Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

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Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)? is a version of a French phrase that has become well-known in the English-speaking world through popular songs. It means "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" and is perhaps best known from the song "Lady Marmalade," written by the songwriting team of Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan and first popularized in 1975 by the group Labelle featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The song was covered in 1998 by All Saints, and again in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink as a single for the Moulin Rouge! film soundtrack. This phrase also appears in Tennessee Williams's 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire. David Frizzell and Shelly West recorded a country music song in the 1980s called "Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi" that was unrelated to "Lady Marmalade".

The origins of the phrase in English, however, can be traced back to a poem by E. E. Cummings published in 1922 and known by its first line "little ladies more", which contains the phrase "voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" twice.

[edit] Grammar

The phrase has sometimes been taken as awkward French because of its formality—Voulez-vous… uses the formal pronoun vous, indicating some kind of distance between the protagonists, which may not seem consistent with sexual activity nowadays. One would expect lovers to be using the informal pronoun tu, making the phrase Veux-tu coucher avec moi (ce soir)?", a sentence that still may sound awkward to French native speakers ("Tu veux coucher avec moi (ce soir)?" or "On couche ensemble (ce soir)?" would indeed sound much more natural).

However, the usage of the polite form voulez-vous may be consistent with high-class prostitution. Both "Lady Marmalade" and the poem allude to prostitution. In addition, using "vous" implies that the participants have just (or not yet) met, and forms an interesting juxtaposition with the intimacy of sex.

Alternatively, vous can be simply a plural form, indicating multiple sex partners. (French uses the same form for denoting both plurality and politeness; see T-V distinction.)

Due to the more widespread usage of se coucher, a reflexive form of coucher, the phrase is frequently misinterpreted as grammatically incorrect. Se coucher refers only to the act of going to bed, whereas coucher means lovemaking explicitly. Thus, the "corrected" form of the phrase, "Voulez-vous vous coucher avec moi?" actually means "Do you want to go to bed with me?" and contains none of the sexual connotations of the original.

[edit] In popular culture

The phrase is in the chorus of the song "Lady Marmalade".

The phrase is also in the song, "It's Me Bitches" (Remix) by Lil Wayne, R-Kelly, and Swizz Beatz.

The lyrics can also be found on the track "Get Out Of My House" by Dead or Alive, on their album Nude and also on the track "Nasty Naughty Boy" by Christina Aguilera, on her album Back to Basics.

Voulez-Vous is the title of an album and its title track by ABBA and a cover of the track by the A*Teens.

The first single of the German duo S.E.X. Appeal is named "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi"

This phrase is used in the South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" by Eric Cartman addressing Clyde (after Cartman asks Clyde if he is French, to which Clyde says no).

The phrase is used by the ostensible villain of the film Better Off Dead.

The phrase is also in the song "Doctor Monroe" by Casey Dienel.

The phrase is part of the song "Voulez-Vous Danser" by Ace of Base, on their album Sign, released in 1993.

The phrase is also part of the chorus in the song "Hungry For Love" by Bad Boys Blue.

The phrase appears in the Spanish-language song "El Baile y El Salon" by Cafe Tacuba.

Chris Tucker says the phrase as he makes out with a French girl (Genvieve) in Rush Hour 3.

Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls says it in the season 3, episode 9. Guests at her parents' Thanksgiving dinner include a French couple; the husband asks Lorelai if she speaks any French, and Lorelai says she only knows "voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir", shocking her father who does not know the song (although the French woman does recognize it).

Louise Brooks (played by Kathryn Drysdale) from Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps says it in the season 1, episode 3 ("Bone With the Wind") to gay man.

Serena van der Woodsen sings it to no one in particular in the series Gossip Girl book You Know You Love Me.

The phrase is whispered after the first chorus of Girl Rock by Tablo from Epik High.

In the episode, Siren's Song, from the popular TV show Charmed, Piper says this phrase to Leo as they are returned to normal at the end of the series.