Song Analysis File #2 -- Love In This Club as sung by Usher
Some of you may remember from my personal homepage that I had started a new feature that never really took off. That was the Song Analysis. Song File #1 was about Heart's "All I Wanna Do." What follows is file #2.
It has long bothered me that Usher's "Love In This Club" has masqueraded as a romantic song. The tempo, melody, and smooth R&B music all point to a tender, sweet song. The lyrics, however, prove otherwise.
The first words of the song are "I gotta do it for the ladies." Thanks, Usher. We always appreciate it. We know that singing this song has to be a real sacrifice for you and all the other men around.
The song starts out well, actually. Our hero (OH for short) tells his female of interest (FOI) that he intends to take her out and "do (her) right." Despite the obvious double meaning there, in context it looks like he's going to take good care of her while they're out together and follows up with a promise to keep buying her drinks all night. Of course, there is an ulterior motive for keeping her drinking, but for now, it still sounds pretty nice.
Mind you, we are unsure at this point whether they came to this club together or met there. From the "tell me what you're sippin' on" line, though, we have to assume he wasn't around when she ordered her (presumably) first drink. So I'm guessing they just met.
He then tells her that he knows she's dancing provocatively just to entice him. This is a pretty big assumption considering they just met. But all is forgiven in the next line, because apparently she's giving him the "come hither" stare across the dance floor, which moves OH to the hook, bringing him to tell us that "(He) want(s) to make love in this club." He repeats "in this club" 6 more times just to make sure we know the location he means.
In your car? No, in this club. At my apartment? No, in this club. Next door at the Irish pub? No, in THIS club. Just so we're clear.
Ah-ha! With the next verse, we become sure that they have just met in this club. (Whoa, so talk about an indecent proposal. Have sex in public? Dude, I just met you. What kind of girl do you think I am? Or how drunk do you think I am?) Anyway, the cue for this assumption is OH tells FOI that if she's with her friends, that's ok. They can hang out with his friends while OH & FOI get to know each other. Um, I hope her friends are more sober than FOI. And I hope they're watching OH's every move.
In the next bit, we find out that she's actually across the room dancing, and apparently making eyes at him from there. But no, he's on his way over. Are we sure that she's really making eyes at him, or is she really just watching him warily?
Then he says, "If we close our eyes it could be just me and you." Seriously? Have you ever been to a club? Even with your eyes closed, there's a ton of people around. It's loud, it's typically crowded with people, and other aspects make it undesirable for a tete-a-tete. Sorry, OH, but no, it couldn't. My imagination's not that good.
Maybe the music in this club is so loud, she can't hear him. That's why he has to say "in this club" six more times. Maybe he should just text her.
At this point in the song, Usher turns OH's narrative over to Young Jeezy. And he puts a nasty little spin on it that really brings this one home. So OH is what FOI wants and needs and apparently she doesn't get a choice in the matter -- "(she'll) take ev'ry dose of (OH)". The only thing his "medicine" is likely to cure is FOI's interest in going to clubs. Oh, and he'll "bag (her) like some groceries." WHAT? Is that romantic? Or even desirable?
But then he says "hit the club make a movie yeah rated R." Well, considering what we've been discussing, that's actually pretty tame. I was expecting something more NC-17. Especially if they're going to "make love" in all the places he mentions next: on the couch, on the table, on the bar, on the floor. How are they going to do all that without getting caught? Oh, wait, I forgot. "If (they) close their eyes, it could be just (him) and (her)."
The next line is just wrong. "You can meet me in the bathroom, you know I'm trained to go." Ok, the first half of that is just -- wow. Yeah, how romantic. Let's do that. Everybody knows how clean and sexy club bathrooms are. And then the second part is just laughable. I know that when I choose a man to make love with in this club, he's going to be potty trained. I mean, I have standards.
At least at the end, with the last verse, all pretense of this love making in the club being a secret falls away. OH basically professes his exhibitionist intentions to have her right on the dance floor, who cares who's watching. At least FOI finally got a little honesty. My advice to her is to walk out and get a taxi to take her home from this club, from this club, from this club!
