The burning question of the day in poptastic DJ land concerns the identity of the woman in the song asking the question "Would you, em, go to bed with me?" The song, Would You . . .? by dance-pop newcomers Touch and Go, is at No 3 in the UK charts and No 9 in the Irish charts this week and it's expected to go to No 1 in both countries this weekend.
The band's record label, Richard Branson's V2 label, is being uncharacteristically coy about just who Touch and Go are. What is known is that the song contains an infectious beat which is irresistible for daytime radio and that the singer prefaces her invitation to bed with the lines: "I've noticed you around [long pause] I find you very attractive." It's hardly Sylvia Plath, but it's working.
The air of mystery is undoubtedly good for sales. Most likely, Touch and Go are a studio/producer band who use session musicians and samplers to create their sound. As the music television programmes beckon, however, a face has had to be put to the voice which has managed to update Cyndi Lauper's 1980s anthem of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun into something resembling Girls Just Wanna Have Sex. Or maybe this is just an extension of the Spice Girls' deep and meaningful ideological statement about "girl power".
It seems everyone is at it: over the summer months we were chirpily exhorted by another pop-dance group to have Sex on the Beach and there was also that dynamic diva informing us that she was Horny, Horny, Horny. (That unfortunate song could be heard in clubs all over Europe. You can just imagine how the French and Spanish pronounced it.) The times they sure have achanged; not so many years ago a group of holy roller refusniks would have gathered outside RTE protesting at so much filth on the national airwaves. It's not that these new sex-fuelled ditties are contributing anything to the art-form of contemporary music - sample lyric: "I wanna have sex on the beach/come on move your body" - but it's notable in this latest case that a) it's a woman making the pass and b) it's made to a decent Latin beat and c) it's playing on primetime radio, as parents drive their young ones to school, for example. "What's that song about, mum?" "Ah, something about a slumber party, I guess."
Our own Divine Comedy was heard to worry aloud that his recent single, Generation Sex, wouldn't get airplay on 2FM because of its title, but not only did he get heavily rotated on 2FM; it was all over Radio 1 as well. Sex sells, and Would You...? looks set to becoming one of the biggest selling singles of the year.