!
    Why does it
    Why does it
    Why does it
    Why does it hurt…
    when…
    I Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

  16. Ohmigod, Robert! I almost put Adam Ant’s “Strip” as well! You’ve just gone up even higher in my book! 🙂

  17. Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man

  18. “Work With Me, Annie” (Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, 1954; lyrics and sound track: http://tinyurl.com/5upant) followed by “Annie Had a Baby” (lyrics and sound track: http://tinyurl.com/5usw2p) and others (e.g., “Annie’s Aunt Fanny”) were banned by many radio stations but still climbed the r&b charts.

    Also, Bob Seger’s “Night Moves”, “Horizontal Bop”, and “The Fire Down Below” and Leonard Cohen’s “Take this Longing”

  19. just like heaven by the cure wins points for subtlety [and general awesomeness] –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORc5Td_T6og

    also get down make love, originally by queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1r5bCRJk1U), covered by nine inch nails (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNB3Y-YVijA&feature=related). a little less depressing than “closer” if you were going to go the NIN route.

  20. Paradise by the Dashboard light– Meatloaf

  21. Paralyzer – Finger Eleven
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGCT4AQIR0
    I’ll Make Love to You – Boyz II Men
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqU2WXKcUb0

  22. […] problem is that we are so very use to seeing sexy pictures, seeing movies and television about sex, listening to music about sex, and basically having sexiness inculcate every single aspect our lives except the one where we […]

  23. “Slip It in” Black Flag
    “Darling Nikki” Prince
    anything by Peaches “Fuck the Pain Away”
    “When We Make Love” Berlin
    “Sex Dwarf” Soft Cell
    “Bob’s Yer Uncle” Happy Mondays
    “Whats Inside a Girl?” The Cramps
    “She’s Crafty” Beastie Boys
    “Push It” Salt n Pepa (one of the first chick sex pop songs I had ever really heard.)
    “Head” Prince
    “Bolero”
    many many Led Zeppelin songs (as a teenager I just viewed Robert Plant as a sex god. even though I grew up in the early 80’s Led Zep just oozed slightly overwhelming manly sex)
    “Lemon Song” “Whole Lotta Love” etc…
    “Feel Like Making Love” Bad Company ( I remember sitting in the backseat of the car with my boyfriend when I was 14, my dad driving us to the movies and this song came on and my boyfriend looked over at me poignantly and I blushed from head to toe and sat there feeling totally embarassed listenong to every lyric, thinking my dad knew what was going through my mind!”

    Im sure there are a million more that I am forgetting! These are just explicity ABOUT sex, not good songs to have sex to…

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