Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? (Culture Club cover)

This song is one of the best remakes of any song ever. Most of the time when people remake a song it seems like they try to copy the artist, or maybe they sing one part a little lower. This remake is like a reply to songmeanings.net/songs/view/42619/ . I still don't really know what the meaning might be. There is also a strange Jesus reference: Man of sorrows, Word unbroken, His sweat like blood came down like tears -Luke 22:44.

It is a song about pretending in love. Simple.

I heard this in HS and noticed from the start that they sang different, possibly satirical, lyrics from the original Culture Club song.

The lyrics listed are for the culture club version. The femmes lyrics are deliberately different, perhaps a reply. See next comment for interpretation:

I needed time to realize my crime It was letting you love and steal I did dances inside my mind Now how can I be real

Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry? No I don t really want to hurt you But love is always asking: Why why why why

in my mind my memory's burning What's your favorite color of your favorite car? I took a step The step was learning But that's a step beyond a step too far

Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry? No I don't really want to hurt you I told the truth but it was still a lie

The words are few Some are unspoken I could sleep for a thousand years Man of sorrows word unbroken His sweat like blood came down like tears

I've been talking But believe me I know that it's true now that there's nothing I don't know I'm in love and love's the reason I'm not prepared to ever let you go So if it's love you want Then take all of me It's this love I want I can finally see

Do I really want to hurt you? Do I really want to make you cry? Yes I suppose I want to hurt you You told the truth but it was still a lie

Starting from the intro, slight lyric changes alter the message of the song from the original . . . where the original is begging a lover to let the singer love and steal, the femmes are telling a past tense broıken heart story. The original singer is unreal because of how people view him (dances in your eyes). The femmes flip that - the singer is unreal because of how he sees himself after the break up (dances in my mind).

The first verse and chorus has the Culture Club version asking a question to the lover. The femmes version makes more sense if the lover is asking the question to the angry and wronged singer . . . with more than one answer. The first is 'no', but the singer wants to know why this happened. And he reaches back to his burning memory. 'What's your favorite color of ..' sounds like a first date getting to know you question. Then the singer claims to have gained wisdom from the relationship (that step was learning), but at great cost (a step beyond a step too far).

Question comes again, answer is still no, I don't want to hurt you. But this one is both true and false - he does and he doesn't.

Next verse has many nods to the Velvet Underground song 'Venus in Furs' -

'I am tired, I am weary I could sleep for a thousand years A thousand dreams that could awake me Dıfferent colors made of tears'

the VU song is about masochism, a theme here. The CC version wants the lover to feel the singers pain. In this verse, the femmes bring in their two biggest lyrical influences: the bible and Lou Reed. Again, their theme is high price of wisdom, which is one of the few themes that unite the myth of jesus (man of sorrow,word unbroken) with the subjects of VU songs.

The next verse is a direct contrast to the original. The person talking in the CC version is the lover, the singer is not sure if these things are being said, but there is no reason for the singers desire but love itself - and the singer will leave if the answer to the question in the title is yes. In the femmes version, the sınger is talking - and he is certain of his words, because he has learned all of the secrets that were hidden in the relationshıp. Despite this, he still feels love and cannot walk away.

The question comes once more - and now the singer admits that the answer is probably yes. Even though the lover's betrayals are now open, the deception was real, it hurt, and the singers heart cries out for revenge on someone he still loved.

So, its not that simple, although it is about relationship deceit. The complexity comes from contrasting the two versions.

And ı have way too much time on my hands, if I'm writing this much about a Culture Club cover. But isnt that half the fun of this?