Song Stories: “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”

I wanted to work on something relevant to my dissertation, but somehow I’ve gotten sidetracked by Revolting Cocks. So let’s just go where the monkey mind wants us to go and start a new series: song stories! Many classic songs have some interesting cross-sections. Today’s is a simple one.

We all know the Rod Stewart song “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” yes?

That’s the one. (Incidentally, did you know Rod Stewart is Sir Rod Stewart? If dancing in spandex pants is a public service, then I await my letter from the Queen.)

If you’re around my age, you probably hear a Scottish accent and bagpipes when you think of the song.

If you know much about Rod Stewart (I don’t), you might think the song was out of character for him. It’s been called “one of the most divisive songs of his career.” But don’t let his feathered hair fool you. He wasn’t into disco. He and his band wrote the song after Saturday Night Fever came out, as both a parody of disco culture and a way of competing with it.

It turned out to be a sound strategy, because the single topped charts all around the world and went platinum in the US. Rolling Stone named it number 308 in its top 500 songs. Of his other UK #1s (five of them: “Maggie May,” “You Wear It Well,” “Sailing,” “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” and “Baby Jane”) only “Maggie May” made it into the top 500.

The song’s signature melody—the thing we all love about it— was actually stolen from a great Bobby Womack song, “If You Want My Love (Put Something Down On It).” [1]

Stewart maintains it’s fine to straight up lift a melody as long as you’re not copying the whole song, or it’s not the song’s main tune. I’m actually inclined to agree (borrowing is a practice as old as time), but I might argue whether the tune was so secondary in Womack’s song…

He did get sued for plagiarism, but surprisingly, not by Womack. He was sued by Brazilian musician Ben Jorge, who’s the real composer of the song’s hook.

Way to go, Sir Roderick. You didn’t create either of the best things about your song.

Nevertheless, it has an enduring place in our hearts. Cover versions keep bringing it back, decade after decade. (Vive le disco! [2]) First, there’s my personal favorite (of ones that lack bagpipes), the 1993 industrial update by Revolting Cocks:

I’d say it’s a parody, but everything RevCo did was kinda weird and creepy, so.

N-Trance did a Eurodance remix in 1997 that was included in the A Night at the Roxbury soundtrack. [3]

And most recently, a Jonas brother worked with Stewart for a contemporary electropop update.

And that’s the thrilling history of “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy.” I wonder what we have to look forward to next decade. (More bagpipes? A girl can dream.)

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1. If you don’t want Womack’s love, he’s got a song for that, too. He’s also ready for these conditions: You think you’re lonely now; You can’t give her love; Loving you is wrong. Always be prepared, I guess.
2. What is dead can never die?
3. Know Your EDM: Eurodance=house or Hi-NRG music with rapping. (If you were alive in the ’80s, or bought women’s razors in the ’00s, you know what Hi-NRG is. And if Pete Burns gets to know your name, he could trace your private number. But presumably only if you think he’s sexy.)