The Song, "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd

A thought occurred to me earlier. Remember the 1991 song "I Wanna Sex You Up"? It was a big hit. I remember at the time thinking that it was a nonsense phrase presumably invented to avoid censorship of the obvious sexual connotations. The song has been in mind since the story emerged of the "sexed-up" Iraq dossier, which disturbingly is already ten years ago. That's the only other time I've heard the word-coupling, and can't help wondering whether "upsex" is a verb.

Anyway, in the case of the dossier, it makes sense - it just sounds right, somehow - certainly more right than the song title which should simply read either "I wanna make you horny" or "I wanna have sex with you". The dossier was said to be sexed up because the intelligence in it was augmented in order to make the proposition of an Iraqi invasion more attractive and convincing.

Let's apply this back to the 1991 song. It turns out, what sounds like a crude song about someone who's horny is nothing of the sort! But unfortunately the mercy is a small one: If the dossier is anything to go by, the song turns out to be about wanting to make someone more attractive and convincing. This inevitably suggests that the recipient of the ballad is unattractive and not to be taken seriously.

So much for love being in the air.