Love in an Elevator (5:23)

“Love in an Elevator” is a song performed by American hard rock band Aerosmith, and written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It was released in 1989 as the first single from their commercially and critically successful album Pump. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, it peaked at #13 on the UK Singles Chart and #33 in Australia.

The song’s lyrics suggest a man who is seduced by a female (“She said, ‘can I see you later and love you just a little more?’”), in the workplace (“She said, ‘I’ll show you how to fax in the mail room, honey, and have you home by five’”), which he doesn’t seem to mind (“I kinda hope we get stuck, nobody gets out alive”).

Steven Tyler claims the songs lyrics were inspired by an experience he had at a hotel, in which he was making out with a girl in the elevator and they started having sex as the doors opened; “It felt like a lifetime waiting for those doors to close,” quipped Tyler. Indeed one of the song’s lines appears to directly relate to this experience: “Lovin’ it up when I hit the ground.”

Preceding the song is a 16-second dialogue titled “Going Down” spoken by a female department store clerk who says “Second floor, hardware, children’s wear, lady’s lingerie. Oh, good morning Mr. Tyler…going down?”, followed by a suggestive snicker by Steven Tyler.