Don’t Need No Bible

George Michael “I Want Your Sex (Part One)”

If you’re in your late 30s or early 40s, you almost certainly heard this song on the radio or MTV as a kid around your parents and felt super awkward about it, even if you didn’t really know what sex was. I remember it being an “after hours” thing on pop radio at some point in the late ‘80s, but then, if I was listening to “after hours” pop radio when I was, like, 8 years old and it was probably around 9:00 at night, then what exactly was the point?

“I Want Your Sex” is one of the most musically and lyrically radical major pop hits of the 1980s; a sex-positive funk tune that shifts seamlessly between minimalism and maximalism, and effortlessly conveys a supremely horny vibe on a purely musical level. George Michael was running with ideas that Prince had introduced circa 1999 and refined with “Kiss,” which was a hit a little bit before this track was recorded, but his feeling is very different – confident and unabashedly sexual, but considerably more frustrated. The entire song is George Michael laying out a very persuasive and respectful case for why you should have sex with him. He’s basically saying “Hey, I’m so HORNY I’m gonna BURST but no pressure, OK, sex is a beautiful thing and I respect you and need your consent and want you to have a great time.” The miracle of this song is that it’s kind and generous and loving, but also makes you feel the urgency of George Michael’s raging boner. The sweet-talking is totally sincere, but so is this guy’s powerful urge to fuck, and so you get this song that’s seductive, sweet, and comical all at the same time.

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