SHOCK TO MY SYSTEM
(Music by Rick Springfield, Tim Pierce & Bob Marlette / Words by Rick Springfield)

So there I stood
Square on my side
Of the great divide
A message came across the void
And for the first time in my life
I'm awake, I'm alive
I thought I was immune to this
'Til I felt the static charges in the air
I touch you, you're a live wire
You're the raw fire
Burning in my heart
It took me by surprise
That's no lie

You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You taught me how to listen
Shock to my system

My soul my skin
You plug me in
And all of my pain is gone
Just like it never was
And for the first time in my life
I know what I feel.
Now every time we touch
I'm caught off my guard
That's no lie

You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop
You taught me how to listen
Shock to my system

Shock to my system

You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop

You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
A spark, a real shock
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You start, I can't stop

You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system
You know you are
You are a sharp
Shock to my system


(total playing time 4:32)

Rick says:
One of the few straight love songs on the album - melodicrock.com

Rick also says:  It's one of the older songs, which we really reworked instrumentally - to make it, fit more with the album ... it was a much more keyboard oriented song originally. This song I wrote with Bob Marlet is a producer and a great musician. I don't write with many other people and have something happen, it was really good writing with somebody else. It's - I guess I wrote it as a love song. I've forgotten now. I don't like to think of them as only love songs - it seems so f******g trite! But it is! 
The demo is much more like an R & B kind of feel ... and we added human loops to it ... and a lot more electric guitars and things ... weird s**t. - eiozine.com

Song Facts: This can be found on Karma.

According to US

I always felt this was a love song, but in a different way. To me this really sounds like a parent expressing feelings of love and wonderment of their child. I don't know if I came up with this idea after watching Rick's Behind the Music (because this song is played in the background when they are talking about the birth of Joshua) or not, but I really thought that this is what this song was about.

"...square on my side of the great divide, message came across the void and for the first time in my life I'm awake, I'm alive." I felt like when I was a new parent, there was this great span in-between what I thought I knew about being a parent, and what it actually meant to be a parent. I was now responsible for someone else for the rest of my life. There was so much of "me" in this person, that I would live on in them even when I was gone. 

The whole parent *thing* is certainly a shock to anyone's system. Less sleep, less time to do things for you and for yourself, more thinking about the well being of someone else for a change-instead of looking out for number one. The line "...you taught me how to listen" also summons up for me all the things about being a parent. Not only am I hearing the cries of a child, I'm hearing the hopes and fears, the pleasure and the pain of growing up. I'm also listening to my child's music, movies and television programs - but basically to censor and help them to not grow up too fast. 

"my soul my skin, you plug me in and all of my pain is gone just like it never was" I don't think about myself much anymore, unless I've got some kind of glaring problem. It's all about my kids. I've got to be okay for them. They are my spark that keeps me going.

This song is also so pillow talk-nighttime-easy listening-radio ready, it's a wonder it wasn't picked up by some lonely hearts radio show and launched onto the public. It's a wonder, and a shame. (I could say the same about "Act of Faith" too -so I'll say it here, instead of that review - "Here's my heart my love is in it" - that so SCREAMS a lonely hearts request, does it not??) All those years of hearing Jack Wagner's "Lady of my Heart" with the hopes that one day I'd hear a Rick song on the radio airwaves at 1am wasted. :-) Just for the record, "Lady of my Heart" was a B side to a single. I think it got a lot of notice being featured on General Hospital, and criminey I wish Rick had at least relented to having one song played on that show while he was there. I know, this song is about 18 years too late...but I'm thinking "Inside Silvia" wouldn't have cut it. However, I was hoping that the fact that STMS played in Rick's BTM might have helped. Guess not. - Michelle P.

This is probably my least favorite song on the cd, and I don't really dislike it. That's just how strong of a cd this is for me. This is my favorite, least favorite, song that I've had to pick. I've read the discussion about who the inspiration of this song might be and although I do see some places where I can associate with his kids, there's parts of it that have more of a sexual attraction kind of feel to it, for me that doesn't make the song go in that direction for me.
My favorite part is "I thought I was immune to this......you took me by surprise"
That's really the best kind, something wonderful coming when it's not expected, it's more like a gift than something you were looking for.
I also find the word "immune" very interesting. It's not like he's saying he thought it would never happen, it's more like he was trying to protect himself against it, and it happened anyway, but it's a good thing. - rlh