FULL POEM - SCROLL DOWN FOR LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot
Let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your raincoat
For those frequent rainy days
I wanna be your dreamboat
When you want to sail away
Let me be your teddy bear
Take me with you anywhere
I don’t care
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater
You’ll get cold without
I wanna be your setting lotion
Hold your hair in deep devotion
Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean
That’s how deep is my devotion
LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
STANZA 1
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dust
Despite setting a humorous tone, if we read between the lines it is evident that the ‘vacuum cleaner’ is a metaphor for the speaker being controlled by his lover. It is also a euphemism for their intimacy as the ‘breathing in your dust’ can be interpreted to have sexual connotations.
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
The image of the iconic ‘Ford Cortina’ sets the scene of seventies Britain for the poem which is important as it depicts a time where women were more confined to the home, yet in the poem a gender reversal (if we take the narrator to be male)is evident.
I will never rust
This signifies his love for her never fading.
If you like your coffee hot
Let me be your coffee pot
It’s hard to gloss over the potential sexual connotations of the word ‘hot’ and, expanding the sexual meaning, the warmth, dark (mysterious) nature of coffee which is a stimulant which implies activity and eagerness all reinforce the notion of sexuality in the poem.
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
Cooper Clark establishes a power imbalance in their relationship and turns the head on the relative patriarchy of the time by giving it in her favour. He’s almost surrendering his masculinity in an attempt to ‘be [hers].’
STANZA 2
I wanna be your raincoat
For those frequent rainy days
Even if one wanted to take every bit of imagery in this poem and connect it to sexual imagery, this description of him being her ‘raincoat’ would be hard to call a sexual euphemism. Instead, its message is about protection from the elements and sorrow and dreariness for which the rain acts as a pathetic fallacy.
I wanna be your dreamboat
A ‘dreamboat’ is an idiom for a very attractive person (normally a man). This suggests that the narrator is, indeed, a man, hence, the aforementioned gender reversal is very much present.
When you want to sail away
Cooper Clark incorporates an ingenious play on words here by describing the ‘dreamboat’ as an actual boat ‘sailing away’. This conjures up the image of setting sail on the open seas – a form of escapism and a metaphor for freedom.
Let me be your teddy bear
Take me with you anywhere
Everyone can relate and remember that one teddy bear that they took everywhere as a child. Cooper Clark captures this childhood passion and dependence and utilizes it to show how the narrator wants to be omnipresent in their life. This want is emphasized strongly more like a desire with the imperative ‘take me’.
I don’t care
I wanna be yours
Again, this careless want to always be present in her life and the sacrifices that would ensure don’t matter to him as his only goal is to be hers. This goal is emphasized by the repetition from the last line of the first stanza.
STANZA 3
I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
The ‘electric meter’ is another reference to the 1970s setting. ‘Electric meters’ did run out if enough money hadn’t been placed in them. Cooper Clark takes this unreliability and turns on it on his head as he will ‘not run out’ conveying a sense of security.
I wanna be the electric heater
You’ll get cold without
The imagery of heat symbolises the warmth and comfort he can provide for her. It is also a reference to passion – perhaps sexual. The ‘cold’ could also be a euphemism for sexual inactivity but most convincible conveys the lack of comfort and security without him.
I wanna be your setting lotion
Hold your hair in deep devotion
The way that ‘setting lotion’ held people’s hair in place in the seventies is compared to his ‘deep devotion’. The lotion is strong and useful to hold the hair back (just like his devotion) and is desirable – also how he views his ‘devotion.’
Deep as the deep Atlantic ocean
This special metaphor emphasises the depth of his love and ‘devotion’ to her.
That’s how deep is my devotion. ‘Deep in devotion’ can also be compared to loving her from the bottom of his heart. This ‘deepness’ increases its sense of magnitude and seriousness.
