Lost a bet tonight

[cnoocy]

I bet jadelennox that "More Than Words" is the skeeziest song ever to be #1 on the Billboard charts. If you like, please guess which song made me hand over the money, no questions asked, without even having a working definition of "skeezy".

ETA: figured out by prog!

Comments

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

There are far too many options! I'll go with R. Kelly's classic "Bump 'n' Grind".

[cnoocy]

Significantly older. And way skeezier.

[tablesaw]

I'd have to have that definition of skeezy. As far as I can tell, you set your own bar pretty low.

[cnoocy]

We were just starting to debate it when the song jumped out at JL. As temvald said, "whatever definition you might use for skeezy, that song is it." And it in no way sets the bar low.

[tablesaw]

I meant that "More Than Words" set the bar too low. "Brown Sugar" definitely doesn't.

[alexandrajecaz.livejournal.com]

Commitment is more than words, much more than just saying you will. Commitment is doing whatever it takes to make it happen.

[libskrat]

The Police, "Every Breath You Take."

Skeezy to the max.

[cnoocy]

"Every Breath You Take" is stalkerish but the song I'm thinking of is entirely beyond the pale. You have the right nationality, though.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

Police, Roxanne.

[cnoocy]

Right nationality, right decade, much more skeezy.

[thedan.livejournal.com]

Something by the Rolling Stones? (I know they have creepy songs, but I can't think of any of them right now.)

[cnoocy]

Yes. (prog just figured it out, but you could probably get it with a quick scan of their songs.)

[prog.livejournal.com]

Bah, "Girl You'll be a Woman Soon" only got up to #10, sez WP.

[prog.livejournal.com]

"Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood? Though I feel it's kind of too straightforward to be skeezy. Whatever skeezy means.

[cnoocy]

It is. Think more than a decade earlier.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I know what it is! I know!!!

It is "Brown Sugar".

[cnoocy]

Ding!

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of this song before (or at least, if I've heard it, I never paid attention to the lyrics). YEEUUUGGGHHH! I need a shower.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I have run into a several instances lately of people not grokking the imagery of the first verse until it's pointed out to them by someone else. Which always mystifies me, because Jagger's voice is quite clear and the lyrics are rather free of metaphor (beyond the title one).

My take is that the song meant to be a white dude's paean to women of color, but what an unfortunate starting place, especially from an American POV.

[thedan.livejournal.com]

Haven't looked at the comments yet, but has Afternoon Delight ever been #1?

[cnoocy]

It has, but it's not the one.

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

I was going to go with "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)," in which Rod Stewart convinces "[his] virgin child" to "spread [her] wings and let [him] come inside," because that is my personal definition of skeezy. But I don't know if it was ever #1.

[temvald.livejournal.com]

I was in the process of looking up if "Tonight's the Night" made #1 (it did) and then was going to offer it up as a possibility when jadelennox ended all discussion.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

How can you tell what made it to #1? 'cause "Under My Thumb" does kind of rival "Brown Sugar" (and has the bonus that it's what the Stones were performing at Altamont when the Hell's Angels killed the girl).