Song Of The Day 7/6/2013: Momus - "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With"

"Everyone I Have Ever Slept With," from Momus' 1998 album The Little Red Songbook, was inspired by an artwork by controversial British artist Tracey Emin titled Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995. It was a large nylon camping tent with the names of everyone Emin had ever slept with affixed to the sides inside. Not just people she had sex with -- including her mid-'80s boyfriend, cult rock artist Billy Childish -- but everyone she had literally slept next to, or held hands with in bed, or snuggled alongside, or whatever. That opened up the list to friends, grandmothers and two numbered, unnamed fetuses. The grand total was 102. It caused some controversy in England, but it became one of Emin's "seminal works," as people call it. The artwork was destroyed in an accidental fire in 2004.

Momus' answer "tribute" is my favorite song of his, and very hilarious. He's accepting an award: "I'd like to thank everyone I have ever slept with!" I'll let you discover the rest of the song yourself. I can't tell (and couldn't find out) whether this song was a product of Momus' admiration of Emin's art or disdain for it. The idea that she got acclaim for leaking out her personal life and using others' real names might have raised some hackles, so Momus could have used the award-acceptance theme to mock her tactics employed in the name of art. Certainly that would reinforce his act of listing a few of the women he's supposedly slept with in the song itself, although the names he gives are probably fake -- except for "Tracey Emin," of course. Heh-heh.