Randy Newman: You Can Leave Your Hat On
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Apparently, there's a rich subset of headgear to be mined in this week's theme. But Randy Newman's classic isn't just about hats. Quite the opposite, in fact: it's about everything one could wear coming off sultry and slow, followed by a series of puppetmaster striptease chessmoves from a narrator obsessed with an unidentified, objectified stripper of some sort. I don't usually go for full-bore lyrics, but these read so perfectly like the mind of a dirty old man they just have to be shared:
Baby, take off your coat...(real slow)
Baby, take off your shoes...(here, I'll take your shoes)
Baby, take off your dress
Yes, yes, yes
You can leave your hat on...
Go on over there and turn on the light...no, all the lights
Now come back here and stand on this chair...that's right
Raise your arms up in to the air...shake 'em
You give me a reason to live
You give me a reason to live...
Suspicious minds are talking
Trying to tear us apart
They say that my love is wrong
They don't know what love is...
I know what love is
As a bonus, here's some great covers, from the slightly gawky adolescent fumbling of Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule to Marc Broussard's sexiest, funkiest Randy Newman cover ever. And, then, of course, there's Tom Jones, being Tom Jones. Not my bag, but apparently old ladies still throw their panties at him.
Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule: You Can Leave Your Hat On
[five free albums of covers]
Marc Broussard: You Can Leave Your Hat On
[purchase]
Tom Jones: You Can Leave Your Hat On
[purchase]