When love borders on obsession

Posted at 11:57 AM on December 27, 2011 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Criticism, Music

MPR's Chris Roberts has been delving into songs with the musicians who create them. For his latest installment of "Into the Song," Roberts talked with Nick Robin about his song "In My Pocket" which sounds strangely like vintage Velvet Underground.

"I was sort of obsessed with this girl," Robin said. "And I had really been into the Velvet Underground at the time."

"Sort of obsessed" doesn't begin to describe "In My Pocket." You can feel the distance between the singer and the woman, her disinterest in him, his burning obsession with her, and his growing need to possess her completely. It's unsettling, unnerving, and completely intentional on Robin's part. Besides the Velvets, Robin says "In My Pocket" is kind of an homage to "Every Breath You Take," by the Police, or the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb."

"Where they're almost like misogynistic in a sense, and creepy, but in the song format it works, and people accept it as normal," he said. Only in this song, Robin pushes the obsession further, to a completely uncomfortable level

Nick Robin
Image courtesy Nick Robin

You can hear the song, and more of Nick Robin's conversation with MPR's Chris Roberts, by licking on the audio link: