Did you know that some of your favorite tunes are secret sex songs? I mean, yeah, some of them are obvious, but others like to hide the metaphor behind something ridiculous.
Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” is a pretty good example. The idea of food as a metaphor for sex. But that’s also not super unusual, and that song has plenty of other innuendos that’re not so casual. If we’re talking ridiculous food analogies for sex, there’s one that takes the cake.
“Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE
Starting with a more recent example, it doesn’t get much more ridiculous than the idea of eating “cake by the ocean.” The track was originally released in 2015 by pop band DNCE, a musical side-project of Joe Jonas.
The beach-day-outing concept of the song is a clever guise for it being all about “doin’ it.” There’s the obvious double entendre of the chorus, which talks about eating “cake by the ocean.” Cake, as we all know, is a modern slang term for booty, so this is a pretty blatant metaphor.
Then there are lines like: “See you lickin’ frostin’ from your own hands / Want another taste, I’m beggin’, ‘Yes, ma’am.” This is also a not-so-subtle nod to some sexual activities.
“Greased Lightnin’” from ‘Grease’
We were all just little kids, too young and clueless to realize this was a secret sex song and they were NOT just singing about cars.
Once it hits you, though, it makes perfect sense. “You know that I ain’t bragging, she’s a real p***y wagon,” John Travolta sang as our adolescent ears simply never processed what they were hearing. Or how about: “You are supreme, the chicks’ll cream for grease lightning.”
“Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel
The thing that’s secretly sexually ridiculous about Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” is that it makes no sense at all until you listen to it with the understanding that it’s about trying to get laid.
Just look at some of these lines:
- “You could have a steam train / If you just lay down your tracks.”
- “You could have a big dipper / Going up and down, all around the bends.”
- “Show me ’round your fruit cage / ‘Cause I will be your honey bee.”
- “I wanna be your sledgehammer / Why don’t you call my name?”
Peter’s lyrics are writing big checks that another part of his body has to cash.
“Pearl Necklace” by ZZ Top
If you don’t know what the slang term “pearl necklace” refers to, you should stop reading right now and go ask your most unfiltered friend. Because I’m not going to tell you, and you definitely should not Google it. At least, not in public or on a work computer.
The chorus goes: “She was really bombed / And I was really blown away / And when I asked her what she wanted / And this is what she had to say / A pearl necklace / She want a pearl necklace.”
Suffice it to say, this song isn’t about jewelry. In fact, at the end, Billy Gibbons sings: “And that’s not jewelry she’s talking ’bout / It really don’t cost that much.”
The post 4 Times a Song Was Basically About Sex—but Hid Behind Something Ridiculous appeared first on VICE.
