Instant Pleasure

Album: Big Daddy Soundtrack (1999)
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Songfacts®:

  • With the opening lyrics, "I don't want somebody to love me, just give me sex whenever I want it," this song is often assumed to be about casual sex, but according to Seth Swirsky, who wrote the song, there's more to it. Seth told Songfacts: "We're living in an age of instant pleasure. That song - I wrote it very, very spontaneously. I remember thinking, Should I click on the TV or should I go to the computer or should I go to the microwave to get my coffee? And I'm thinking, Wow, I really need it to happen instantly… and then it all came. The whole song wrote itself that moment."
  • Rufus Wainwright recorded this for the Big Daddy soundtrack, but didn't release it as a single. Since you won't find that soundtrack in many record collections and the song is hard to find digitally, it was destined for a niche audience, but Swirsky always like the song and used it as an opportunity to launch a solo career after years working as a staff songwriter. So, in 2004, he released his own version as the title track to his first album. Says Seth: "I thought, 'Well, if I'm recording this, there's a bunch of other songs I'd like to record.' And then I started writing more in that vein. And then I thought, 'Well, he's not coming out with it as a single, the song needs a life.' It needs to have at least a second chance. And I recorded that song, and it led to a whole bunch of writing. I think I was ready to write a bunch of different kinds of songs at that point. Not for other artists - I'd been away from that for a bit. So it was very organic how the artist emerged in me."

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