It has long bothered me that Usher's "Love In This Club" has masqueraded as a romantic song. The tempo, melody, and smooth R&B music all point to a tender, sweet song. The lyrics, however, prove otherwise.
The first words of the song are "I gotta do it for the ladies." Thanks, Usher. We always appreciate it. We know that singing this song has to be a real sacrifice for you and all the other men around.
The song starts out well, actually. Our hero (OH for short) tells his female of interest (FOI) that he intends to take her out and "do (her) right." Despite the obvious double meaning there, in context it looks like he's going to take good care of her while they're out together and follows up with a promise to keep buying her drinks all night. Of course, there is an ulterior motive for keeping her drinking, but for now, it still sounds pretty nice.
Mind you, we are unsure at this point whether they came to this club together or met there. From the "tell me what you're sippin' on" line, though, we have to assume he wasn't around when she ordered her (presumably) first drink. So I'm guessing they just met.
He then tells her that he knows she's dancing provocatively just to entice him. This is a pretty big assumption considering they just met. But all is forgiven in the next line, because apparently she's giving him the "come hither" stare across the dance floor, which moves OH to the hook, bringing him to tell us that "(He) want(s) to make love in this club." He repeats "in this club" 6 more times just to make sure we know the location he means.
In your car? No, in this club. At my apartment? No, in this club. Next door at the Irish pub? No, in THIS club. Just so we're clear.
Ah-ha! With the next verse, we become sure that they have just met in this club. (Whoa, so talk about an indecent proposal. Have sex in public? Dude, I just met you. What kind of girl do you think I am? Or how drunk do you think I am?) Anyway, the cue for this assumption is OH tells FOI that if she's with her friends, that's ok. They can hang out with his friends while OH & FOI get to know each other. Um, I hope her friends are more sober than FOI. And I hope they're watching OH's every move.
In the next bit, we find out that she's actually across the room dancing, and apparently making eyes at him from there. But no, he's on his way over. Are we sure that she's really making eyes at him, or is she really just watching him warily?
Then he says, "If we close our eyes it could be just me and you." Seriously? Have you ever been to a club? Even with your eyes closed, there's a ton of people around. It's loud, it's typically crowded with people, and other aspects make it undesirable for a tete-a-tete. Sorry, OH, but no, it couldn't. My imagination's not that good.
Maybe the music in this club is so loud, she can't hear him. That's why he has to say "in this club" six more times. Maybe he should just text her.
At this point in the song, Usher turns OH's narrative over to Young Jeezy. And he puts a nasty little spin on it that really brings this one home. So OH is what FOI wants and needs and apparently she doesn't get a choice in the matter -- "(she'll) take ev'ry dose of (OH)". The only thing his "medicine" is likely to cure is FOI's interest in going to clubs. Oh, and he'll "bag (her) like some groceries." WHAT? Is that romantic? Or even desirable?
But then he says "hit the club make a movie yeah rated R." Well, considering what we've been discussing, that's actually pretty tame. I was expecting something more NC-17. Especially if they're going to "make love" in all the places he mentions next: on the couch, on the table, on the bar, on the floor. How are they going to do all that without getting caught? Oh, wait, I forgot. "If (they) close their eyes, it could be just (him) and (her)."
The next line is just wrong. "You can meet me in the bathroom, you know I'm trained to go." Ok, the first half of that is just -- wow. Yeah, how romantic. Let's do that. Everybody knows how clean and sexy club bathrooms are. And then the second part is just laughable. I know that when I choose a man to make love with in this club, he's going to be potty trained. I mean, I have standards.
At least at the end, with the last verse, all pretense of this love making in the club being a secret falls away. OH basically professes his exhibitionist intentions to have her right on the dance floor, who cares who's watching. At least FOI finally got a little honesty. My advice to her is to walk out and get a taxi to take her home from this club, from this club, from this club!
posted by Mary Fran | 9:26 AM
1 Comments:
Things I want never to happen to me: Be bagged like some groceries.
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