This song is being played frequently on the radio; I just noticed the lyrics today and it is making me feel sick.

[HopeForTheBest]

It is a nice, catchy tune, played quite a lot on all major radio stations here in Germany (don't know if it's a hit or even released the UK).

is a clip of the guy singing it live.


And here are the lyrics:

You And Me (In My Pocket) by Milow

I wish you smelled a little funny
Not just funny really bad
We could roam the streets forever
Just like cats but we'd never stray
I sometimes wish you were a mermaid
I could raise you in the tub at home
We could take a swim together
On weekly day trips to the bay

Oh you and me
It would be only you and me
Oh you and me
It would be only you and me

I wish you were a little bigger
Not just big but really fat
Doors you would no longer fit through
In my bed you would have to stay
I often wish that you had feathers
I'd keep you in a giant cage
All day long I'd sit and watch you
I'd sing for you and that would be okay

People say there are plenty of fish
In the sea, baby, all I do is wish

I wish you were a little slower
Not just slow but paralyzed
Then I could plug you into a socket
So you could never run away
I really wish that you were smaller
Not just small but really really short
So I could put you in my pocket
And carry you around all day

--------


I keep hoping that it is somehow ironic or something other than utterly sick, twisted and unacceptable in every possible way.
I am and :(

[psychoveggie]

Hmm. Not making excuses but I'm guessing English as a second language might be part of the reason that it comes across less cutesy and more creepy and disturbing.

Personally I think that it's safe not to take it too literally and I wouldn't be getting too upset about it.

[mercibucket]

yes that is an appalling abuse of the English language

[Deliainthemaking]

I hope translations are dodgy lol

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

eurgh.

I don't see how second language issues would make a difference - after all, it's the ideas used that are creepy, not the language used to express the ideas.

it's a very weird combination of cutesy childlike fantasy and evil scary possessive. It is possible it is some kind of parody of stalkery songs I suppose, but I would need to see evidence. And it would need to be full-on parody, not just a spot of have-your-cake-and-eat-it 'irony'.

[pointydog]

Might have been written in ahumorous way.

[Deliainthemaking]

I tried to google reviews but no expl.

[FannyFifer]

Wasn't David Hasselhof a big pop star in Germany, say no more!

[HopeForTheBest]

The singer is Belgian, and yes, is writing in a language which is not his mother tongue.

However, this is the case with a huge percentage of European music. Much of it is written in English, and yes, it's often bad.
It is not, however, downright stalkerish, creepy, scary stuff.

The song just came on TV, used on an ad for Telekom.

I'm sorry, but if it had contained lots of swearing, it would have been banned or at least beeped out, and certainly not used in an ad. But apparently, if you're talking about maiming women, that's fine

Ugh, it makes me feel ill just thinking about it.

[AyeRobot]

Why are people trying to explain it away? Is it really that important to not recognise dodgy lyrics for what they are?

[HopeForTheBest]

I actually don't care whether it's supposed to be ironic or clever or anything.

Because if you have to search the internet in order to find out if the extremely sick and disturbing lyrics of a pop song actually mean something else entirely, then it doesn't count because 99.9% of people listening to the song are never going to make that effort.
This is not some obscure, alternative hiphop/rock/gangsta rap stuff (not that that would make it in any way ok) - this is mainstream pop music FFS.

I also cannot believe that Deutsche Telekom are using this song in their ads.
I'm going to write to them and point out what the lyrics actually mean.

OMG I'm becoming an activist.

[AyeRobot]

Yay!

Make sure you let us know what they say.

[SpringchickenGoldBrass]

But there are bucketloads of songs about wanting to posess people entirely, lock them away, hide away, hurt them for not loving you back etc etc etc.
Why pick on this particular one, crapy though it it?

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

presumably because it's being played a lot on the radio.... there are probably lots of similar folk songs, music hall songs, arias from operas etc but they don't get played much these days!

[HopeForTheBest]

Well yes, there are lots of dreadful songs, with dreadful lyrics, around.
I believe there's been at least a couple of threads about it on here, in fact.

But what has bothered me most I suppose is that it is being played everywhere and is even used in an ad for Deutsche Telekom. It's not only on the radio, it's on tv too.

