Jarvis Cocker’s “Leftovers”: A Mouthwatering Proposition

Jarvis Cocker was the leader of Pulp -head and shoulders the best band to come out of Brit Pop. he went solo a couple of years ago and though I found the first album a little predictable and the new album Further Complications a missed opportunity to break big with a hard rock production by Steve Albuini that floundered with songs that felt not 100% there. Live, Cocker is a thing of beauty, a stick thin, angular, mess of contortions and (because he is so damn tall) head and shoulders above everybody else.




So with every caveat in the world, download “Leftovers” -the best song about middle age romance ever written by any one ever at any time for ant reason whatsoever. Cocker goes from a whisper to scream in this act of seduction that starts at the museum of paleontology (“And make no bones about it”) … actually here is the entire lyric:


I met her in the museum of paleontology
And I make no bones about it
I said if you wish to study dinosaurs,
I know a specimen whose interest is undoubted
Trapped in a body that is failing me


Well, please allow me to be succinct
I wanna love you whilst we both still have flesh upon our bones
Before we both become extinct
That’s what I told her: I wanna be your lover
And then I told her twice: I wanna be your lover
Well, he says that he loves you like a sister
Well I guess, I guess that’s relative
He says that he wants to make love to you
Well instead of “to”, shouldn’t that be “with”?

Oh, I told you once: I wanna be your lover
And now I’ve told you twice: I wanna be your lover
And so I come to you filled with guilt and self-loathing
And I am praying that you could make me good
And so I fall upon your neck just like a vampire
Yeah, like a vampire who faints at the sight of blood

Well this is my CV and I’ve got no one else to blame
So I will state, state my case, I will state it again
Come and help yourself to leftovers
Got a little surplus love and affection
And getting cuddly, so won’t you cuddle me?
I could be your teddy bear… oh yeah
I know I ain’t no eligible bachelor
This is no mouthwatering proposition
Make no mistake, you’re in big trouble, little lady
If we start a-hugging and a-kissing
And a-kissing, are you listening?’

Cause I told you once
And then I told you twice
And now I told you three times
And at the risk of repeating myself
I’m gonna say it again
Yeah, I wanna be your lover



And it is even better when you hear it, he builds his seduction slowly and smoothly so when he hits the bumps in the songs Cocker seems to shoot off in the air, by the end, by the huggin and kissin, he is overwhelmed by a desire that, because of his marital status or age difference, seems more tender than tenderloin. The band is hard rock but it is a fully fleshed rock ballad and one of the best songs (I don’t think he has released it as a single) of the year.