Written by: Jarvis Cocker, Martin Craft, Steve Mackey, Tim McCall, Ross Orton and Simon Stafford
Recorded by: Steve Albini
I met her in the Museum of Paleontology
And I make no bones about it
I said: "If you wish to study dinosaurs,
I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted"
Trapped in a body that is failing me
Well, please allow me to be succinct:
I wanna love you whilst we both still have flesh upon our bones
Before we both become extinct
That's what I told her:
"I wanna be your lover"
And then I told her twice:
"I wanna be your lover"
Well, he says he loves you like a sister
Well I guess, I guess that's relative
He says that he wants to make love to you
Well instead of 'to', shouldn't that be 'with'?
Oh, I told you once:
"I wanna be your lover"
And now I've told you twice, Homes:
"I wanna be your lover"
And so I come to you filled with guilt and self-loathing
And I am praying that you could make me good
And so I fall upon your neck just like a vampire
Yeah, like a vampire who faints at the sight of blood, yeah
And I told you once:
"I wanna be your lover"
I'm gonna say it again
And then I told you twice:
"I wanna be your lover"
Well this is my CV and I've got no-one else to blame
So I will state, state my case, yeah, I will state it again
Come and help yourself to leftovers (1)
Got a little surplus love and affection(2)
And getting cuddly, so won't you cuddle me?
I could be your teddy bear, oh yeah (3)
I know I ain't no eligible bachelor
This is no mouth-watering proposition
Make no mistake, you're in big trouble, little lady
If we start a-huggin' and a-kissin'
And a-kissin', are you listening?
'Cause I told you once
And then I told you twice
And now I told you three times
And at the risk of repeating myself
I'm gonna say it again
Yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I wanna be your lover
Notes:
(1), (2) & (3) During early live renditions these lines were extended to:
Middle-aged, broken-down, divorcee
Seeks love and affection
I could be your teddy bear
A teddy bear with an erection
There is this museum of palaeontology in Paris, I was there one day and saw a very attractive woman, and I just thought it was strange to be looking at dead creatures and having feelings of desire towards living creatures.
I like [it] when the words seem to bounce off the music a bit and not really fit. And it’s nice to take risks. The riskiest line on this record is “I could be your teddy bear.” That’s a tough one to get away with. Before, actually, it was a teddy bear with an erection, and I didn’t think I could get away with that.