My Gen X Playlist: I Touch Myself – The Divinyls

Absent any new WordPress daily prompts, I pulled one from thecoffeemonsterzco.

If you had to sacrifice one of your senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing), which would you choose?

This is a difficult choice. I ticked down the choices in my head and my initial thought was maybe touch. Then the potential danger sunk in. How can I drive without knowing how hard to step on the gas and breaks? Hey, is my hair on fire? Did I just get smacked upside my head by swinging scaffolding? No, I need my sense of touch merely to survive. That means one of the others has got to go.

Sight and hearing are non-negotiable. How can I navigate life without them? That leaves taste and smell. While I’d hate to lose my sense of smell, I love the taste of food far too much. I’d miss the joy of eating Doritos, In-n-Out burgers, chocolate cake and fresh fruit. I can’t imagine eating as a chore rather than a guilty pleasure. Smell it is. The irony would be if my loss of smell effed up my taste buds. I’m giving this prompt way too much thought.

The Divinyls released I Touch Myself in 1991. From the title, there’s no mistake what this songs about. But the lyrics surprisingly venture away from being crude.

This is clearly about masturbation, but there’s more to it. In our interview with Billy Steinberg, he said: “What I like about the song is that in spite of the fact that the chorus kind of boldly says that, the verse was much more sort of poetic and kind of meaningful. It says,

‘I love myself, I want you to love me, when I feel down I want you above me, I search myself, I want you to find me, I forget myself, I want you to remind me.’

Those words I think are very strong and it’s not an obvious start to finish jack off song. I like playing with words, and whether it’s ‘Like a Virgin’ or ‘I Touch Myself,’ I like taking phrases or words that are sort of untapped and find a way to write something meaningful and that has a rebelliousness because really that’s what rock’s all about.”

Songfacts

The song was a little deeper than I thought.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I love myself, I want you to love me
When I feel down, I want you above me
I search myself, I want you to find me
I forget myself, I want you to remind me

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself
Ooh, I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no

You're the one who makes me come runnin'
You're the sun who makes me shine
When you're around, I'm always laughin'
I want to make you mine

I close my eyes and see you before me
Think I would die if you were to ignore me
A fool could see just how much I adore you
I'd get down on my knees, I'd do anything for you

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself
Ooh, I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no

I love myself, I want you to love me
When I feel down, I want you above me
I search myself, I want you to find me
I forget myself, I want you to remind me

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself
Ooh, I don't want anybody else
Oh no, oh no, oh no

I want you
I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ah ah ah ah oh ah

I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself
Ooh, I don't want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself

I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I honestly do

I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I touch myself
I honestly do

I touch myself
I touch myself