Pleasure Delayer

“If you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions” - George Clinton, 1970. Sorry this took so long to finish, and all the corresponding innuendo thus implied. I’ll make this a quickie:

1. Harry Belafonte, “Man Piaba”
One of the earliest “birds and the bees” songs I’ve been able to dig up. I have the feeling if we all followed Harry’s advice the human race would have died out thousands of years ago.

2. Digital Underground, “Packet Man”
A sly wink to the misogynistic sex-soaked hip-hop of the time, this is my favorite song from the album that gave us the ubiquitous “Humpty Dance” as well as the eventual Tupac Shakur. One thing to keep in mind is that Shock G and Humpty are the same person, there’s only one guy rapping to himself, a triumph of imagination, pre-planning and multi-tracking. My favorite bits come at the end (sorry, more unavoidable innuendo) as the deal gets more desperate and the dealer gets more exasperated.

3. Stereo Total, “L’amour A 3″
I don’t speak French, but I sure do speak Sexy. I’m pretty sure this is the theme song to the French version of “Three’s Company”, sage advice to Archie that rather than finally settling down with one, why not invite Betty and Veronica to share?

4. Evil Cowards, “Sex Wars”
Yeah I dunno, I found this recently and it’s silly fun, pushing its metaphors to their breaking point. For a far more clever take on the “sex as warfare” analogy, please seek out Alan Moore and Mike Matthews’ 1989 comic “Lust”, kindly reprinted in the “Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore” book.

5. De La Soul, “Jenifa Taught Me (12″ version)”
Just like the Digital Underground song, this plays with sexual innuendo in hip-hop without actually delving into the specificity of say, Kool G Rap’s “Talk Like Sex”. I’ve included the original 12″ vinyl version, which gets criminally chopped in half on the classic “3 Feet High And Rising” album.

6. Lovage, “Strangers On A Train”
A song about sex that’s actually sexy for a change! I take the T to work every day, and I can tell you this NEVER happens…

7. Coldcut, “I’m Wild About That Thing (The Lost Sex Tapes Position)”
Tries to set the record straight on all that stuff Belafonte skirted around. …Come to think of it, Belafonte would probably look great in a skirt…

Download: Harry Belafonte, “Man Piaba” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Digital Underground, “Packet Man” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Stereo Total, “L’amour A 3″ (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Evil Cowards, “Sex Wars” (AAC)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: De La Soul, “Jenifa Taught Me (12″ version)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Lovage, “Strangers On A Train” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Coldcut, “I’m Wild About That Thing (The Lost Sex Tapes Position)” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download all the songs in a handy ZIP file:

Download: “Pleasure Delayer” (ZIP)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)