Behind the Songs: I Wanna Sleep With You

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "I Wanna Sleep With You."

Richard Butler: "I don't think its sexist to see a girl and think 'Wow, I want to sleep you. I don't want to stay with you forever', which is all the song 'I Wanna Sleep With You' says. To say it's sexist is ridiculous: that's sexist itself because you're putting women on a pedestal, you're saying women never feel like that. It's so naive to think that." (New Musical Express 1981)

Richard Butler: "I think [Talk Talk Talk] was looking at [romance] objectively. It's not romantic. I mean it's got songs like 'I Wanna Sleep With You' which is talking about sex and not wanting any type of relationship, but just wanting sex. On the other hand, it's got a song like 'She Is Mine' which is very romantic, if you like, and it's objective." (Overview 1981)

Richard Butler: "'I Wanna Sleep With You' is quite obviously about sex." (Trouser Press 1981)

Richard Butler: "There's a song about lust, 'I Wanna Sleep With You.'" (Unknown source, 1981)

Richard Butler: "I believe the songs [on Talk Talk Talk] to be about love, but they're not love songs; they're different points of view – they're not all my point of view. It's like when you write a book, you're not every person in the book; it's done from different points of view. It's like in 'I Wanna Sleep With You', it's quite sad, but that's the nice thing about love, isn't it? It makes you feel sad and at the same time it makes you feel great." (Unknown source, 1981)

Richard Butler (on this song and "Into You Like A Train"): "Those are lust songs. Actually, 'Into You Like A Train' is a lot less lewd than it sounds." (Star Hits 1984)

Richard Butler: "I remember when I came up with the title 'Into You Like A Train,' they said, 'You can't do that, you can't write that song! People will consider it sexist.'" Exactly the same thing happened with 'I Wanna Sleep With You.' That kind of got my back up, and I thought, 'Well, why the heck not?'" (Musician 1987)

Richard Butler: "[Talk Talk Talk] is anti-relationship and anti-the idea of love and very pro-sex-for-sex's-sake, with 'I Wanna Sleep With You' being the prime example." (Billboard 1997)

Richard Butler: "I always loved the anti-love-song spirit of 'I Wanna Sleep With You.' That, and the kind of Rockabilly drum feel that really prodded the song along. This was recorded for the Talk Talk Talk record at R.A.K. Studios in North London with Steve Lillywhite. It really blossomed in the studio from what I remember as a very minimal idea." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Tim Butler: "Some of the songs that are in the Talk Talk Talk set [for the 30th anniversary tour], we haven't played since the album came out. It's quite refreshing. It's been more than thirty years since we've done songs like 'I Wanna Sleep With You' and 'So Run Down.'" (Musoscribe 2011)

Photo: Peter Noble