Ergo, the Ogre

This week at Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has has asked us to use temperature prompts when choosing a song. So, I’ve chosen Wicked Game by Chris Isaak. I have always loved this hauntingly sensual song.

SongFacts

• “Wicked Game” is a tale of obsessive love. Chris Isaak spoke to us about the late-night event which inspired the song: “This one I wrote really late at night and it was written in a short time, because I remember that a girl had called me and said, ‘I want to come over and talk to you,’ and ‘talk’ was a euphemism. And she said, ‘I want to come over and talk to you until you’re no longer able to stand up.’ And I said, ‘Okay, you’re coming over.’ And as soon as I hung up I thought, ‘Oh, my God. I know she’s gonna be trouble. She’s always been trouble. She’s a wildcat. And here I am, I’m going to get killed, but I’m doing this.’ And I wrote ‘Wicked Game’: ‘world’s on fire and no one can save me but you.’ It’s like you start thinking about it, and by the time she came over to the house, I had the song written. And I think she was probably upset because I was more excited by the song. (Laughing) I was like, ‘Yes, you’re gorgeous, baby. But listen to this song!’”
• Isaak told us “Wicked Game” came to him effortlessly: “I think that sometimes you get easy ones that come very quick and you’re really glad – you go, ‘Wow, where’d this come from?’ It’s so fast to write. And then there’s other songs that you do and it’s like doing your homework. It’s like you really are working and biting the pencil and working on that third verse. Most of the time you do work. But sometimes you get lucky.”
• The song got a big boost when an instrumental version was featured in the 1990 movie Wild At Heart, which was directed by David Lynch and starred Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage.
• Lee Chesnut, who was music director of an Atlanta radio station and a huge fan of David Lynch films, helped popularize this song when he added it to his playlist after watching Wild At Heart. The song gradually gained an audience and charted in the US 18 months after Isaak’s album Heart Shaped World was released.
• The fashion photographer Herb Ritts directed the track’s racy video. It features model Helena Christensen seducing Isaak on a beach. In 1991, it won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video, Best Cinematography, and Best Video From a Film. It regularly features on “Sexiest Music Videos Ever” lists.
• The song ends with a bitter “Nobody loves no one” which is really just a meaningless statement brought about by his misery in an attempt to write off the world (according to someone on Quora).

Lyrics

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It’s strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you

No, I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
With you
With you (this world is only gonna break your heart)

What a wicked game you play, to make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you

And I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
With you

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It’s strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I’d love somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you

No, I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I don’t wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)
With you (this world is only gonna break your heart)
With you (this world is only gonna break your heart)

No, I (this world is only gonna break your heart)
(This world is only gonna break your heart)

Nobody loves no one