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Song Stories

“I Wanna Sex You Up”

Color Me Badd | 1991

Color Me Badd weren't shy about their spiritual beliefs. (One of the group's members would later become a minister.) That made it a bit surprising when this doo-wop/hip-hop quartet sang this horny song that oozed, "Just lay back and enjoy the ride." Yet while CMB didn't want to garner a raunchy reputation, they also didn't want to pass up a good opportunity. "It's important to understand that song was written for New Jack City," said singer Sam Watters. "You're not going to go and write a goody, goody song for a movie that's about drugs and all that."

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Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

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