Music Mondays: "You Shook Me" by Muddy Waters

"Oh, you kept on shaking me darling--you messed up my happy home." -- Muddy Waters

This is the version of You Shook Me that you need to hear--forget about Led Zeppelin. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Zeppelin cannot match the passion and sincerity of these older versions.

We're back to erotic insanity here. I love how halfway through the song, the narrator--who has until then simply been expressing how passionately he feels about a woman--starts to lament that he doesn't know what will happen to his poor wife and child. The lover has occupied his mind so thoroughly that he can barely think about his responsibilities.

Muddy Waters gets bonus points for his sexy, sexy voice, and other vocalizations that, um, affect me. I especially like the tone he uses to say, "I'm madly in love with you." I've wanted to play that clip for lovers before just because I can't match that tone myself.

Music Mondays: "Shameless" by Ani DiFranco

"I guess I'd shut my mouth and rethink a minute--but I can't shut it now because there's something in it." -- Ani DiFranco

Could there be a better song for that first flash of lesbian attraction than Ani DiFranco's driving Shameless? This song takes me back to high school and the first fumbling explorations that were marked as much by fear as by excitement--and by the excitement of fear and transgression.

One night, a girl put her head in my lap and I stroked her hair for hours, wanting her but not quite sure what to do about it. She mentioned this song to me right before she left, and I went immediately to the record store to buy the album so I could decode her meaning (ah, the times before the Internet!). I'll never forget the thrill I got when I realized what she had to have meant by it.

I was clumsy about everything back then--emotions as much as bodies. I'm afraid I didn't really know how to love when I was a teenager, but who does? My fear kept me from being with this girl more than furtively, but I remember her fondly, and I always will.

Music Mondays: "Love Me Like a Man" by Bonnie Raitt

"Oh, they want me to rock them like my back ain't got no bone. I want a man to rock me like my... backbone was his own." -- Bonnie Raitt

The first time I heard Bonnie Raitt sing Love Me Like a Man, something serious woke up in me and it hasn't gone to sleep since. One thing I love about writing and reading erotica is participating in conversations about sexuality that include a strong female viewpoint. There are a lot of songs out there about sex, but few that express female desire the way this one does. The line I quoted above gives me a shiver every time, and I still think it's a great description of the difference between a mediocre lover and a good one.

Music Mondays: "The Only One" by The Black Keys

"All I do is, baby, dream of you." -- The Black Keys

The Black Keys' The Only One is a simple song of longing. There's nothing much to analyze here. I love the way The Black Keys are able to capture a very classic, authentic blues vibe. The guitar is sexy, and the sentiment satisfies. Enjoy!

Music Mondays: "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga

"I don't want to be friends." -- Lady Gaga

Choosing a Lady Gaga song, I wanted to consider both video and music, since I find her visuals almost as important as her musical performances. Given that measure, Bad Romance immediately stands out for its vivid red costumes, Gaga's attitude, and that sexy man in the strange gold mask.

My favorite thing about this song is the line I quoted above. It's a common breakup tactic to claim that you want to be friends, but sometimes that's just wrong. Sometimes, if I can't have that person's body, I don't want anything at all. Maybe it's a bad romance, but it's often the truth.

Music Mondays: "Stronger" by Kanye West

"I don't know if you got a man or not, if you've made plans or not, if God put me in your plans or not. I'm trippin'--this drink got me saying a lot." -- Kanye West

I like the energy of Kanye West's Stronger. It drives hard while staying smooth. What's hot about this one to me is that the narrator's outburst about wanting this woman has been a long time coming. ("You know how long I've been on ya? Since Prince was on Apollonia, since OJ had isotoners--don't act like I never told you.")

More than a decade of desire explodes here. The narrator's decided tonight's the night, and he's coming for her, at the height of his power. The song builds, and the narrator convinces me that tension has building, and his talent has building. He's coming into his own, and that includes claiming the object of his desire.

One More Time

I've got another story up at Every Night Erotica:

Grace drifted her hands under Neil’s clothes, finding smooth and yielding skin, sensitive spots that she knew, old scars she had to touch. “I need you.” She hoped he wouldn’t hear, but he did.

Above her, Neil paused, his face softening and wrinkling, looking older. He kissed her again, his tongue rejecting her this time even as it slipped between her lips. “You know we can’t,” he said. “It never works with us.”

But she knew this protest. She knew him. Grace shifted beneath him so he could feel her sex hot around his thigh. “I know,” she said, but her hands kept moving, her fingertips under his jeans toying with the waistband of his boxers. “You don’t have to stay,” she said. “We should forget about this.”

He glared at her and laughed, propping himself up on one arm so he could rub his face with the other. “You don’t mean that at all.”

Read the rest here.