Benjamin Taylor - "Wicked Way"

I happened across the video for the song "Wicked Way" by Ben Taylor last week and I was really taken aback by the lyrics. The song is basically from the perspective of a horny and mildly predatory, albeit very honest, stereotypical male figure who laments about just wanting to have no-strings-attached sex with a beautiful woman who won't pester him the hassle of commitment, emotions, or conversation. The lyrics are listed below, read on and you'll see what I mean:

I just want to take you out and get you drunk

So I can have my wicked way with you

I'm just being honest 'cause I know the other guys

Are thinking just the same way too

And I'm not gonna lie and say

That I will take you out to dance, there's just no chance

'Cause I don't even like the same music you do

I just want to have my wicked way with you

Girl, don't you fight it

Don't knock it till you tried it

Just show me some skin, I might bite it

I want to have my wicked way with you

I'm not gonna come over and meet your mom and dad

They know that I was bad

I don't want to meet your friends

Oh, just pretend I like you

I don't want to talk about what happened

On your favorite TV show

I just want to get you close enough

So I can take off all your clothes

I don't want to make you cry or break your heart

Girl, we don't have the time

I'm just thinking of three hours or more

So I can have my wicked way with you

Now, don't you fight it

'Cause I know you're gonna like it

Show me some skin, I might bite it

I want to have my wicked way with you

I was definitely surprised upon hearing this the first time, and I initially thought that Ben was writing from his own perspective, because he prefaces the video by saying that he started writing this as a way to "express his freaky sexuality," whatever that means. He does say that the resulting song ended up becoming a joke, but in any case, there are some really interesting contradictions at work here. First of all, if you were to read the lyrics without hearing the song, you would probably assume that it's a really beat-heavy, overly-produced song that you might expect to hear in a seedy club. Surprisingly enough, it's actually a very simple, acoustic guitar-driven, folksy sort of song that seems to contradict the dirty lyrics with how sweet it sounds. And I think that's the point. 

If you were to listen to the song without paying attention to the lyrics, you might assume that it's a sincere love song that would likely follow the formula in the "Love Will Steer the Stars" Bader article. (Ben Taylor is, after all, the offspring of 1970s folk-rock icons James Taylor and Carly Simon.) However, the lyrics contrast the genre by flying in the face of the all of the characteristics of an idealized love song. Instead, lyrically, the song sounds more like a frank confessional by the type of guy we discussed before and after viewing Spin the Bottle: Sex, lies, and alcohol. That is, men who use alcohol as as strategy to lower women's inhibitions and make them more sexually permissive. Whether this is Ben's critique of that idea, an attempt to say "Hey, I'll be blunt if no one else will," or just a joke remains to be seen. But I'd encourage you to listen to at least part of the song, if for no other reason than because it's weird and because it's such a stark contradiction between words and music.