'I Love It When You Call Me Names': Says A Short Short Man To His Big Big Dominatrix
June 24th 2008 02:32
The lyrics to this song are pretty self-explanatory. It also has a very catchy repetitive chorus. For this reason I never really paid much attention to the the rest of the song until I heard it again a couple of years ago and nearly fell over when I realised what Joan was actually singing about. The actual video is not available on youtube so I apologise for this shonky compilation of still images. 'Twas the best I could find:
I just wanna see you at night
Don't come round my house in the day
I love it when we start up a fight
And I love it when the fight ends your way
I love it when you call me names
I love it when you call me names
I love it when you call me names
I can't wait to see you again
I know you're gonna slap my face
You beat me up then beat me again
And over and over and over and over
And over and over
I love it when you call me names
Big woman
And a short short man
And he loves it
When she beats his brains out
He's pecked to death
But he loves the pain
And he loves it
When she calls him names
She's wearing heavy leather with lace
He dresses up in cowboy taste
They punish then they think up a crime
I love it when you call me names
Big woman
And a short short man
And he loves it
When she beats his brains out
He's pecked to death
But he loves the pain
And he loves it
When she calls him names
I Love It When You Call Me Names, was released in 1983 and featured on British artist Joan Armatrading's hit album The Key, (which also featured the much more popular single Drop the Pilot). The song failed to chart in the top hundred in either Britain or America, although the album went Gold and reached #10 and #32 in those countries respectively. Despite its failure to chart, I Love It When You Call Me Names received more airplay in the Los Angeles area than any other Joan Armatrading song. I guess LA was one of the few cities willing to explore and celebrate the S&M subculture in the ultra-conservative Reagan era. Whilst much is known of today's S&M and other fetish subculture, such portrayals would have been extremely rare at the time. indeed, if anyone knows of any other songs that dared tackle this issue I would love to hear them.
In just three verses Joan expertly conveys the world of a submissive and his dominatrix. "I just want to see you at night", reflects the shadowy, secret nature of the clandestine meetings. "Short, short man", perhaps highlights the inadequacies or at least the insecurities of the man and gives an insight into why he chooses this particular form of sexual expression. The violent, yet entirely consensual relationship is explored, "He's pecked to death, but he loves the pain".
The only aspect of the song that disappoints me is the line "It's their way of loving not mine". It seems here that Joan is too eager to distance herself from the protagonists and their lifestyle, and whilst it isn't exactly judgemental, it does hit me as somewhat of a disclaimer. Kinda like "hey I'm not gay...not that there's anything wrong with that...some of my best friends...."well, you get the idea.
Still, full kudo's to Joan for daring to tackle such an issue years before it even came close to hitting anything even closely resembling the mainstream.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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but the verses are fairly unclear vocally so it gives the impression of a woman with an abusive boyfriend in the chorus . . . a bit like when britney say "hit me baby one more time" haha
Comment by RubySoho
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She swings from the first to the third person throughout the song so it can be a little confusing. But then there's the "heavy leather and lace" and "they punish then they think up a crime". Plus they only see each other at set times (at night)...
You know I've never heard what Armatrading herself says about the song, but after really listening to it, it seems pretty clear to me...still i guess i could be wrong...
Also I don't know if it has featured in any movies. triple M used to play it on high rotation years ago which is how I first came across it (yes, I did listen to triple m back in the 90s. I loved Club Veg). It was only when I was visiting a friend a couple of years ago and she put this CD on and i really listened and I was like what the? is she saying what i think she is saying?
Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by Bryn
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