The music is great. The harmony between Santana’s riffs and Branch’s light vocals… It just works.
The lyrics are trash. I cringe every time Michelle sings about his candy store. She’s a young girl who comes off even younger than she is; Santana is a legend from a much older generation—the implication is unseemly. I get the image of a little girl being lured into an older man’s windowless white van. Free candy!
I also hate “roll me, control me,” “guide me, divide me,” and worst of all, “use me for what I’m good for.”
I have no problem with lusty lyrics, that’s fine. But not in this context.
It was acceptable for the original version with Tina Turner, who’s a mature woman and a legend in her own right. She’s on equal footing with Santana. If she’s singing about candy stores, we know it’s just roleplay—the game of love.
But with Michelle’s sweet and girly voice, it sounds literal.
Hang the lyricist. Anything else would’ve been better. I wish she’d been babbling nonsense instead.
The music is great. The harmony between Santana’s riffs and Branch’s light vocals… It just works.
The lyrics are trash. I cringe every time Michelle sings about his candy store. She’s a young girl who comes off even younger than she is; Santana is a legend from a much older generation—the implication is unseemly. I get the image of a little girl being lured into an older man’s windowless white van. Free candy!
I also hate “roll me, control me,” “guide me, divide me,” and worst of all, “use me for what I’m good for.”
I have no problem with lusty lyrics, that’s fine. But not in this context.
It was acceptable for the original version with Tina Turner, who’s a mature woman and a legend in her own right. She’s on equal footing with Santana. If she’s singing about candy stores, we know it’s just roleplay—the game of love.
But with Michelle’s sweet and girly voice, it sounds literal.
Hang the lyricist. Anything else would’ve been better. I wish she’d been babbling nonsense instead.