And the usual sorts of songs that contain lyrics so sick and offensive do tend to be in a different music category altogether - as I said in the OP, not that that makes it better, but it does mean it is not quite as in-your-face as pop music.

I've written to DT. I included a translation of the lyrics that I found on the internet.
I pointed out the inappropriateness of using such a song in their ads, and also said that it seemed to be ok to play it everywhere, no doubt because it was about abusing a woman. Were it to be eg about abusing a child in this way, it'd be off the air pretty quick (and I'd put money on DT not using it in an ad, no matter how chirpy the tune was).

I am also going to contact SWR3, which is the main big radio station down here, and see what they say about playing it.

I'm not at all someone who goes looking for things to be offended by, but this just seems to have crossed a line for me (personally) and I feel I need to at least try to do something about it.

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

well done Hopeforthebest, good luck & let us know how you get on.

[HopeForTheBest]

I've had a reply!

A proper one, from a real person.
Not surprisingly, they don't see the song in quite the same way as I do.

I will translate it and post later.

[CatPower]

Urgh, horrible lyrics. Did anyone else have the misfortune to hear this one by The Saturdays. I've bolded the truly nasty bits...

I miss missing you
I miss missing you

Where's the pain when you walk out the door
It doesn't hurt like it used to before
Where's the love that we couldn't ignore
It doesn't kick like a pill anymore
Where's the thrill at the end of our fights
Where's the heat when we turn off the lights

I just miss all the miss that we made
When we still had the passion to hate

I miss missing you, sometimes
I miss hurting you 'til you cry
I miss watching you as you try
Try not to end up in tears
Begging to get back together
I just want you to be
To be stuck in a second forever
So don't freak out and believe.

Sometimes I'm just missing
Missing You
I miss missing you

There?s a dark cloud pulling me in
That?s the girl I was breathing in sin
There?s a blind force letting it win
And it?s longing to tear us apart
I get high when you?re making me weak
Let me down ?til I crawl on my knees
I just miss all the mess that we made
When we still have the passion to hate

I miss missing you sometimes
I miss hurting you ?til you cry
I miss watching you as you try
Try not to end up in tear?s
Begging to get back together
I just want you to be
To be stuck in this second forever
So don?t freak out if I leave

Sometimes I?m just missing, missing you
I miss missing you

Miss missing, miss missing, miss missing
I wanna crush in your arms at the other side of the world
Miss missing, miss missing, miss missing
I wanna die for you ?cause love is only true if it hurts

I miss missing you sometimes
I miss hurting you ?til you cry
I miss watching you as you try
Try not to end up in tear?s (ooh)
Begging to get back together (together)
I just want you to be (want you to be, yeah)
To be stuck in this second forever
So don?t freak out if I leave

Sometimes I?m just missing (I?m missing)
Missing you (no, missing you)
I miss missing you

...I mean seriously, how is any of this positive for the kids that listen to this tripe? Horrible, horrible song.

[CatPower]

Argh, and for some reason the bolding didn't work. Rubbish.

[belgo]

Please don't compare Milow to the Saturdays.

He is a very good singer. No one really cares about the lyrics in belgium, but he knows perfectly well the meaning of what he writes, even if no-one else does.

[belgo]

I like Milow's version of , dodgy video though.

[belgo]

I've just been listening to Milow's explanation of the lyrics and he says it is a love song, and instead of showering his lover with compliments, he has turned it around. He says he wishes his lover wasn't so perfect, because then there is less chance that she will leave him. He describes it as his most upbeat song that he has written.

So it is essentially as slightly weird love song.

here is the link, in flemish.

[HopeForTheBest]

Yes, he certainly has turned it around.

If someone I was dating told me they wished I was paralysed so I couldn't get away from him, I suspect that my reaction would be less "oooh, he must really, really love me, what a lovely and alternative way of expressing his feelings" and more WTF? whilst reaching for the police stalker/psycho hotline.

It is not ok.

I think we have become too complacent about stuff like this. And I say this as someone who does not describe themselves as a feminist.

[melpomene]

Upbeat? How is wishing that your lover was paralysed upbeat? Upbeat would be thinking of ways that you yourself could be better/perfect, to be worthy of your perfect lover.