Althouse: "It’s a song about flirting, about going out and partying, about having fantastic, adventuresome, totally enthralling sex

January 27, 2014

"It’s a song about flirting, about going out and partying, about having fantastic, adventuresome, totally enthralling sex–with your spouse."

"This may not be the vision of marriage conservatives intended to try to promote. And it’s absolutely a more aspirational, exciting good than the idea that marriage will discipline wayward men or provide support for women who can’t manage economically on their own."

So... believing the sentiments expressed in pop lyrics and the staged enactment of passion... that's the fresh approach? Well, sex sells better than advice about careful household budgeting, but why would it sell marriage? And assuming you can bamboozle the young folk into marrying with a hyped promise of fantastic, adventuresome, totally enthralling sex, isn't that laying the groundwork for divorce? But who believes the hype? Is anyone excited by excitement? Exciting people about excitement is a short term game.

That said, I remember being 14 and sold on the thrill of marital love by Sonny and Cher.

But I was young and I didn't know.

38 comments:

Gahrie said...: One of the few things I like about Cher is how she and Sonny became friends again in later life even though they were on opposite sides politcally.; 1/27/14, 7:11 PM
chickelit said...: I recently saw their old (and quite modest) first house Hollywood.; 1/27/14, 7:19 PM
Scott said...: Sammy Davis Jr. looks pretty slick with that cigarette.; 1/27/14, 7:38 PM
donald said...: Actually, she was a complete cunt to Sonny till the day he died, then she boo hood into a camera.; 1/27/14, 7:43 PM
wildswan said...: Marriage is now counter-cultural and revolutionary?; 1/27/14, 7:55 PM
rhhardin said...: Sex is vastly overrated.

Tim Blair notes a winning tennis player youtube starts by congratulating the loser.

That's something like marriage.; 1/27/14, 7:57 PM
rhhardin said...: Maybe "I haven't driven a car in 18 years" is a euphemism.

- Iowahawk; 1/27/14, 8:01 PM
rhhardin said...: Cher donated $300k to some veterans' hospital Imus was doing a while back

real audio

some anecdotes.; 1/27/14, 8:11 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Conservatives don't present marriage that way or liberals aping conservatives don't present marriage that way?; 1/27/14, 8:28 PM
Known Unknown said...: A great modern song about marriage.; 1/27/14, 8:29 PM
n.n said...: The institution of marriage is not to capture wayward men and aid incompetent women. It is an institution engendered and derived from the natural order to promote evolutionary fitness.

There is no progressive libertine, or their lifespan is terminally short. Perpetual motion is not a viable process. Besides, childish dreams are set aside by most adults who can not afford to indulge in their naive perspective.; 1/27/14, 8:33 PM
Titus said...: Chick "saw" Cher's first home. That is the gayest thing I have ever heard.....major queen that Chickie Wickie.; 1/27/14, 8:33 PM
Birches said...: Marriage is hard. That's what makes it so fulfilling.; 1/27/14, 8:35 PM
Mark O said...: He was 30 and she was 19.

She was an ok singer and he was a genius.

And the beat goes on.; 1/27/14, 9:13 PM
madAsHell said...: I always thought she betrayed him.; 1/27/14, 9:24 PM
Meade said...: "That is the gayest thing I have ever heard...."

LOL!; 1/27/14, 9:30 PM
Greg Toombs said...: Aaand Chastity? Er, I mean Chaz. Or someone...

Poor kid.; 1/27/14, 9:30 PM
Alex said...: Cher did cry at Bono's funeral.; 1/27/14, 9:32 PM
Oso Negro said...: Man, I would like some of whatever Cher was on in that second version. Those are some tombstone eyes right there.; 1/27/14, 9:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Like Ann, I was a young teen when they first hit the music scene. They made me think marriage was completely cool, and something I wanted, despite my parents' shitty divorce and marriage being contrary to everything the 60s stood for.

Sonny seemed like a decent man. He certainly deserved better than the crap she dished for years.

God rest him...; 1/27/14, 9:45 PM
chickelit said...: Meade LOL'd...
That is the gayest thing I have ever heard....

I didn't think it was gay if a woman pointed it out.; 1/27/14, 9:51 PM
Valentine Smith said...: Why do all the prig prog women look like Alyssa at think prog? I certainly see why she would live in total fantasy, but is it really necessary that the fantasies be so fucking deranged?; 1/27/14, 9:51 PM
chickelit said...: Valentine Smith said...
Why do all the prig prog women look like Alyssa at think prog?

