Jarvis Cocker: "I Never Said I Was Deep"

Nobody presents aggressive sexuality under a facade of dorky hipsterdom quite like Jarvis Cocker, who here gives us yet another pop ballad about how much he loves promiscuous sex. “I Never Said I Was Deep” follows the first-person narrative structure that’s been the standard for Pulp songs since the start, and given the nature of that narrative—guy wants nothing more than to bed partner, but purports to have been pretty upfront about the whole thing; complications arise when guy begins to develop more serious feelings for partner—it’s difficult to tell if this is a) the story of a character being played by the non-promiscuous Cocker, b) a tongue-in-cheek subversion of traditional love songs, or c) an honest and entirely forthright admission of just how much action Cocker gets on a regular basis.

Playing with the idea of the sexually predacious Rock God, Cocker croons, “If you wanted someone to talk to / you’re wasting your time / if you want someone to share your life with / you need someone who is alive,” bursting into the instant-classic chorus, “I never said I was deep / but I am profoundly shallow”—no doubt destined for Facebook status-update fame. Ascribe “Deep”‘s aesthetic beefiness, particularly the horns and backing vocals which flesh out the anthemic chorus, to the formidable-as-usual production work of star collaborator Steve Albini, whose ear for depth fits well with Cocker’s sense of drama and spectacle. And, hey, I suppose it only makes sense that an album chronicling Cocker’s sexual prowess should be produced by the man who brought us Songs About Fucking (1987).