"I Touch Myself" is the title of a song written and recorded by the Australian rock band Divinyls. It was released in January 1991 as the lead single from their fifth album, Divinyls. The song was written by Divinyls bandmembers Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee and professional songwriters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg for the band's self-titled album. The song has since been covered by numerous artists.

Composition and recording [link]

Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee wrote the song with the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg (who have written songs such as "I'll Stand by You," "Like a Virgin," "Eternal Flame," "True Colors" and "So Emotional"). Billy Steinberg had "I Touch Myself" in his notebook; he had written the first verse and the chorus lyric. Amphlett liked it immediately. The next day, McEntee, Steinberg, Kelly, and Amphlett got together and wrote the rest, an unusual move, as Steinberg and Kelly rarely collaborated with others. The song is featured in the 1992 film Prelude to a Kiss and the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

Putting the song together took a lot of trial and error. It was recorded to two inch tape, making it difficult to edit. After significant experimentation they came up with an unusual structure with the bridge placed after the first chorus.^[1]

Promotion and chart performance [link]

In Australia "I Touch Myself" was released as a CD single in December 1990 and debuted at number thirty-one later that month. After five weeks of being in the chart the song jumped to number-one knocking Vanilla Ice's debut single "Ice Ice Baby" off the top spot and stayed there for another week. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart at position sixty-nine and on its eighth week it peaked at number ten (its peak position in the UK) and spent a total of twelve weeks in the chart. When released in the United States, the song caused a minor controversy. However, it managed to reach the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number four, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, after receiving extensive play on modern rock radio, which was more accepting of the song's subject matter.

Cover versions [link]

• Gina Riley infamously parodied the song on Fast Forward.^[2]
• In 2000, the Industrial metal band Genitorturers released their album Machine Love which included a cover version of "I Touch Myself", with slightly altered lyrics, making the singer the dominant party in the song, rather than submissive. It is often mistaken to be a Jack Off Jill cover.
• Rolf Harris performed a tongue-in-cheek version, accompanied only by his wobble board and asides full of innuendo, for Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge on the MMM Breakfast Show. This recording was released on the first Musical Challenge compilation album in 2000.
• In 2005, the a cappella group Last Call ^[3] from Cornell University released their fourth album Straight Up, whose fourth track is a cover of "I Touch Myself". This cover is, obviously, a cappella and is sung at a slightly faster pace. In the same year the Belgium all girls choir Scala & Kolacny Brothers did a classical cover version.
• It was remade as a dance song by Lenny B featuring Kristy Kay.
• Alternative rock band Eve 6 occasionally covers the song during performances.
• In September 2006, Australian singer-songwriter and former Bardot member, Tiffani Wood, released the song as the third single from her solo album Bite Your Tongue. It did not however make an impact on the ARIA Charts.
• In 2007 the The Girls of FHM released a cover version and accompanying video.
• On a tour with Ben Kweller and Ben Lee, Ben Folds performed the song live while the trio toured as The Bens.
• In 2009 Pink covered this song during her Funhouse Tour.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic included a portion of this song's lyrics in "Polka Your Eyes Out".
• Australian musician and songwriter Megan Washington covered this song during the band's 2010 Australian tour to promote their album, I Believe You Liar.
• It is notable that Blondie is erroneously listed as having sung this song - and is attributed as such on some notable lyrics^[4] and online radio^[5] web sites. There is no reliable evidence to support the presence of a Blondie cover of this song, especially impossible due to the band having broken up nine years prior to its release (although they reformed later).
• Artist Alana D is listed in the credits of the film Miss March as having recorded a cover of the song for the film. However, the track does not appear on the official soundtrack and is not available for purchase.

Track listing [link]

• Divinyls version

1. "I Touch Myself"
2. "Follow Through"

Charts [link]

References [link]