they're all dancing to a drum machine

Every so often I'll hit upon a potential topic, only to find that it rapidly spirals into utter unwieldiness. Yesterday morning, I was lying awake in bed, looking at the ceiling and contemplating the sentential logic behind Rick Springfield's assertions that universally "we all need the human touch" and specifically Rick himself "needs the human touch," and how it all leads somehow to an art-directed and choreographed pop version of Beckett's Endgame, when I got the idea of doing a post focusing upon touch-related songs.

With a couple witty comments already forming in my head (including a requisite dig at Phil Collins and "Invisible Touch" that didn't turn out to be as witty as originally envisioned), I booted up the PC and ran some archive searches to appropriate songs that I might have missed while compiling my mental list. What I got back was enough material to create a double disc themed compilation. Being so spoiled for choice made the process of selection that much more difficult: Do I go for cheap and cheesy novelty? Or do I pick songs I actually like? For the briefest of moments, I considered making a theme week out of concept, but being a WASP by birth and New Englander by nature (I was born in North Carolina, but on occupied territory), such a focus on physical contact runs counter to my core ethos. (It's all about the personal space, kids!)

I was on the verge of shelving the whole idea when I finally stumbled upon a workable angle to address the tactile sensation that's sweeping the nation. Can you figure out what it is? (If you can't, I pity you, though you may have a bright future ahead of you as a Newsarama board commenter or Amazon.com user reviewer.)

Hugo Montenegro - Touch Me (from Moog Power, 1969) - Why go with The Doors' original version when there's a perfectly bizarre moogified cover version just waiting to be inflicted on the listening public? It's that kind of thinking (along with all the comics-themed posts and copious amounts of self-loathing) that sets me apart from other music bloggers. Granted the whole "Switched On" concept loses something when the song being reimagined is organ-heavy to start, but the stereophonic gimmickry and the Tom Jones-meets-Up With People vocals more than make up for it.

Samantha Fox - Touch Me (I Want Your Body) (from Touch Me, 1986) - I can't hear this song without thinking of my high school best friend, who had a largish framed poster of Ms. Fox on the wall of his bed room. He may have even been a fan of her music (though it was tangential to her appeal as a pop star). He also had a white leather jacket, snakeskin boots, and a feathered mullet. (No Pontiac Firebird, though.) Alas, our friendship did not stand the test of time, as other forces -- punk rock for me, live action role playing for him -- conspired to come between us.

Cathy Dennis - All Night Long (Touch Me) (from Move to This, 1990) - Before she embarked on a successful career of penning appealing (Kylie's "Can't Get You Out of My Head") and appalling (Britney's "Toxic") dance pop numbers for other performers, Cathy Dennis recorded a string of dance pop hits back in the early 1990's, which I've become rather fond of with the passing of years. Ah, the wonders of nostalgic dementia.

(I was surprised -- in a good way -- when my wife confessed that she was briefly into the dance pop scene back in the day, and bought a number of singles by Dennis, Neneh Cherry, and Technotronic during that brief interval between her first and current punk rock phases.)