I did the same thing -- clicked on her profile. I always do that now whenever I see a "conservatives must be wrong about marriage" piece.; 1/27/14, 9:55 PM
The Godfather said...: Absolutely no doubt: Married love is the real deal. The song is true even if the performers didn't make it work forever.

And that's part of it: It may NOT last forever. But it's worth the risk. "I've got you babe."; 1/27/14, 10:13 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Anybody that could thrive and survive under Spector is a genius. That he engineered a top entertainment act that he moved to mainstream tv and get elected to Congress from Palm Springs. Sonny was DA' MAN. Not that I cared for much of his professional music work other than as a producer.; 1/27/14, 10:17 PM
Darleen said...: It is so nice to see Leftists continue to trot out their imaginary conservatives as frigid, unhappy couples angry with everyone having all that sex and fun!

When every study has show married people have more/better sex and conservatives enjoy the sex they are having.

You'd think Ms. Rosenberg had never heard of "Kosher Sex"...; 1/27/14, 10:51 PM
mccullough said...: Im bummed to find out the Captain and Tenille are getting divorced after almost 40 years.; 1/27/14, 10:53 PM
Naked Surfer said...: “... enthralling sex–with your spouse ..."

It’s all a matter of interpretation, really. In the Bay Area, “your” is rendered as the plural possessive, making open marriages with your spouse just another variation. Not my bag. But all the rage. Everyone is conserving something.; 1/27/14, 11:34 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: My father used to say that a good woman was like a good pair of shoes so you should always wear clean socks.
He would sit cross-legged and clip his toenails in the passenger seat of the car, according to my mother, and put the clippings in the ashtray. It was a late-seventies Ford LTD so there was plenty of room for shoes.; 1/27/14, 11:36 PM
Laura said...: Geez, it's nice how her granny panties are constructed to conceal her stretch marks! And they've been married for a whole few years. A whole few years! Doesn't that work out the same as dog years for those in the entertainment industry? Especially nowadays?

It's not like they're performing with lead face paint, as a token couple or anything like that...

History is so yesterday.; 1/27/14, 11:50 PM
Laura said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/27/14, 11:51 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Sonny seemed like a decent man...

God rest him...

Friend of mine worked for Sonny when he was in Congress, and couldn't say enough good about him. He is still friends with his widow.

When I was living in NW NV, I could see Heavenly Valley from my house and office, and would often get to the area about 8:30, ski an hour or so, and then be at my desk by 10:30 or so. Good exercise. The area I mostly skied was around the area where Sonny hit the tree.

Finally, the one thing that he did politically that a lot have questioned was the Sonny Bono/Mickey Mouse Copyright Term Extension Act (it got his name posthumously). At the time, I liked that he understood IP, but think that the legislation was not good for the country.; 1/27/14, 11:59 PM
William said...: How addled do you have to be to regard Beyonce's marriage as exemplary? What's the over under on it lasting five more years?.......Sonny & Cher had some genuine chemistry. Even after their divorce they were able to sell their show. Whatever his deficits as a skier and legislator, Sonny wrote a few fine songs. In the end it's his music that Cher will be remembered for.; 1/28/14, 12:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Wow, you guys really have a soft spot for Sonny and Cher. Who knew?

I am fond of B and Jay Z. Can't really say why. Maybe it shows some wisdom on his part that he hasn't messed it up with her, when he so easily could have like every other faux gangsta tycoon. She looks genuinely happy.

So I hope it is real, even though I feel stupid just saying that.; 1/28/14, 2:57 AM
MayBee said...: What does it say about the case being made in most of the media for our sexual culture in general?

It would be nice if Beyoncé and Jay-z weren't noticeably different than other popular portrayals of marriage. Being in love, being monogamous- why isn't that the normal way marriage is portrayed?; 1/28/14, 6:06 AM
stlcdr said...: The fact that divorce is so high, demonstrates the 'me' culture.As already noted, marriage is hard - work, even. That's what makes intimacy between committed couples so much more rewarding.; 1/28/14, 6:48 AM
Richard Lawrence Cohen said...: I remember that song blasting from the bunks at summer camp all through the summer of 1965, enthralling a couple of hundred children dreaming of their first kiss; and the other two big songs of that summer: "Satisfaction" and "Like a Rollin Stone." The good AM stations played all of "Like a Rollin Stone," but most cut it off in the middle because it was six minutes long.

I remember a lot of other things, too. Thank you, Ann.; 1/28/14, 9:03 AM
30yearProf said...: Sometimes it works. I heard that song at about age 20, just as I met the girl who would become my life partner. The song still brings chills to both of us.

Yup, it still does. After 49 years of dating and 47 of marriage.

It is possible to both be winners.; 1/28/14, 5:47 PM