Songfacts®:

• This is the title track of the eighth studio album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, which was released by SuperEgo Records on September 18, 2012. She told Mojo magazine about its title: "The title of the record is Charmer and I've always been fascinated by people who are charming. Because, in the best sense of the word, those people are really fun to be around, they drive the social interaction and it's on a continuum. But from 'charming' you can get to 'narcissistic' and from that you can get 'manipulative' and eventually 'sociopath'. So for me, it's interesting to see where people fall on that, to see how they can get what they want with their charm."
• The song sees Mann retreating to what she calls a lyrical 'pet theme.' She told Mojo: "I'm definitely interested in the 'crazy girl' archetype and the guys who get involved with the crazy girl."
• Mann is intimately familiar with charmers, having been around her share of entertainers and politicians. "They're usually people who you really like being around in the beginning," she explained, "and then they're very exhausting after a while, because they require an audience. But that's very seductive."
• Mann's other half, singer-songwriter Michael Penn, contributed a lyric. She explained: "My husband has a line in a song which I always think about when I talk about this subject, which is: 'When you think he likes you, you like the way he thinks.' To me, that really sums it up, because you yourself are complicit in the interaction of the charmer. As soon as you think somebody likes you, then you suddenly think, 'What a great guy!'"
  
  Michael Penn is the brother of actors Sean and Chris Penn.