For some reason, I wanted to discuss, briefly, the lyrics of this song by Jermaine Stewart, which I vaguely remember from my childhood on the car radio as I was being shuffled around from baseball or karate practice or some such place, never making it home in time to view the A-Team. As an adult, I have come to appreciate the lyrics more.

As a test of your imagination, I would like you to try and visualize the woman Jermaine is speaking to; imagine her face, eyes, her clothing (or lack thereof), her demeanor. Regardless, Shakespeare it isn’t, but it does get across the idea. More in later posts about certain singers’ and genres’ inability to sing about anything other than sex, even if Jermaine is singing about it in the negative.
As a corollary discussion, consider, judging by the picture above, the level of attraction that Jermaine has to this woman.

For your pleasure, I present the lyrics to the aforementioned song.

Not a word, from your lips
You just took for granted that I want to skinny dip.
A quick hit, that’s your game.
But I’m not a piece of meat, still you like my brain.
Night is young, so are we.
Let’s get to know each other better, slow & easily.
Take my hand, let’s hit the floor.
Shake our bodies to the music.
Maybe then you’ll score.

Chorus:
So come on baby, won’t you show some class
Why you want to move so fast.
We don’t have to take our clothes off
To have a good time
Oh no
We could dance & party all night
And drink some cherry wine
Uh huh
We don’t have to take our clothes off
To have a good time
Oh no
We could dance & party all night (all night)
And drink some cherry wine

Uh huhNa na na na na na na…………

Just slow down if you want me
A man wants to be approached cool & romantically
I’ve got needs
Just like you
If the conversation’s good
Vibrations through & through
So come on baby, won’t you show some class
Why you want to move so fast

We don’t have to take our clothes off
To have a good time
Oh no
We could dance & party all night (all night)
And drink some cherry wine
Uh huhNa na na na na na………

Ahh! what esoteric angst! What sublimity! What is there to say but na na na na?

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

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