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Touch Me, I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs You've Ever Heard Paperback – May 1, 2008
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In a follow-up to I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard, L.A. writer and TV producer Reynolds (thanks owed for Elimidate) assesses the queasy subgenre of pop songs in which love turns to obsession, ranging from The Police's "Every Breath You Take," to Fergie's "Fergilicious" to Michael Jackson's "Ben." In 52 admittedly subjective profiles, he talks breezily about the history of the song and performer before a guided tour through the song and an analysis of why, exactly, it's such a creepout. His sarcastic one-liners are hit or miss (MySpace jokes?), but his analysis is often thoughtful and vivid; "Every Breath" is "a ballad of utter loneliness. The lyrics ingeniously mimic the elliptical thoughts that fly around an obsessive's brain in mad loops." He's in no way above trashing a song he doesn't like or dishing dirt on those he does, but his brief, loud profiles can be unfulfilling. Other tracks include George Michael's "Father Figure," Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All," Alanis Morssette's "You Oughta Know," Divynly's "I Touch Myself," and more contemporary chart-toppers like Clay Aiken's "Invisible." Like his last book, this should start many debates among pop music die-hards.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Thoughtful and vivid. . . . This should start many debates among pop music die-hards." —Publishers Weekly Online Annex
"Here is incontrovertible proof that pop stars are all healthy, well-adjusted individuals. I laughed and self-harmed in equal measure." —Seb Hunter, author, Hell Bent for Leather and Rock Me Amadeus
"Reynold's casual, comedic prose suits the subject well, conjuring up more than a few laugh-out-loud moments." —Under the Radar
"A cunning, devastating autopsy . . . I found myself strangely attracted." —Danny Hutton, Three Dog Night
"Author Tom Reynolds gives his spin on repugnant songs that you probably have hummed without even thinking about it." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Exuberant and light-hearted—a great way to discover new music" —PopMatters
"Just plain fun." —Flagpole Magazine
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By
James N Simpson
on May 24, 2008
Format: Paperback
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With the huge success of Reynold's first dissection of modern music's bad lyrics I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE: THE 52 MOST DEPRESSING SONGS YOU'VE EVER HEARD there was bound to be an encore and this fascinating read doesn't disappoint. In Touch Me, I'm Sick Reynolds tackles those songs about love, but not the mutually consenting romantic love, no these songs are about obsessive stalking, sleeping with kids, sleeping with parents, pleasuring yourself, jilted lovers, bad break ups as well as basically anything else that you'd be serving serious jail time or even get the chair if the lyrics were real.
The amazing thing is many of these songs are highly popular and requested to be played and set the mood at inappropriate places like wedding receptions and graduations. Which means those who request these songs for these occasions are either sick in the head or have never actually listened to the lyrics and do not know what they are actually about.
Most of these songs spent time in the top ten of the UK or US charts (Reynolds tells you at the start of the dissection of each song) and there's also a few you may not have heard of. Even with the ones you've never heard of Reynolds gives a detailed account of what the song is about then tells the reader why it is creepy. For those of us who were not around in the 70's or earlier when some of these songs were hits you'll also learn interesting facts such as I never knew Michael Jackson's Ben was being sung to an injured human flesh eating rat.Read more ›
The amazing thing is many of these songs are highly popular and requested to be played and set the mood at inappropriate places like wedding receptions and graduations. Which means those who request these songs for these occasions are either sick in the head or have never actually listened to the lyrics and do not know what they are actually about.
Most of these songs spent time in the top ten of the UK or US charts (Reynolds tells you at the start of the dissection of each song) and there's also a few you may not have heard of. Even with the ones you've never heard of Reynolds gives a detailed account of what the song is about then tells the reader why it is creepy. For those of us who were not around in the 70's or earlier when some of these songs were hits you'll also learn interesting facts such as I never knew Michael Jackson's Ben was being sung to an injured human flesh eating rat.Read more ›
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
Amazon Customer
on April 21, 2009
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Once again, Tom Reynolds sharpens up his sarcastic scalpels and treats 52 of the weirdest, creepiest, most disturbing, and just plain twisted "love songs" to a well-deserved, gleefully snarky dissection that, if you have *any* sense of humor at all, will leave you in stitches at least once while reading this. These are the songs that make you lunge for the tuning knob to change the station in the car, that make you cringe when you hear them over the in-store Muzak system, and make you weep for the future of humanity knowing that these twisted, icky, annoying, and (occasionally) *evil* songs are, at this very moment, accompanying some oblivious "happy" couple's engagement or wedding reception.
Personally, I didn't think it was *quite* as good as Mr. Reynolds first effort, "I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard", but I suspect that's at least partly due to his choice of songs; as a previous reviewer indicates, the list of songs skewered here includes a number of more recent (as of the book's publication date) hits that older audiences -- i.e. the kind of people who actually still read books :D -- aren't likely to be as familiar with. While you don't necessarily *need* to be familiar with the song in question to enjoy the caustic commentary, any more than you *have* to have heard the original to enjoy a Weird Al parody, it just doesn't quite have the same satisfactory bite as when Reynolds eviscerates a well-loathed classic like "You're Having My Baby"...
Still, well worth the read. Just be careful about loaning these books to your friends -- you might never get them back!
Personally, I didn't think it was *quite* as good as Mr. Reynolds first effort, "I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard", but I suspect that's at least partly due to his choice of songs; as a previous reviewer indicates, the list of songs skewered here includes a number of more recent (as of the book's publication date) hits that older audiences -- i.e. the kind of people who actually still read books :D -- aren't likely to be as familiar with. While you don't necessarily *need* to be familiar with the song in question to enjoy the caustic commentary, any more than you *have* to have heard the original to enjoy a Weird Al parody, it just doesn't quite have the same satisfactory bite as when Reynolds eviscerates a well-loathed classic like "You're Having My Baby"...
Still, well worth the read. Just be careful about loaning these books to your friends -- you might never get them back!
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By
Elisabeth Altruda
on July 31, 2014
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Ah, Reynolds has done it again with "Touch Me, I'm Sick..." and the creepiest love songs ever. Well, they're TOM'S creepy love songs, and I agree with most of his selections. However, and I'm showing my age here, I admittedly do not know of nor have heard some of the metal/acid and all the creative/"rock genre he sites. Not to worry, my older son, at 41 and still evidencing the "Peter Pan Syndrome," and following "Iron Maiden" around the globe - not kidding here - try Norway, Iceland, Sweden etc. - will probably explain it all to his anachronistic mother. But, yes, YES, we boomers always knew that Spector's "To Know Him is to Love Him" was exceptionally creepy given its creator. But "To Know" that song is to truly recognize it as an incredible make out song - my first one - and grind song (you should know what I mean...). It could never be played at those parish club dances sponsored by Catholic churches on Friday nights in Brooklyn...for the obvious reasons. So we all sang "Be My Baby" at the top of our lungs and stomped our feet at THAT part. We must offer some smidgen of homage to Phil for the "Wall of Sound" if nothing else. Yes, he's creepy and crazy and murderous, but credit and attention must be paid to his contributions to the recording world. A few words of caution here: I'd suggest not reading this book while drinking any beverage as the old saying goes, "I laughed so hard, milk (or substitute appropriate adult beverage here), came squirting out of my nose!" Thanks again, Tom. I breezed through this book in a few hours. It offered me some solace in this screwed up, bizzaro world, CREEPY - yes, that's it - we inhabit.
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