The prudish censorship laws of the mid 20th century forced songwriters to be clever with their use of words if they wanted to be suggestive. The Rolling Stones and The Doors were a couple of bands that used suggestion successfully to get their point across.

Today it’s much easier to use sex to sell. When George Michael released I Want Your Sex, his first solo single, I believe it was a conscious choice made to shock and gain attention to an album containing several excellent songs that has stood the test of time. These days though, songs that titillate or offend, like those by Eamon, seem to sell more at the expense of those that have more artistic merit.

The net result is that raunchiness has disappeared in favour of the obvious. 

Here are some duets that I think are a little racy without being too obvious - leaving us to imagine what would happen as soon as the song is over.

The song: Baby, It’s Cold Outside 

The players: Betty Carter and Ray Charles

Written by Frank Loesser in the 1940s [1], this is now a popular selection among adult contemporary performers. The lyrics are quite suggestive. The clever sophisticated female voice can say no... but doesn't.

The song: Kids

The players: Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams

This is an odd choice considering my opening rant, coming in the wake of Kylie's attention grabbing, gold hot pants Spinning Around video. The song itself is racy without being obvious, which is the key criteria for this list. They were just 'doing it for the kids'.

The song: Goodness Gracious Me

The players: Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers

Before he became famous with The Beatles, George Martin was a little known record producer of Peter Sellers' comic records at the Parlophone label (which also released Kids [2]). This song was conceived by George [3] and was a top five UK single in the 1960s. Did Peter really want Sophia to 'put it away'?

If you have other suggestions and ideas, do write into feedback@thecud.com.au.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,_It%27s_Cold_Outside_(song)
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_(Robbie_Williams_and_Kylie_Minogue_song)
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodness_Gracious_Me_(song)