This is the face of a pleading man.I love R&B. I love it like mellow and groovin'. I love it like it says "summer" and "beach music" and "slow evenings." So I was trolling the internet for some new summer songs when I found these two, back-to-back. They speak in the sort of men-and-women conversation that I find hilarious. The first is John Legend's "Number One," in which he sings,
"Ooh, I promise not to do it again; I promise not to do it! You can't say I don't love you, just because I cheat on you, 'cuz you can't see all I do to keep you from knowing the things I do; like erase my phone, and keep it out of town...Well I should have known one day you'd find out, but you can't go and leave me now. Now who is she? What's her name? You need to know about everything. We fight about this; we fight about that-- you hang up the phone and call me right back. Well I'll never be something I'm not, so please don't throw away what we got. You're making it hard for me; you're messing up everything. I promise I won't cheat, I promise I won't lie. I promise I'll act right. You can't tell me I can't have you; I can't have that. I said it the last time, but this is the last time. Don't make me over, 'cuz I can be faithful. Baby, you're my number one."
And then, in response (and going back a few years,) we have the funky female response from Honey Cone's "Want Ad":
"Wanted, young man single and free. Experience in love preferred, but will accept a young trainee. Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through. At home I find myself, lost and all alone; he stays out all night, says he's with the boys, but lipstick on his collar, perfume on it too, tells me he's been lying, and when I need him most, he's never by my side. He's either playing cards, or drinking at the bar; he thinks that I'm a fool, I'm going to the evening news-- gonna put it in the want ads, tell you what I'm gonna do: Extra extra, read all about it-- Wanted, young man single and free."
Now that's sass. I love the sort of dialogue that these two songs create-- a man saying that though he can't change, it really doesn't mean much, and the female response of, "Oh, HELL NO." As smooth as he is, and as sympathetic as I want to be toward him and agree with his argument and laugh at the lengths and logic that men will try to go to, John Legend is no match for Honey Comb's sense of personal vindication. I think in this Men vs Women battle, the double-X chromosomes may have won.
Now go out and get funky with your bad self.
XOXO
"Ooh, I promise not to do it again; I promise not to do it! You can't say I don't love you, just because I cheat on you, 'cuz you can't see all I do to keep you from knowing the things I do; like erase my phone, and keep it out of town...Well I should have known one day you'd find out, but you can't go and leave me now. Now who is she? What's her name? You need to know about everything. We fight about this; we fight about that-- you hang up the phone and call me right back. Well I'll never be something I'm not, so please don't throw away what we got. You're making it hard for me; you're messing up everything. I promise I won't cheat, I promise I won't lie. I promise I'll act right. You can't tell me I can't have you; I can't have that. I said it the last time, but this is the last time. Don't make me over, 'cuz I can be faithful. Baby, you're my number one."
And then, in response (and going back a few years,) we have the funky female response from Honey Cone's "Want Ad":
"Wanted, young man single and free. Experience in love preferred, but will accept a young trainee. Gonna put it in the want ads, my man and I are through. At home I find myself, lost and all alone; he stays out all night, says he's with the boys, but lipstick on his collar, perfume on it too, tells me he's been lying, and when I need him most, he's never by my side. He's either playing cards, or drinking at the bar; he thinks that I'm a fool, I'm going to the evening news-- gonna put it in the want ads, tell you what I'm gonna do: Extra extra, read all about it-- Wanted, young man single and free."
Now that's sass. I love the sort of dialogue that these two songs create-- a man saying that though he can't change, it really doesn't mean much, and the female response of, "Oh, HELL NO." As smooth as he is, and as sympathetic as I want to be toward him and agree with his argument and laugh at the lengths and logic that men will try to go to, John Legend is no match for Honey Comb's sense of personal vindication. I think in this Men vs Women battle, the double-X chromosomes may have won.
Now go out and get funky with your bad self.
XOXO
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