Goldfrapp – Lovely Head
“Why can’t this be killing you? Frankenstein would want your mind your lovely head.”
Allison Goldfrapp might be oh-so lulling with her ethereal electro-noir audioscapes but don’t be fooled. This “love song” could just as easily come from the lips of a scalpel-wielding maniac.
Peaches – Operate
“He is perfect for me to practice surgery. One look coagulates it’s time to operate.”
Add this to the aforementioned “scalpel-wielding maniac” category of love song that seems to be growing alarmingly large.
Neutral Milk Hotel – Oh Comely
“Place your body here. Let your skin begin to blend itself with mine.”
The inclusion of everyone’s favourite bizarro-psych-rock indie band in this list shouldn’t surprise anyone, as their odd obsession with body parts in their love songs has been well documented. I chose this track for its candid, instructional approach to flesh-stealing.
Björk – My Spine
“I adore backs of necks, beautifully shaven…”
Looks like some Icelandic vampires have found a way to survive the 24-hour daylight that comes with the summer months. You can’t help but be a little impressed. (The Icelandic word for garlic is “hvítlaukur.” This information may one day save your life, or at least your plasma.)
Tokyo Jihen – Genjitsu wo Warau
“I would like to be composed of you… I would like to be merged into you.”
Shiina Ringo, the “Japanese Björk,” often ventures into songs with English lyrics. Here, she shows her full grasp of the Western lyrical idiom by singing a jazz ballad using the Frankenstein-fetish imagery seemingly beloved by our American songwriters.
The Rolling Stones – Give Me Your Hand – (And I’ll Hold It Tight)
“I don’t pretend that I don’t need you so come on, come on and give me your hand. I need you bad, it makes you glad, so give me your hand, I’ll hold it tight.”
I like to think this song is being sung to a monkey, and its mummified paw is currently the only thing keeping Mick and Keith alive.
Erykah Badu – Green Eyes
“My eyes are green ‘cause I eat a lot of vegetables it don’t have nothing to do with your new friend.”
For your new (Irish, formerly-sighted) friend, I’d like to think that she isn’t actually talking about stealing someone’s eyes—her heartfelt delivery says no, but her double-negative says yes. Who gave Erykah the ice-cream scoop?
Herbert – The Audience
“You are my fingers, I am your hand, I am your three-man one-man band. You are my breath, I am your tongue…”
Herbert knows that if you give a little, you get a little. Even if it turns you and your loved one into stitched-together monsters. How romantic!
Kate Bush – Eat The Music
“Let’s split him open like a pomegranate insides out, all is revealed. Not only women bleed.”
This song would be more appropriately titled if you replaced “the music” with “your entrails.” Though I’m not sure intestines have the same antioxidant properties as pomegranates, I suppose it’s best not to take nutritional advice afrom someone who dresses up as a lion and has more than one song in which she imitates bird and donkey sounds.
PJ Harvey – Legs
“Did it hurt when you bled? …You were going to be my life, damn it! …No other way, cut off your legs… how will you ever walk again?”
zehen Polly says something, she means it. This song is actually about cutting off her lover’s legs so he won’t leave her. Who needs metaphor when you’ve got a chainsaw?
