Cherry Pie (Warrant song)

"Cherry Pie" is a song by the American glam metal band Warrant. "Cherry Pie" is the titular track from Warrant's album Cherry Pie, and both were released in 1990.

1 Background
2 Lyrics and tune
- 2.1 Cultural references
3 Chart success
4 Video
- 4.1 Cultural references
5 Cultural impact
6 Personnel
7 References

[edit] Background

"Cherry Pie," which is arguably Warrant's most well-known song, was not actually planned to be put on the album. Joey Allen of Warrant has stated that the album was originally going to be called Quality You Can Taste (Jani Lane recalled this differently, stating that the title was supposed to be Uncle Tom's Cabin^[1]), but the president of Columbia Records, Don Lenner, wanted a rock anthem, so he called Jani Lane, a member of the band. Lane wrote "Cherry Pie" in about fifteen minutes. Allen stated that "...the whole marketing and everything for that record changed. It was definitely driven by the label and not the band. ^[2] The song was written down on a pizza box which is now on display in the Hard Rock Cafe in Destin, FL, part of the Destin Commons.

Many of the band members feel that "Cherry Pie" is not actually one of the better songs on the album, and see the song as a double edged sword: it brought them fame, but many of their other songs are overshadowed by the major hit. On VH1's HEAVY: The Story Of Metal - Episode 3: Looks That Kill, Lane expressed his regret for writing the song, stating that "I could shoot myself in the fucking head for writing that song." However, he later clarified that he had been under personal stress at the time of the VH1 interview, and had no ill feelings towards his association with the song.^[3]

“

Can I clear the air on that? They [VH1 producers] just caught me on a bad day. It was a bad moment — I was going through a divorce, my mom had just passed away, all this stuff was going on — and they sit me down in a chair and wanna start grilling me with questions, and I didn't wanna be there, so...You know, push that interview to the side, I'm happy as a clam to have written a song that is still being played and still dug by so many people. It's hard enough to write a song, let alone one that sticks around.

”

[edit] Lyrics and tune

The lyrics contain many metaphorical and blatant references to sex: "Swingin' on the front porch/Swingin' on the lawn/Swingin' where we want/'Cause there ain't nobody home", "She wanted me to feed her/So I mixed up the batter/And she licked the beater", etc.

The lyrics are generally about a man bragging about his sexual exploits (swingin') with a woman who is very attractive and who is the object of desire of many men. However, at the end of the song, the woman's father finds out about the pair's relationship: "Swing in the bathroom/Swingin' on the floor/Swingin' so hard/We forgot to lock the door/In walks her daddy/Standin' six foot four/He said you ain't gonna swing/With my daughter no more."

The song title itself may be another blatant reference to sex. Here, the terms both "Cherry" and "Pie" may be used sexually, as Cherry is slang to refer to a virgin (as used in the context "pop one's cherry" or to take their virginity, specifically when breaking the hymen during sex), and Pie is slang for vagina.

The tune bears a strong resemblance to both Def Leppard's hit Pour Some Sugar on Me and Joan Jett's hit I Love Rock and Roll. Notably, both of these songs have lyrics in the same vein as "Cherry Pie."

[edit] Cultural references

One of the phrases in the song, "If I think about baseball/I'll swing all night yeah" contains a pair of cultural references. Not only does it hint at baseball metaphors for sex, but it is a direct reference to what Woody Allen's character says in Play It Again, Sam to Diane Keaton's character: ^[4]

She: What were you thinking about while we were doing it? He: Willie Mays. She: Do you always think of baseball players when you're making love? He: It keeps me going. She: I wondered why you kept yelling, "Slide!"

The song also plays on the children's song "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream" when the line "I scream, you scream, we all scream for her" is sung.

[edit] Chart success

"Cherry Pie" soon became a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 10. "Cherry Pie" also reached number 19 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song has been cited by many as a "rock anthem". ^[5]

[edit] Video

The video for "Cherry Pie" received heavy airplay on MTV and other music video stations. (Despite this, several years after the song left the charts, a daylong MTV retrospective on the best and worst music videos of all time listed Cherry Pie as one of the worst.) It featured the members of Warrant and a scantily clad woman (model Bobbie Brown) who is seen dancing throughout the video. ^[6]

However, Canadian cable-TV music network, MuchMusic refused to air the "Cherry Pie" video on the grounds that it was "offensively sexist". ^[7]

Bobbie became involved with Jani Lane soon after the video was shot, and married him in 1991. ^[8]

[edit] Cultural references

Lead singer Jani Lane is seen walking into Grant Wood's painting American Gothic
The members of Warrant, dressed up as firefighters, spray water on model Bobbie Brown in the video, creating a wet t-shirt
At one point, Brown is seen playing air guitar