In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hayes became famous as a recording artist in his own right, scoring with critically and commercially successful albums such as Hot Buttered Soul and Black Moses. Hayes is best known today for composing the score to the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft. That film's "Theme from Shaft" was one of the best-selling singles in Stax Records history, and Hayes became the first African-American to win an Oscar for a non-acting category when "Theme from Shaft" won the 1972 Academy Award for Best Song.
Isaac Hayes may be known to today's youngest generation as the voice of the character "Chef", the ladies' man/school cook, on the animated sitcom South Park from 1997 until his resignation from the show in March 2006. While Hayes' departure was tagged to a controversial South Park episode on Scientology that had supposedly offended him, Hayes rarely declared anything about the departure in first person.
Use Me
Isaac Hayes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They keep trying to tell me
All you want to do is use me
Ha, ha, but my answer, ha, ha
Yeah, to all that use me stuff
Is I wanna spread the news
That if it feels this good getting used
Oh, you just keep on using me
Until you use me up
My brother, sit me right down
And he talked to me, ah-ha
He told me, ah-ha
That I ought not to let you just walk on me
And I'm sure he meant well
Yeah, but when our talk was through
I-I-I said brother, if you only knew
You'd wish that you were in my shoes
You just keep on using me
Until you use me up
Until you use me up
Oh sometimes, it's true you really do abuse me
You get in a crowd of high class people
And then you act real rude to me
But oh baby, baby, baby, baby
When you love me I can't get enough
I-I and I, wanna spread the news
That if it feels this good getting used
Oh, you just keep on using me
Until you use me up
Until you use me up
Talking about you using me
But it all depends on what you do
It ain't too bad the way you're using me
'Cause I sure am using you
To do the things you do
Ah-ha, to do the things you do
In "Use Me," Isaac Hayes sings about how his friends and brother tell him that his lover is just using him, but he doesn't mind because it feels good. He believes that he is using her in return and that there is a mutual benefit. However, his brother tries to warn him that he shouldn't just let his lover walk all over him. Despite this, Hayes continues to enjoy his relationship and wants to spread the news about how good it feels to be used by someone you love.
Hayes uses the metaphor of being "used up" to describe his relationship. He is aware that he is being used, but he is willing to let it happen because the pleasure he feels is worth it. He acknowledges that sometimes his lover abuses him, especially in front of high-class people when she behaves rudely. However, he is addicted to the feeling of being wanted and desired, and he doesn't mind the temporary pain he feels.
Overall, "Use Me" is a song that speaks to the nature of love and relationships. It challenges the conventional view that being used is always a bad thing and celebrates the idea that sometimes love can be messy, and that's okay.
Line by Line Meaning
My friends feel it's their appointed duty
My friends feel the need to constantly warn me about you
They keep trying to tell me
My friends keep insisting
All you want to do is use me
All you want from me is to use me
Ha, ha, but my answer, ha, ha
I laugh at their accusations
Yeah, to all that use me stuff
I don't believe in 'use me' stuff
Is I wanna spread the news
My intention is to tell everyone
That if it feels this good getting used
If it feels good to keep being used
Oh, you just keep on using me
You can keep using me
Until you use me up
Until there's nothing left of me
My brother, sit me right down
My brother gave me a stern talking to
And he talked to me, ah-ha
And he told me, oh yeah
He told me, ah-ha
He gave me some advice
That I ought not to let you just walk on me
I shouldn't let you take advantage of me
And I'm sure he meant well
And I know he meant well
Yeah, but when our talk was through
But after we finished talking
I-I-I said brother, if you only knew
I told my brother that he didn't understand
You'd wish that you were in my shoes
He would want to be in my position
Oh sometimes, it's true you really do abuse me
Sometimes you mistreat me
You get in a crowd of high class people
When you're around wealthy people
And then you act real rude to me
You treat me poorly
But oh baby, baby, baby, baby
But when we're alone
When you love me I can't get enough
When you show me affection I'm hooked
I-I and I, wanna spread the news
I want to tell everyone
Talking about you using me
They say you're using me
But it all depends on what you do
But it depends on how I feel
It ain't too bad the way you're using me
It's not too bad being used by you
'Cause I sure am using you
Because I'm using you too
To do the things you do
To get what I want from you
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ZIGGY MARLEY, WARREN HAYES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Josephine Mpundu
This song was my introduction to Isaac Hayes. Great beats. RIP
Tocci
Thanks Craig Charles for playing this track which in my long life has escaped me all these years. Nice flavor put on it.
sigma1575
Isaac Hayes, imo, does a major improvement on "Ain't No Sunshine" on his Live at Sahara Tahoe LP. The intro and song flow live nothing else. It's not on Youtube (at least not whole) so find the full album somewhere else.
rofano lubis
Isaac Hayes
Use Me
Stax presenting the smooth sexiest vibes of Isaac Hayes .
The thrill seductive cover version for all songs on this LP definitely dope !
Label : Stax
Released : UK 1975
solesirching73
@diuga1 This is from Sir Ike's 1975 album "Use Me," and then 3 years later, Stax Records (which was bought by Fantasy) re-released this album as "Hotbed." Same tracks, except "Good Love 6-9969" (originally from "Black Moses") was substituted with unreleased instrumental "Hobosac and Me." In my opinion, Issac's live version of "Use Me" from "Live at Sahara Tahoe" is way better than this one
Nicola Terranova
Yes SS 73.....that ''Use Me'' is truly epic. So big.
bluegreenmae
@solesirching73 hear hear- I have it as audio but didn't know the concert if was from so thanks for that too. The spoken intro in Isaac's delicious drawl leading into that guitar riff is my favourite bit, otherwise it's hard to beat that clavichord on the original Bill Withers track
sigma1575
Did you miss the comments below, Daryl? This is Bill's song. Ike had no problem with puttinga different spin of other artist songs. And some he made major upgrades by rerecording them. This is not one of those. Bill can't be touched on "Use Me"
MC Zappa
Them classic Stax Guitars...
Nicola Terranova
The Lake Tahoe live version of this THE one...