SCANDALOUS LIFE
(Words and Music by Rick Springfield, Bob Marlette and Tim Pierce)

I've lived a scandalous life
Scandalous life
Yeah, yeah
Scandalous life

I'm the king
Of the city of broken hearts
I'll let you in
But nobody's gotten out alive yet
No saint, no sinner
No saint, no sinner, yeah
No sinner, no saint
But they've all come looking for some satisfaction
Pain and pleasure
Pleasure and pain
No I can't give you what you want
But I can give you what you need baby
I'll be your lover but I'm not your friend
'Cause when your heart it breaks
Won't be 'round long enough to pick it up
Yeah baby

I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
Don't try to change it
And don't mistake it
I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
And in the end I'll be the one to take your heart
And break it

Sure enough
You've got men with more money and grace
I'll make love
'Til the sweat's running down my face, yeah
Pain and pleasure
Pain and pleasure
Pleasure and pain
Yeah you've got it
If you're looking for some action
I'll take you to heaven
Heaven and hell
Though I don't give you what you want
But I can give you what you need baby
Though you just might regret somebody like me
But when your legs are shaking
You'll know I know just how to serve it up
Yeah baby

I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
Don't try to change it
And don't mistake it
I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
And in the end I'll be the one to take your heart
And break it

Scandalous life
Scandalous life

I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
Don't try to change it
And don't mistake it
I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
And in the end I'll be the one to take your heart
And break it

I've lived a scandalous life
I've lived a scandalous life
Don't try to change it
And don't mistake it
I've lived a scandalous life


(total playing time 4:17)

Song Facts: This can be found on Sahara Snow.

According to US

Oh, where to begin on this one?? I call this my Sybil song, only because of the range of emotions I experience when listening. This one should have come with a warning label: Caution, listening can cause a serious loss of mental faculties. 

I too, am one of those fans that has had Rick up on that "he's a perfect man" pedestal for years - faithful husband, attentive father, handsome as hell rock n' roll god that can also act too! Wonderful package in my opinion. With that being said, listening to the words in this song has my head yelling, "NO, not Rick!" When he's singing in the 2nd verse, "I'm the king of the city of broken hearts" and then "No I can't give you what you want but I can give you what you need baby" My heart really battles with my head, and my good girl-ness finds itself extremely attracted to his bad boy-ness. In a major way :-)

So then, here's my struggle with good and evil. Yeah, I'm not stupid - he did/does live in the "celebrity world" that has it's own rules. I just hate thinking about all those possibilities.
So now that he has come right out and said it, damn him for putting a chink in that armor once more. But see, I have hope that even though his name is first on the words/music credits, that he just basically lent his voice to this song. Ok, so maybe I'm dreaming, but this is my review! Further on into my dream I find myself arguing that Rick sure is a hell of a good actor, he's sounding pretty authentic on these lyrics. This is a jammin' song, that's for sure - and for whatever part of me that's still living in goody two-shoe land, it pales in comparison to the part of me that just loves to hear him sing, "I'll make love 'til the sweat's running down my face". The growl that comes out with it just hits me in the pit of my stomach (yeah, that's it - the stomach, 'cause I'm not going THERE in this review) every time. Dammit. Sigh.. The guitars - gotta love 'em in this one, they are whining right along with those words. By the end, when he's talking about your legs shaking...well let's just say that they are and we'll go on our merry way, shall we?? Uh oh, I've just crossed to the dark side.

So I have an extreme love/hate relationship with this song. I know a lot of you have already said you like the words way more than the music on this album. Well for me on this one, I'm sticking with the music. Although if forced at gunpoint, I'm admitting that the lyrics on this song are like...DAMN! Aw shucks, I like the lyrics too.  - Michelle P.

Whenever I hear this song, I have to really step back for a minute and think of the whole person who Rick is, because this song shocks the hell out of me. When I first heard it I could not believe that the guy who is so kind and sweet and (back when this came out he was decidedly in the prozac bliss state) soft spoken, talking of charity much of the time that he spent in the public eye was the same guy who sings about "when your legs are shaking...". It floors me to this day when I hear this song, and I've listened to it...A LOT.

This has to be by far one of the sexiest songs I think Rick has sung. And even while it is blatantly sexual instead of cloaked in innuendo (read: Souls, Inside Sylvia...OK maybe I'm the only one who thought he meant 'spiritually' inside her...) there is still some sort of way that he puts the words together and the quality of his voice that adds something just to the lyrics. I mean...some of the other songs he's done are even more blatant, but there is just something about the references in here that gets me. They don't specifically refer to the act, but they are so graphicly pointing to the act, that it makes them even sexier (kind of like watching that love scene all done in the reflection of the mirror..you're seeing it full on but somehow it's more subtle that way). 

I think I like this song for the way it uses language but because it also talks about Rick in a way that I've never really thought of him; this hard edged guy singing about his tough love way of running through women, they can't get enough of him because he pleases them so well, and you're bound to be next. This isn't a NICE guy that is being discussed here ("I don't give you want you want, but I can give you what you need baby...") and there's something so raw, so bad boy, so forbidden about what he's singing that it just...well it just plain rocks. You'd never WANT a guy like this for keeps, but he might have been the guy that you indulged in before you found the keeper. He might have been the guy that you wanted more from, and have thought of ever since, or he might have been the guy you thought of as your worst mistake because he broke your heart. We've all seen this guy, known this guy and loved/hated this guy.

Is this song about Rick himself? About his worst tendencies? About his fantasies of how he'd like to be sometimes after a long standing relationship? Possibly all, possibly none of those things...and I'm not sure I'd ever really want to know. For me, this song is like ear candy, and it's a safe indulgence. I'll think about the calories later. :) - Amy SP